Primary Graphics Adapter

[seekermeister]

In the Advanced Chipset Settings of my Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe motherboard, the are a couple of settings in the section by the title above. there is one option of [PciE2->PCI->PciE1], and an alternative of [PciE1->PCI->PciE2]. In the instruction notes, all that it says is PCIE1->PCIE1_16 and PCIE2->PCIE2_16.

Since both PCIe x 16 slots are supposed to be full x 16 slots, and unlike it's counterpart A8N-SLI, which I also have in my other computer, there is no switch card which has to be positioned, depending on whether a single video card is used or a SLI configuration is setup, I am thoroughly confused as to their meaning?

Currently, I have the video card in the top PCIe x16 and the sound card in the second one. Does anyone have a clear understanding of this that they would be willing to share?

 

[DustSailor]

Never seen anything like it, but could it be the order of loading in the bios? In that case I would go with the second choice: (1-PCI-2). Have you tried them both and noticed any difference?

 

[seekermeister]

Yes, I did try them both, and all that i can say is that it would boot and display either way, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have any effect at all. I'm wondering if either the video card or the sound card are effected in a fashion that I haven't figured out yet?

 

[rap33042]

I also have an Asus Mobo but with completely different graphics options - (GFX0-GPP-IGFX-PCI).

After many hours of searching the internet for answers I discovered that these settings determine the order in which the BIOS will search for the graphics cards/chips.

I have four options in my BIOS that allow it to search for cards in various slots and/or the onboard chip in differing orders of priority.
The first one it finds, depending on the order you have specified, is the one it will use.

That's the best explanation I can come up with at the moment.

 

[seekermeister]

Thanks, that sounds like a good enough explanation to me. If it only effects the search order, and not the performance after the search, I guess that it isn't too critical, but I will go with second alternative listed, since that appears to be correct in my case. I was wondering if these had any effect on how the video card signaled output to DVI-HDMI-VGA, because I noticed that the BIOS screens are only displayed on my LCD monitor connected with DVI, and not my CRT, connected via VGA.

 

[rap33042]

The only way that I can see where it would affect performance is if the graphics option it finds first is the weakest link in the chain.

I think the order you set up in this case is important. You certainly wouldn't want your on-board chip to take precedence over your high-buck graphics card.

I'm sorry, seekermeister, but you now have the total of my impressive knowledge on this subject.
Again, I apologize.

 

[seekermeister]

Don't apologize, you gave me a lot more insight than I started with.