PCI, PCI-e, and PCI x16

[Razrwolfe]

I'm looking at building a relatively cheap but highly upgradable PC, and I'm wondering about the various PCI slots on the MOBO i'm thinking of. I know you want at least one PCI-e slot for your sound card, and at least one PCI x16 for your Graphics card, but what else are these used for?

 

[talldude123]

PCI slots are used for anything, from modems, ethernet cards, sound cards, and serial cards.

PCI Express slots are used for mostly video cards, but they are also present in ethernet cards and SATA cards.

 

[Razrwolfe]

How many of each should I look for then? And how is SLI going to affect this?

 

[Deathawk]

It's PCI and PCIe x16.. The x4's, and x1's don't really matter.

PCI is used for sound cards, PCIe x16 is used for graphics cards.

SLI is a waste, honestly, 1 PCIe x16 slot is sufficient. For PCI it doesn't really matter that much either, 3 - 4 is fine though. Just because your motherboard has 2 PCIe x16 slots doesn't mean it's SLI or CF, however.

 

[COD2_fanatic]

i'd recommend looking for one PCIe 16x, maybe two PCIe 1x and a couple PCI in a motherboard, something like the Gigabyte GA-945PL-S3 or the acclaimed "DS3"

 

[Razrwolfe]

I was thinking something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135026

It has SLI seems like a good deal.
Thank you all for your help.