This may be a silly question but I'm asking in desperation as I don't want to return my RAID controller card (I'm finding them difficult to source as i need PCIe 3.0 and hardware RAID).
I stupidly asked for a PC to be built by gamers and I received a small motherboard with very little room to manoeuvre.
I have an ASUS TUF Gaming B550M-PLUS motherboard and I bought a HPE Smart Array E208i-p SR Gen10 Storage Controller RAID. The size of the controller means that the small connector will not fit into the small slot on the PCIe 16 port. Will the card work if I plug the card into the longer lane and I leave the small lane unoccupied?
If I try plugging it in the suppliers said I can't return it.
2 Answers
I can't really figure out what exactly you mean with your question.
Your terminology is extremely vague. The small slot on the PCIe 16 port? The longer lane?
But that RAID controller (I use that one myself in several systems) is a normal PCIe 8x card and that motherboard has 2 16x PCIe slots (and a 1x PCIe slot which isn't usable for this card). You can put the card in either off the 16x slots and it should work.
Please note:
If you put in a separate graphics card it is possible (check the manual of the motherboard) the 2nd 16x PCIe slot may be throttled to just 4 usable PCIe lanes.
I know from personal experience this RAID controller will not like it, if it is in that throttled slot. It REALLY needs all 8 lanes.
You will have to put it in slot 1 and the GPU in slot 2 (GPU's usually can deal with less lanes available).
It is also possible (not sure it applies to this motherboard) the use of a NVMe SSD in the M.2 slot will reduce the PCIe lanes available to the 2nd PCIe slot.
You will have to consult the motherboard manual on that. That should clearly indicate what PCIe lane restrictions apply, depending on what is in the other slots of the motherboard.
2The card will not work unless it is plugged correctly into the slot. Correctly means that the card must be the right way round and the notch in the card must sit over the corresponding key in the slot.
Normally the card backplate will not allow you to insert a card incorrectly, but if the backplate is removed then incorrect insertion may become possible.
