Intel P965, p35 second PCIe-16 slot for RAID card

[CBRworm]

I have a couple of systems that use the i955 and 975x chipset. Each of these has the two PCIe-16 slots as well as a PCIe-4. I have PCIe-4 raid cards in each. I am considering upgrading the i955 based system which currently has an Intel D950 processor from before the speedstep was working. I know that some of the P35 systems have a the PCIe16 slot and a second PCIe-4 slot (PCIe-16, but 4 lanes) for crossfire. Is that slot only useable for a video card? I want to find out if I would have any problems putting my raid card in. I know on the i955 and 975x the PCIe-4 slot is controlled by the ICH chip. I want to upgrade primarily for power savings and less heat of a current C2D compared to the 950. This particular machine is a file server that runs 24/7.

Anyone Know?

[JamesXP]

The 975x supports C2Ds FYI.

[CBRworm]

Yep, I have an E6600 in one of them. I was looking into a less expensive C2D board that would support 1333FSB. With the 975 I run into problems trying to get my ram to run it's rated speed (DDR2-1066) - but I am looking to replace the D955/D 950 combo with something cooler and maybe faster.

I was thinking of a board I could use the E6550 in and have the RAID card still run at 4x and also not slow down the video (I don't know if that happens). I was hoping to be able to buy a board and CPU for not a lot more than I could sell the old pieces for.

[JamesXP]

I don't know if you want to upgrade the PD. If so i'd do along the lines of


Celeron-L 420 + G33-DS2R

And for the E6600, I'm pretty sure it should work. I'd say either.


GA-P35-DQ6
Abit IP35-E/Pro
Asus P5K/Prem/Deluxe
eVGA 680i A1

[CBRworm]

That may be exactly the board I need. I didn't know any G33 boards existed with a a second multilane pcie slot.

[Hutch]

Biostars P35 based board the TP35D2-A7 could be just what you're looking for. It's very cheap but it's a top performer (and has a PCI-e 4x slot.) The 4x PCI-E slot is completely independent from the PCI-E 16x slot. It's not a full length slot like the 16x one, it's the one that's about twice the size of a PCI-E 1x slot. I've been using this board for a few weeks now and have been really impressed by it. I got it for $95 from either mwave or zipzoomfly.

[Telstar]

The 975X will almost surely support a raid card. The P965 depends on the mainboard. P35 is also very random afaik.