PCI Express x16, PCI Express x4 (x16 connector)?

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Last response: January 18, 2007 3:14 PM in Graphics & Displays

Ijiamee

January 17, 2007 10:51:53 PM

Hi,

I'm looking at buying a pre-built pc (/ducks) and the MB specs listed show the following:

PCI Express x16, PCI Express x4 (x16 connector) and 3 PCI slots.

I've never built a SLI/CF box before so I'm not quite sure of all the specifics. My question is what limitations will I see running CrossFire on a PCI-e X4, with a X16 connector?

I was told that this board is x-fire ready. But I'm thinking that may not mean x-fire will work as wel as if ther were 2x16's, at least thatt is what I'm assuming.

So, is a X4 slot with a x16 connector normal for x-fire or should I be looking at a MB with 2 X16 slots?

Thanks in advance

More about : pci express x16 pci express x16 connector

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bliq

January 17, 2007 11:20:07 PM

I think normally, the 2 x16 connectors will either share a single x16 lane (nF4, ATIX200) or the newer chipsets give each connector its own x16 (ATIX3200, nF5/6)

I've never heard of one that did x16 on one and x4 on the other, although x4 connector is the same as x16 connector. What motherboard is it again?

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mpjesse

January 17, 2007 11:58:08 PM

they're quite common actually. though the other slot is x16, it has x4 lanes. the advantage is you can buy a x16 or x8 RAID card (for example) and it'll fit nicely. not many motherboards have x8 and x4 connectors... so putting a x16 connector is a good solution. raid cards don't need more than x4 bandwidth.

i wish more botherboards had an extra x16 connector w/ 4x lanes. that way i can run SLI and have a high performance RAID card.

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Ijiamee

January 18, 2007 12:29:19 AM

thannks for the replies. The MB specs can be found here: http://www.gateway.com/programs/fx530/index.asp?page=te...

it is an oem BTX 5-slot Intel® 975X motherboard.

my concern is that even if the pipes are reduced to 8 per card, i'll only pump 4 on the x4 connector. If that is the case i'd like to understand how much of a performance reduction, if any, it will be.

thanks for any insight.

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mpjesse

January 18, 2007 12:37:40 AM

i don't know of any MODERN articles that compare the difference in performance between x4 and x8. however, there is this article published a couple years ago:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/11/22/sli_is_coming/in...

as you can see there are minor differences in speed between x4 and x8. however, keep in mind they're testing the 6800 series cards. the performance gap has likely increased quite a bit since then, especially with the latest 79xx series and definitely with the 88xx series.

my advice: don't bother with SLI on a x4 connection.