Does this even work? AM3+ and PCIe 3.0

mcjesus

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Jan 16, 2014
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I'm considering an upgrade of CPU and (sadly) mobo. I'm running a 955BE which I have managed to overclock to 3.8ghz, but on high overvolt, so I normally only run 3.6ghz @ stock voltage. When I was looking to upgrade it I found out that my mobo, a M4A79XTD EVO, was never updated to support AM3+, it's stuck at AM3.

Of course, it seems like AM3+ is on its way out, and only one AM3+ mobo I'm aware of, the ASUS Sabertooth, even supports PCIe 3.0. I'm aware most people feel current GPUs can't even take advantage of the speed it allows, but I'm looking to futureproof (which is why the only upgrade I've even needed in the last 5 years was a GPU).

Which brings me to the real question, can an AM3+ CPU even take advantage of the speed PCIe 3.0 allows? Or, will it be phased out before that's possible?
 
AM3+ motherboards do not support PCI-E 3.0. That doesn't mean a PCI-E 3.0 card will not work in a PCI-E 2.0 slot though.

The AM3+ socket is dead. AMD will not be releasing anymore processors for that socket unless they are hiding something from everyone extremely well. (don't count on it!)

It isn't a matter of the processor really.. the graphics cards of today can't even fully utilize the PCI-E 3.0 bandwidth.

You question is confusing.

I had a 7970 PCI-E 3.0 on a AMD 980 CPU and it worked just fine if that helps.
 



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?gclid=CKOpwrL7hr8CFQ-CfgodFG4Agg&Item=N82E16813131877R&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-AMD+Motherboards-_-N82E16813131877R&ef_id=U6Ng9wAAAfvF0Kof:20140619221519:s

What?

Are you guys talking a bout USB 3? The specifications say it only supports PCI-2.0.. it would have to be an aftermarket chip and I highly doubt any manufacturer is going to pay the enter money to put a PCI-3.0 chip on an AMD motherboard.

EDIT: I stand corrected.

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH_990FXGEN3_R20/specifications

But what the heck does PCIe 2/3 mean?
 
G

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And it's impossible to find now =[ I literally only just bought my Sabertooth and couldn't find that one for love nor money. I'm not sure why they ditched it, or if it was just a limited edition thing, such a nice board.
 

mcjesus

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Jan 16, 2014
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But assuming I can find it somewhere, would it be worth it? Would the best AM3+ CPU be able to process the information sent to it by a PCIe 3.0 GPU fast enough? Or is there literally no point in integrating PCIe 3.0 into a AM3+ mobo?
 

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