Motherboard options: PCIe 16, 8x or 16, 4x

"CCR" wrote in message
news
I have a very difficult time visualizing how things would be be just by
looking at the manual to determine how cramped the board is. The only
way I really would know is when it was too late: after I bought the mobo
and the cards.

They have really good pictures in the MB manuals (you may know?). You may
be able
to see whether a PCI slot will likely be unusable. Expect your graphics
card to cover
the slot just below it. The manual often contains details that are
critical for a
system builder. You should definitely read your graphics card manual
too--particularly
if you are buying one of the fanless cards like I use. If you are not
interested in reading manuals, it may be
smarter, in terms of your time and money, to buy a prebuilt system. Since
everyone
has their own goals for their system, ultimately you have to do your own
individual cost/benefit
analysis anyway. You may already know that tomshardware.com knocks
themselves
out publishing performance benchmarks. : )

Good luck!
Bill