Windows 10: Using a PCIe x1 card in a PCIe x16 slot

Here is something I recently found out. I have tired this and it works.

You can use a PCIe x1 card, or a PCIe x4 card in a PCIe x16 slot. They work fine. So if you think you are short of PCI-e slots, you may not be. A shorter PCIe card works fine in a longer slot.

On PCIe X1, X4 and X16 slots, the first 18 pins are all wired the same, so as long as the PCI-Express card fits in the PCI-Express slot, it should work.

This is not the case for the legacy PCI (32-bit, non-express) slots, that are not PCI-Express. Those are not compatable with PCIe cards.

Here is the PCI-Express page on Wikipedia showing pinouts, etc.
PCI Express - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

YouTube Video showing PCIe X1 card in a PCIe X16 slot.
x1, x4 pci Cards Fit Into x16 pci-e Slot - YouTube

Here are links to discussions on this subject at Tom's Hardware.

"Can I install a PCI-e x1 Wireless network card in a PCI-e x16 slot?"

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/...-x16-slot.html

pci-e x1 card into pci-e x16 slot? - Graphics Cards

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/...-x16-slot.html

:)

 

Windows 10 - USB xHCI Compliant Host Controller Code 10

Moving the USB card fixed it! I just went through the same problem with a Windows 10 system that had been running beautifully for 6 months or more. Yesterday, I installed a SIIG USB 3.0 card
(PCIe x1) and got the same USB xHCI Compliant Host Controller cannot start (code 10) error message. I tried all the remedies outlined on this thread with no success, including downloading the SIIG Windows 8.1 driver and trying to get that to work--it is a
Renesas chipset driver. SIIG website says Windows 10 native driver is all that is required. Then after working to resolve the problem for a couple of hours, it hit me that my sound had stopped working. I checked Device Manager, and it showed everything was
fine with the sound card. I thought maybe I had accidentally disconnected something inside, so I opened it up and found everything in perfect order. Then it occurred to me that maybe using a PCIe slot adjacent to the sound card PCIe slot had created a conflict.
So, I moved the USB 3 card to a different PCIe slot, rebooted, and the sounds had come back, and the Windows 10 USB driver was automatically installed and working perfectly. So,
I recommend trying a different PCIe slot that is not adjacent to any other slot in use.
My mobo specs do say that the PCIe x16 slot used for the video card and the adjacent PCIe x1 slot cannot be used simultaneously, but there is no mention of a problem with using adjacent PCIe x1 slots at the same time. Anyway, my problem is now
solved.

 

USB 3.0 expansion card not working.

Yes. I have tried 2 different PCIe x1 slots.