Strix Z490 Gaming-E BIOS only showing 2 PCIe x16 slots?

[LotusExige]

I have a friend with the exact same board and his BIOS also only shows 2 PCIe x16 slots in BIOS but another friend with the A revision of the board (z490 Gaming-A) shows all 3. His board doesn't have built in WiFi but rather an M.2 Wifi slot (that he's planning to populate). Would that be why?

There are definitely 3 full size slots on the board - I'd try putting something in slot 3 but I don't have a card that will fit as it's so close to the PSU shroud that my GPU would never fit and I don't have any smaller/thinner cards. Is this correct? Why would his board show all 3 and my/ours not?

Not having any issues and don't plan on using the slot just curious why the difference.

~X

Oh, and if there are any moderators around could we maybe get a sub-forum of the new z490 boards so we don't have to post in this x370 forum???

[LotusExige]

Bump? Anyone??

[LotusExige]

Does no one else own this board??

[BloodBaron]

LotusExige wrote:
Does no one else own this board??

Bios 0707 strix z490-e

[LotusExige]

BloodBaron wrote:
Bios 0707 strix z490-e

Thanks so much for replying - do you have any idea why the 3rd slot isn't showing up for us? Also good to know there is a BIOS update out...

~X

[BloodBaron]

LotusExige wrote:
Thanks so much for replying - do you have any idea why the 3rd slot isn't showing up for us? Also good to know there is a BIOS update out...

~X

Can't say I do, maybe it's hidden in the uefi GUI? and the devs just need to expose it?

[Lotzi]

post a picture of your bios entry btw section that we can see the issue

[PerpetualCycle]

You are looking at the section for PCI-E supplied by the processor chip's system agent. There are only 2 slots. The first can be run with 16x lanes of PCI-E bandith if the second slot is not occupied. If they are both occupied they each run with 8x lanes, in other words there is a total of 16 lanes shared between them.

The third full-sized PCI-E slot is supplied by the Z490 (PCH) chip, not the processor chip. You will find settings for it in the PCH section of the BIOS. This will only be up to a 4x lane of bandwidth.

The first two are suitable for running graphics cards. The third is not.

[BloodBaron]

geneo wrote:
You are looking at the section for PCI-E supplied by the processor chip's system agent. There are only 2 slots. The first can be run with 16x lanes of PCI-E bandith if the second slot is not occupied. If they are both occupied they each run with 8x lanes, in other words there is a total of 16 lanes shared between them.

The third full-sized PCI-E slot is supplied by the Z490 (PCH) chip, not the processor chip. You will find settings for it in the PCH section of the BIOS. This will only be up to a 4x lane of bandwidth.

The first two are suitable for running graphics cards. The third is not.

Ah now that you say that it makes total sense lol, duh. thanks for the explanation, appreciate it.

[LotusExige]

geneo wrote:
You are looking at the section for PCI-E supplied by the processor chip's system agent. There are only 2 slots. The first can be run with 16x lanes of PCI-E bandith if the second slot is not occupied. If they are both occupied they each run with 8x lanes, in other words there is a total of 16 lanes shared between them.

The third full-sized PCI-E slot is supplied by the Z490 (PCH) chip, not the processor chip. You will find settings for it in the PCH section of the BIOS. This will only be up to a 4x lane of bandwidth.

The first two are suitable for running graphics cards. The third is not.

First thank you for the detailed reply - this is VERY helpful. When I'm home later I'll check that - but here's what's odd, a good friend has the A revision of the board (Strix Z490 Gaming-A) the one without WiFi and that screen for him DOES show all 3 slots. That's really the only reason I thought this was weird, and he's running the same 10900k I am.

Thoughts there?