Which PCI slot for my graphics card?

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Dave1117

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Jun 29, 2014
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My motherboard is this Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+

Here's a diagram I found http://www.gigabyte.com/fileupload/product/2/4717/8732.jpg

Now, I have my windforce Radeon R9 270 GPU in the PCI-E gen 2 slot towards the bottom of the MOBO. It's close to the power supply but has enough space that the fan spins without touching anything. I'm talking about the 2 slots with levers that click in. The other slot is being used for my wireless card. I watched a carey holzman video on youtube where he said something like "You won't get enough power if you don't use a 16x slot" or something... I think when I installed my GPU is just looked like a better spot to put in terms of space.

Been using it in that slot for a year now with no real problems. Should I try and move it to the upper slot?
 
Solution
photonboy
*UPDATE:
I just checked your manual and the 2nd full length slot drops all the way down to x4 performance mode not x8 (PCIe v2) as I'd thought.

That probably makes a SMALL DIFFERENCE with the R9-270. I suggest you do this:

1. Shut down and move the card to the top x16 slot, and

2. Move the wi-fi card to the bottom "x1" slot if possible not the bottom x16 slot. (Probably won't matter though if you use the x4 slot)

If you're curious, run 3DMark2001 or similar before and after this.
http://www.futuremark.com/benchmarks/legacy
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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Hi,

Moving will make NO difference.

By populating one of the PCIe x16 slots it may reduce the allocated bandwidth to your graphics card however you would still have far more than enough to that card to prevent any bottleneck issue.

POWER has nothing to do with it.

If you want absolute proof then run any game benchmark shortly after booting then write down the score, shut down and move the card to the top (remove wi-fi card too) then boot up and run the same test again.

Aside from the small variance you get every time you test the score will be the same.
 
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Gallarian

Gallarian

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x4, x8 and x16 refer to bandwidth, not power. It simply means that more data can be transferred. Technically (though not always noticeably), you will get better performance using a x16 slot, and generally it is what you should be using if you can.

 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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*UPDATE:
I just checked your manual and the 2nd full length slot drops all the way down to x4 performance mode not x8 (PCIe v2) as I'd thought.

That probably makes a SMALL DIFFERENCE with the R9-270. I suggest you do this:

1. Shut down and move the card to the top x16 slot, and

2. Move the wi-fi card to the bottom "x1" slot if possible not the bottom x16 slot. (Probably won't matter though if you use the x4 slot)

If you're curious, run 3DMark2001 or similar before and after this.
http://www.futuremark.com/benchmarks/legacy
 
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Dave1117

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So I moved my GPU up to the 16x slot simply because in the manual for the R9 270 it says to use the 16x slot. After booting up my pc and getting to my desktop, my resolution reverted to default, and my screen blacked for about 1 second and now the pc seems to be functioning properly. Is this rather normal when changing pci slots? I'm gonna try out some games.
 
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Rogue Leader

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Dec 22, 2014
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Yeah any time you move a card it takes some time for the drivers to adjust and figure out where it is now.This is normal.
 
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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Agreed (moving). The next time you restart it should be fine.

*I doubt you'll notice the game difference by eyeballing it. In some games you may get 5% or so (hard to estimate) but you really would need to have done a benchmark.

I've seen x16 vs x8 (PCIe v2) comparisons using Titans which showed only a very small difference so running x4 PCIe v2 with an R9-270 may still be sufficient bandwidth to avoid a bottleneck of the PCIe bus.

You can't directly compare cards though because getting the data TO the card through the PCIe bus is not likely proportional to how fast the GPU can process data it already possesses in its video memory.
 
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RPT3CH_US3R

RPT3CH_US3R

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May 21, 2015
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Graphics Cards should go to the PCIE x16 slot.

This could help you
On your motherboard there should be a label called "PCIEx16" or "PCIE_x16"


J4vSadB.jpg
 
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Dave1117

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Jun 29, 2014
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Gotcha ;) I linked that same image in an earlier post. All is working well in the 16x slot. I had it in the 4x slot. Judging by a framerate counter I feel like my performance is slightly better now, but it's so minor that I could easily just be placebo.

 
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