Can a PCIe X1 card fit in a X4 slot?

[Loren Littlejohn]

Here is the situation.

For some reason the firepod won't sync to my powermac. Don't know why. Anyhow hard drives and all that shit work.

The firepod DOES sync with my laptop though so I'm pretty much positive it's a problem with the mac not the firepod.

So I need more slot anyhow and want top grab a FW card (maybe some usb as well). I only have 2 PCIx X4, and one X8 slot. Every card I look at is a X1 card.

Will it work? Should I just call newegg (or whoever) and ask?

 

[DevilJaw]

technically u can plug any PCIe into any other PCIe slot as long as it fits, so if you can plug a x1 into a x4. but i have heard of hardware conflicts by doing this, but this was with devices like tv tuners, video cards, and the like, usually pluging in the opposite, like a x8 or x4 video card into a x1 slot.

havent heard about or tried it with firewire cards, i use a x1 PCIe firewire card in x1 slot.

 

[Mancha]

It`ll work fine. PCI-E slots are downwards compatible as cards only use the number of PCI-E lines they were made for, thus, you can use x1 cards on x4, x8, or x16 slots.
It is also possible (though not always) to use a x16 card on a x8 or x4 slot.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Aight d00dz. Good to know!