A systems administrator needs to install a new high-performance GPU, which is a PCIe x16 card, into a server to accelerate data analytics workloads. To achieve maximum throughput, the card must be installed in a slot that provides the full bandwidth. The administrator identifies the following available PCIe 3.0 expansion slots on the motherboard:
Slot A: PCIe x16 (physical), x8 (electrical)
Slot B: PCIe x16 (physical), x16 (electrical)
Slot C: PCIe x8 (physical), x8 (electrical)
Slot D: PCIe x4 (physical), x4 (electrical)
Which slot MUST the administrator use for the new GPU?
The correct answer is the slot designated as PCIe x16 (physical), x16 (electrical). For a PCIe card to operate at its maximum potential, it must be installed in an expansion slot that meets both its physical size and its required number of electrical lanes. A GPU with a PCIe x16 connector requires a physical x16 slot to fit, and it needs x16 electrical lanes to achieve its maximum data transfer bandwidth. The slot that is x16 physical but only x8 electrical would create a bottleneck, halving the potential performance of the card. The x8 and x4 slots are both physically too small for the x16 card and provide insufficient bandwidth.
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What does 'physical' vs. 'electrical' mean in PCIe slots?
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Why does a GPU need x16 electrical lanes for maximum performance?
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What are the differences between different PCIe versions (e.g., PCIe 3.0 vs. PCIe 4.0)?