ECS A890GXM-A2 Motherboard
Slots
Contents
The AMD 890GX chipset has one PCI Express 2.0 x16 lane that can be split-up into two x8 lanes if necessary. Translation: motherboards based on this chipset can have one or two x16 PCI Express slots, but they will work at x8 if two video cards are installed. The north bridge chip supports a total of six PCI Express x1 lanes, while the south bridge chip supports two more.
The ECS A890GXM-A2 comes with three PCI Express x16 slots, just like its older sister, the A890GXM-A. The first two (gray ones) work at x8 if both are used at the same time, while the third slot (black one) always work at x4 (using four x1 lanes from the north bridge chip). All slots support CrossFireX mode, as expected, including Hybrid CrossFire, which is the ability to use the motherboard integrated graphics together with a compatible video card in CrossFireX mode.
If you install a dual-slot video card in the second PCI Express x16 slot you will block the third PCI Express x16 slot.
The motherboard comes also with one PCI Express x1 slot and one standard PCI slot. The A90GXM-A has two PCI Express x1 slots.
This motherboard requires a standard peripheral power connector to be installed in order to provide extra current to the PCI Express slots.

