Only 1 PCIe Slot and need 2, what to do?

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Rich
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My compact desktop works reasonably well, but it only has one spare PCIe slot.
LR processes ok and i'm not a games player, but I would like a GPU for programs like PureRaw.
Currently uses the Intel integrated graphics which are ok for most things, but not everything

The slot originally had a very low end graphics card installed which I replaced with a decent soundcard.
Is there any way to have both, the soundcard is my priority and don't want to buy a new PC
Only other expansion the specs mention are 2 x M2 slots, not even sure what they are.

Any ideas please?

Thank you
 
How about an external USB sound 'card'?

Edit- should have refreshed the page before I posted :LOL:
 
wyx087 said:
Worth posting the exact make and model of your motherboard?
Click to expand...
I believe its this one. HP Lubin 82f2

Would prefer not to have to buy a GPU and an external soundcard, the one I have is a fairly expensive Creative Soundblaster
 
The 2 M2 slots are the latest connectors for NVME hard drives, basically look like sticks of ram but have incredibly fast read/write rates (typically up to 7x faster than a SSD) because they connect directly to the PCIE bus the same way the graphics card does.

Depending on your case and soundcard, it might be possible to buy a M.2 to PCIE x4 converter cable (might also need an additional power connector internally which some OEM systems don't provide) to connect the sound card to one of the M.2 sockets, but as this isn't a common connection the parts are not cheap and the quality might not be great on cheaper ones. You'd still need a spare slot on the case to mount it to along side the GPU.
 
Ah, yeah, there's only 1 PCIe slot..... Reason I ask is because normal form factor for compact PC is mATX, which has 4 expansion bracket spaces on the motherboard.

For M.2 to PCIe riser cable to work, you'll need an expansion bracket that isn't covered by the motherboard. So look at back of your PC, I'm guessing it only has 2 expansion bracket, both covered by motherboard. If you have 3, worth considering the M.2 to PCIe x4 riser cable solution for the sound card.

USB sound card is easiest to go, unfortunately means replacing your existing sound card.
 
Thanks all, no easy or cheap remedy so its carry on as is until new PC time.
 
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