PCIe 2.0 vs PCIe x16

C

Calis

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 12, 2005
Messages
407
Hey guys

im getting a new system, and im wondering if there is any performance reduction if i'm running a card that says its "PCIe 2.0" in a PCIe x16 slot

I.E, am i ok to buy a mobo with a PCIe x16 slot and use any GFX card in it?
 
The generation of the card has nothing to do with the lane size of the card. There are x16 PCIe 1.0 cards just as there are x16 PCIe 2.0 cards. In theory 2.0 cards are twice as fast.
 
In theory 2.0 cards can spit data back and forth between themselves and the CPU twice as fast. But in reality it's like a speed limit. It doesn't matter that the speed limit got raised to 200 from 100 when the fastest car(d)s can only go 80.
 
So would i see any difference whatsoever running a PCIe 2.0 card (9800gtx) in a PCIe x16 slot?

im weighing up between Gigabyte GQ6 and an Asus PK5-E
 
Fieryphoenix said:
In theory 2.0 cards can spit data back and forth between themselves and the CPU twice as fast. But in reality it's like a speed limit. It doesn't matter that the speed limit got raised to 200 from 100 when the fastest car(d)s can only go 80.
Click to expand...


This is the most accurate answer here.
 
You are talking about two difference things. When you talk about x16, you are referring to the size of the physical socket. They may also include a separate spec indicating how many lanes actually go to that socket, as you can have less lanes to a socket than the it's physical size. Think about early SLI boards that had 16 PCI-e lanes to the x16 socket when only a single card was used, but when SLI was used the lanes were split to 8 for each socket. This is often referred to as the electrical spec of the socket.

PCI-e 2.0 refers to the latest protocol for PCI-e, much like the difference in AGP 2x, 4x, etc. It refers to the speed at which the bus operates, how much power is fed to the socket, etc. Take note that the PCI-e protocol is both forwards and backwards compatible. You can run PCI-e 1.1 cards in a 2.0 board, and a 2.0 device in a 1.1 board.

As for the performance difference, there is little or no difference for now.
 
matrix563 said:
pretty much now it won't make a difference. my 2 cents :)
Click to expand...

Bingo! I've seen the difference between running a Pci-express(1.0/1.1) GPU in a slot @ x4, x8, and x16. Of course x16 is optimal, x8 is 80-90% of the performance of x16, but x4 is just crap, 40-60% of the performance of a card running with a slot @ x8 or x16, I'm referring to those P35 mobos with 1 pci-express slot that is x4 for a GPU, it's not very helpful. As for the performance difference between pci-express 1.0/1.1 and 2.0, NIL!
 
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