Gigabyte EX-58 Extreme -> extreme lack of pci express x1 slot!

[kyster]

Just completed my new upgrade with my shiny new EX-58 extreme board and was about to put the last piece in...my soundblaster card....when guess what? The one and only pci expressx1 slot is completely blocked by the north bridge hulking heat sink!!

It's completely unusable! Its the most retarded thing i've seen on a motherboard in a long time.
As design flaws go this is a doozy. THE most expensive board in the range and I can't even use the slot I read was included on this board.

Just wow.     

[Jann3]

I know this is of little consolation but maybe they only intended it to be used by one of those short length cards.  Things like this seem suprisingly commonplace with expansion cards.

However my understanding of PCI-express is you could always plug your x1 card into the x4 slot or even a x16 (if you have any free ), correct me if I'm wrong here someone?

Not ideal but hey

[Baron]

I had a problem on my new build with the GA-EX58 Extreme board, in that with two 4870X2's installed, there was no way I could fit my Creative 2 ZS sound card into the bottom pci-e slot.
So, for not much money, I got the Creative USB external XFi 5.1 jobbie, and it works a treat.
The Audigy went into my nippers machine to do away with his onboard sound.............so everyones happy....

[IYoung]

I have the same problem too, I can't use the PCI-E slot because the NB heatsink is blocking the way. I have watercooling on the NB too and was wondering if anyone else with watercooling has removed the NB heatsink alltogether? If so what kind of temp does the NB run at under load?