Intel DZ87KLT-75K Motherboard
Slots
Contents
The Intel DZ87KLT-75K comes with three PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots, three PCI Express 2.0 x1 slots, one standard PCI slot, and one Mini PCI Express/mSATA-600 slot.
The three PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots are controlled by the CPU, with the first slot working at x16 when only one video card is installed, the first two working at x8 when two video cards are installed, and with the first working at x8, and the other two working at x4 when three video cards are installed.
This configuration is somewhat different from what we’ve seen in competing products, where the third PCI Express x16 slot is 2.0, controlled by the chipset, and works at x1, x2, or x4 speed.
All three PCI Express x16 slots support the CrossFireX and the SLI technologies.
If you plan to install a dual-slot video card in the third PCI Express 3.0 x16 slot, you will have to buy a case with at least eight slots. (Computer cases usually have seven.)
Since the Intel Z87 chipset does not support standard PCI slots, the motherboard uses an ITE IT8892 bridge chip to connect the standard PCI slot to a PCI Express x1 lane.
Figure 2: Slots
One of the highlights of this motherboard is the presence of a Mini PCI Express slot, allowing you to install a Wi-Fi card that uses this format. This slot is also compatible with mSATA SSDs, as it is connected to a SATA-600 port. Usually mSATA ports are SATA-300, so this is a great advantage.
Figure 3: Mini PCI Express/mSATA slot
In order to properly accommodate the additional PCI Express devices that are on this motherboard, the board makes use of a PLX PEX8608 switch chip. This chip automatically switches the available PCI Express lanes to the devices that need them. On motherboards with too many PCI Express devices without a switch chip, you need to manually disable devices on the motherboard setup in order to achieve full performance on devices connected to the additional USB 3.0 and SATA-600 ports, and the mSATA slot when transferring files at the same time.
Figure 4: The PLX PEX8606 chip