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dual 16X pci-express vs dual 8x PCI express

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - dual 16X pci-express vs dual 8x PCI express

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Berthor   03-19-2007 at 09:21:48 PM

It seems as though if you want to go Intel cpu with sli Nvidia cards you stuck with only 8 available lanes for the pci express. In constrast, if you have an AMD setup, you can get access to the full 16 lanes from both pci Express slots.

My question is this, is there really a graphical difference between running nvidia cards in SLI mode on an AMD system VS Intel core 2 duo?

looking to get the E6600 intel for it's price/performace, but I don't want to hinder the 8800s I plan on eventually getting. for right now, i'm pricing out the bfg gtx version.

thanks in advance.

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Cleeve   03-19-2007 at 09:24:18 PM
- 0 +

You would never be able to see the difference caused by the bandwidth difference with the human eye.

However, the CPU difference would be more pronounced (although at high resolutions it'd still be bottlenecked by the videocards).

Regardless, I'd go with the core2 system for sure.

Reply to Cleeve
13thmonkey   03-19-2007 at 09:52:13 PM
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the 680i family of motherboards all do x16/x16 so you can do that if you want.

Reply to 13thmonkey
quantumsheep   03-19-2007 at 10:02:22 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

You would never be able to see the difference caused by the bandwidth difference with the human eye.

However, the CPU difference would be more pronounced (although at high resolutions it'd still be bottlenecked by the videocards).

Regardless, I'd go with the core2 system for sure.



Exactly! There is no difference at all. Come to think of it no modern card would even saturate the bandwidth provided by AGP 8X i believe, nevermind 8x PCI-E!

Core 2 system ftw.

Reply to quantumsheep
blade85   03-19-2007 at 11:59:50 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

You would never be able to see the difference caused by the bandwidth difference with the human eye.

However, the CPU difference would be more pronounced (although at high resolutions it'd still be bottlenecked by the videocards).

Regardless, I'd go with the core2 system for sure.



Exactly! There is no difference at all. Come to think of it no modern card would even saturate the bandwidth provided by AGP 8X i believe, nevermind 8x PCI-E!

Core 2 system ftw.

yeaay for AGP....but perhaps the 8800gtx versions may???

Reply to blade85
quantumsheep   03-20-2007 at 08:51:03 AM
- 0 +

Quote :

You would never be able to see the difference caused by the bandwidth difference with the human eye.

However, the CPU difference would be more pronounced (although at high resolutions it'd still be bottlenecked by the videocards).

Regardless, I'd go with the core2 system for sure.



Exactly! There is no difference at all. Come to think of it no modern card would even saturate the bandwidth provided by AGP 8X i believe, nevermind 8x PCI-E!

Core 2 system ftw.

yeaay for AGP....but perhaps the 8800gtx versions may???

Not afaik.

Reply to quantumsheep
Slobogob   03-20-2007 at 10:15:52 AM
- 0 +

Quote :

You would never be able to see the difference caused by the bandwidth difference with the human eye.

However, the CPU difference would be more pronounced (although at high resolutions it'd still be bottlenecked by the videocards).

Regardless, I'd go with the core2 system for sure.



Exactly! There is no difference at all. Come to think of it no modern card would even saturate the bandwidth provided by AGP 8X i believe, nevermind 8x PCI-E!

Core 2 system ftw.

I read that multiple time, yet i somehow couldn´t believe it. Maybe nvidia is hyping their excessive pci express lanes up and i´m starting to take their word for it (god forbid!). I needed some hook to get into a discussion with one of those amd guys at the cebit to warm them up a little.
So what you are saying is almost excatly what that amd representative told me at the cebit when i asked why amd only offers an enthusiast platform with 2 x8 slots for intel processors compared to what nvidia is offering. They were pretty convinced that 8x is enough for now and will be for quite some time.

Reply to Slobogob
jamesgoddard   03-20-2007 at 01:35:03 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

the 680i family of motherboards all do x16/x16 so you can do that if you want.



I am not sure about the 680i, it's not true x16/x16 as one of the PCIe connectors is effectively on the southbridge (I believe the idea is they use a AMD based northbridge in lieu if the standard southbridge). Using an extra hop will affect the latency to one of the cards, and I am not sure this is a better scenario that just having 2 8x link on the northbridge proper.

Reply to jamesgoddard
vpsaline   03-20-2007 at 02:04:44 PM
- 0 +

What motherboard will be good for the R600 crossfired, before Bearlake-X is released. The day R600 is launched, what will be its best existing xfire board?

Reply to vpsaline
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