Just got AMD Firepro W8100: It's designed for PCIE 3.0, but my MB is only 2.0. Problem?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
enjoiskaterguy

enjoiskaterguy

Distinguished
Dec 21, 2013
104
0
18,690
So I have just recently bought the AMD professional series GPU..the Firepro W8100.

The performance in Autodesk 3ds max is meh...wondering if it could be caused by my MB (ASUS Crosshair v Formula-Z) which only has up to x16 PCIE 2.0 slots...not 3.0 which my new graphics card can run up to.

amd does say this about the card: "Available PCIE x16 (dual-slot), 3.0 for optimal performance"...how much better performance is the question?

PCIe Raw bit rate Interconnect bandwidth Bandwidth per lane per direction Total bandwidth for x16 link
PCIe 1.x 2.5GT/s 2Gbps ~250MB/s ~8GB/s
PCIe 2.x 5.0GT/s 4Gbps ~500MB/s ~16GB/s
PCIe 3.0 8.0GT/s 8Gbps ~1GB/s ~32GB/s

so...i am still confused by this data above.

I have read that PCIE is more than enough for modern gpu's but does that include workstation graphic cards too?

here is the GPU specs...

AMD Firepro W8100 GPU:
  • SPECS

    8 GB GDDR5 memory
    512-bit memory interface
    320 GB/s memory bandwidth
    PCIe® 3.0 compliant, x16 bus interface
    2,560 stream processors
    4.2 TFLOPS peak single-precision floating-point performance
    2.1 TFLOPS peak dual-precision floating-point performance
    Available PCIe x16 (dual-slot), 3.0 for optimal performance
    A 750 watt or better power supply, with two PCIe AUX power connectors (six-pin)
    8GB System memory or greater
    Microsoft® Windows 8.1, Windows® 7, or Linux® operating system (32- or 64-bit)
    Internet connection for driver installation

    what does all this mean?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
enjoiskaterguy

enjoiskaterguy

Distinguished
Dec 21, 2013
104
0
18,690
can you guys help me understand it though?

why is it so?

here is a graph with the speeds of the various Gens of PCIE....

PCIe Raw bit rate Interconnect bandwidth Bandwidth per lane per direction Total bandwidth for x16 link
PCIe 1.x 2.5GT/s 2Gbps ~250MB/s ~8GB/s
PCIe 2.x 5.0GT/s 4Gbps ~500MB/s ~16GB/s
PCIe 3.0 8.0GT/s 8Gbps ~1GB/s ~32GB/s

even though my MB/CPU are designed for only 16GB/s....how does that number match up with my graphics card? what cooralating GPU information should i be referencing to ease my worries?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
blacksheep123

blacksheep123

Honorable
Jul 7, 2014
2,392
0
12,960


modern gpus an of dec 2014.. even the best ones that cost over a 1000$ cannot go faster than pci-e 2.0.. its a fact

pci-e 2.0 speeds are yet to be broken
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
enjoiskaterguy

enjoiskaterguy

Distinguished
Dec 21, 2013
104
0
18,690
I believe you but I want to understand the concepts here-the arithmetic-the raw data.
What does the 16/Gbs mean in relation to my GPU speeds? and what speed differences would I get from a PCIe 3.0 board instead?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
blacksheep123

blacksheep123

Honorable
Jul 7, 2014
2,392
0
12,960


there will be no difference whatsoever with a 3.0 mobo
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
damric

damric

Illustrious
Sep 17, 2010
8,017
72
37,990


That's just the bandwidth available by the motherboard to the graphics card. It's more than just about any modern GPU can use.

Think of it like a highway. Your car isn't going to get from point A to point B on a 1 million lane highway compared to a 2 million lane highway because there just isn't enough traffic to use all of those lanes.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
blacksheep123

blacksheep123

Honorable
Jul 7, 2014
2,392
0
12,960
imagine you have a car that has the license to drive at 90mph highway

but the speed it can achieve is just 30mph and you are driving it on a 50mph highway

the 90mph highway is pci-e 3.0

the 50mph highway is pci-e 2.0

the car with 30mph top speed is ypur GPU
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
enjoiskaterguy

enjoiskaterguy

Distinguished
Dec 21, 2013
104
0
18,690
thank yo all so much. You are helping paint a more clear picture but which numbers should I be looking at? Again, what data should I be referencing to help me get to the point to where I can explain the specs of a card and it's relationship with PCIE 2.0 vs. 3.0???
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
damric

damric

Illustrious
Sep 17, 2010
8,017
72
37,990


There are lots of experiments over the years that you can google, but here is the most recent one that I can remember from October 31st of this year.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_980_PCI-Express_Scaling/1.html

This is using a GTX 980, which is just a little faster than your graphics card. W1zzard is arguably the most respected reviewer on the internet when it comes to graphics cards. If he says it, I know it is true. How do I know? Because he's a freakin' wizard.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
enjoiskaterguy

enjoiskaterguy

Distinguished
Dec 21, 2013
104
0
18,690
Thanks for the benchmark link damric but those benchmarks are done on a gaming graphics card, powered by gaming drivers. What I need is real world application-based benchmarks and seeing if PCIE 3.0 does make a difference or not for programs like Autodesk 3ds Max, Maya, ZBrush, Vray, Photoshop, or Premiere Pro.

Now, I did read the Toms Hardware review on the firepro W8100, which ran it's benchmarks on an Intel based system running with PCIE 3.0. It used a program called LuxMark to do some gpu rendering. I went ahead and did the same Luxmark tests on my AMD based PCIE 2.0 system and am happy to report back that my results were actually about 5-10% better than their results.

One thing I am thinking is happening is that the Windows gadget GpuObserver isn't optimized for firepro cards and. At times I am unable to see the card being monitored when I'm rending or using graphics intense software. I'll try to use Autodesk 3ds Max and monitor it using MSI Afterburner and see if the gpu is active while I do Vray rendering (no activity in gpuObserver other than fan speed fluctuations last render)

I'll also go on Autodesk forums and bring my concerns up with them...link them to this thread too.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom