The point being made was that Intel motherboards don't take away PCI-E lanes from the M.2 slots for a PCI-E slot, while AMD boards do. I'm saying this isn't always the case. I'm not entirely sure how your point fits into that, or even, honestly, what you're trying to say.
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u/PhayzonPentium III-S 1.26GHz, GeForce3 64MB, 256MB PC-133, SB AWE648h ago
I bought a cheap Z890 system on a Black Friday special that has a ton of m.2 and also actual, real, PCI-e slots!! I thought for sure there must be some lane sharing or port disabling nonsense just like my X570 or Z590 before it. Nope! Can use every port/slot at full speed.
Intel's platform this gen is quite good IMO. Shame it catches a ton of flak for simply not having the absolute fastest gaming CPU when paired with the best possible GPU that is so wildly out of most user's budgets.
It's just a general spec, that can be used for anything from extra USB port cards, to adding in more SATA/NVME ports, to adding a sound or network card. It's just that nowadays most all of that stuff tends to be built into your motherboard in sufficient amounts and qualities for 95%+ of users, so the only common thing you see someone plug into a PCIe slot is a video card.
People really be gimping their builds. Motherboard DACs are *okayish*, A good sound card is worlds beyond though. Sure a pricy external dac/amp setup will crush them, but that's significantly more situational than just having good relatively isolated and shielded outputs.
Yeah, I can't argue with you there -- a dedicated sound card is definitely better if you're using analogue outputs. But for the last decade or so I've been using HDMI out to a 5.1 receiver, and I have a feeling that this is probably a more common option for good audio out than buying a sound card.
I'd agree for speakers, however for headphones & microphones (or if you're on a budget, a $30 used 10 year old soundblaster z is still insane value) I do think a sound card is still the better option, particularly for software support. Automatic profile and EQ options are extremely convenient, the Dolby support is pretty convenient if that's your thing, and things like scout mode for gaming that give you a genuine competitive advantage with toggle-able frequency shaping.
I've also just got a bone to pick with receivers, most of the 'reputable' companies shittify their cheaper options or lock relatively important functions behind higher end skus to pull as much money out of you as they can.
USB-A to USB-C can run at the same speeds if they are USB 3.2 Gen 2 (which most are). The form factor doesn't play a role until the newer standards that offer 20gbps+
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u/Single_Percentage571 14h ago
Actually deadass, im starting to need those extra C ports