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pci-e revision question.
I cannot find a definitive answer to a query I have:
I am looking to add a larger nvme drive to my main PC. Doing so will mean pulling the smaller nvme drive. Having no where else to install the old nvme drive, I was hoping to use a pci-e adapter and place it into an old system. Whether it can be booted or not is not the concern right now.
The old system's motherboard is a Gigabyte EP45 UD3P. The pci-e slots are revision 2.0. The slot I would be hoping to place the adapter into is a x16 sized slot wired as a true x8 slot.
What I was hoping to do was to buy a x8 pci-e 3.0 adapter for the nvme drive and plug it into the x8 pci-e 2.0 slot.
I have heard mentioned using a 'switch' adapter card to be able to achieve the speed the driving is capable of (or something close), in a scenario such as this. What I want to know is if that is necessary. Can a pci-e 3.0 x8 nvme adapter card plugged into a pci-e 2.0 x8 slot allow a x4 nvme drive it's full speed? Or, would the drive be limited to only x4 speed on the pci-e 2.0 interface?
Either way I intend to install the drive in the old system because even limited on pci-e 2.0 I am led to believe it will still be faster than SATA II.
I realize this is not a 'Windows" specific question but a hardware question; I have simply come to trust people's knowledge here and this is usually the first place I turn. If this question is unfit for this forum, my apologies. Please let me know and I will delete it.
Thank you.