Chapter 2
14
Z77H2-A4 USER MANUAL
2-4-4. Installing Add-on Cards
The slots on this motherboard are designed to hold expansion cards and connect
them to the system bus. Expansion slots are a means of adding or enhancing the
motherboard’s features and capabilities. With these efficient facilities, you can
increase the motherboard’s capabilities by adding hardware that performs tasks
that are not part of the basic system.
PCIEX16 Slot
The PCI Express x16 slot is used to install an external PCI Ex-
press graphics card that is fully compliant to the PCI Express
Base Specification revision 3.0.
This motherboard is equipped with two standard PCI slots. PCI
stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect and is a bus
standard for expansion cards, which for the most part, is a
supplement of the older ISA bus standard. The PCI slots on this
board are PCI v3.0 compliant.
PCI1/2 Slots
Before installing an add-on card, check the documentation for
the card carefully. If the card is not Plug and Play, you may have
to manually configure the card before installation.
The PCI Express x1 slot is fully compliant to the PCI Express Base
Specification revision 2.0.
PCIE1~3 Slots
MINIPCIE Slot
*2
The mini PCI Express x1 slot is for extending usage.
PCIEX16_S Slot
*1
The PCI Express x4 slot is fully compliant to the PCI Express Base
Specification revision 2.0.
*1-1
The PCIEX16_S (black color of PCI-Ex16 slot) supports PCI-E Gen 2.0 running X4 mode
and shares bandwidth with the PCIE2 & PCIE3 slots (black color of PCI-Ex1 slots).
*1-2
The PCIE2 & PCIE3 slots will become unavailable when you have installed the expansion
card on the black PCIEX16_S slot.
*1-3
Please insert your Graphic Card (VGA card) on gray PCIEX16 slot when you use one
Graphic Card (VGA card), please reference Chapter 2-4-4.
*2
The black SATA6 connector will become unavailable when miniPCI-Ex1 slot/ mSATA connec-
tor is installed.
