Despite the trend in shrinking PC sizes, larger desktop towers with ATX motherboards are still popular — and for fiends who ...

See, it’s still needed by every single extra port you get ... maybe two x4 links out of an x8-wired x16 slot. Now, there’s an alternative, and it’s PCIe switches – these are hefty ...

So you might as well put those extra PCIe lanes to good use and add a few more SATA ports for a new HDD or SSD to be installed. If you use M.2 drives, then you can buy an M.2 expansion card instead, ...

When attached to a motherboard's PCIe x16 slot, a card such as the GeForce RTX 4080 can draw up to 75W from the +3.3V and +12V rails (3.3V x 3A + 12V x 5.5A). This is the maximum amount specified ...

The ability to bundle multiple lanes to provide less or more bandwidth to specific ports or devices has meant that there was no need for a specialized graphics card slot, using e.g. an x16 PCIe ...

Support 16GT 8GT 5GT 2.5GT data rate ; Compliant with PCI Express 4.0, 3.1, 2.1, 1.1 and PIPE 4.2 standards ; x1, x2, x4, x8, x16 lane configuration with bifurcation ; Multi-tap adaptive programmable ...

but it also leaves eight PCIe lanes on a typical x16 connector unused. Render of the card's internals, showing the dual M.2 sockets. (Image: Videocardz) What to do with the extra lanes?

Storage options are limited to a single 1TB PCIe SSD. Battery life might vary slightly between the two laptops. The X16 Plus packs a larger 75Wh battery, while the X14 Plus makes do with a 60Wh unit.

The Alienware x16 R2 features a 16-inch Quad HD+ display with 100% DCI-P3 Colour Gamut, a 240Hz refresh rate and 3ms response time. The panel has a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels.