x8 to x16

[_orbital_]

hey guys.. need some help about bus interface.. mine is running at PCIe x8 when motherboard supporting at PCIe x16..
can anyone tell me how i can chage to PCIe x16 or what?

 

[customisbetter]

if your motherboard is pcie 2.0 then a pcie1.1 card will run in 8x i believe. what board do you have?

 

[_orbital_]

it's Gigabyte M61SME-S2..
and i think it's not PCIe 2.0

 

[customisbetter]

well there's your problem...
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2507

look at the pci paragraph. it only supports 8x!. but DO NOT WORRY! there really isn't that much of a difference in performance. maybe 5-7%. there is an article floating around that showed the difference in speeds, ill try to find it.

 

[customisbetter]

heres a link to someone with a similiar problem, the difference is negligible.

http://forums.tweakguides.com/showthread.php?t=4040

 

[_orbital_]

Thanks a lot.. i knew that x8 is not that much slower, but again i heard that x8 runs at 2gb/s and x16 4b/s..
i don't know.. i might be wrong.. but next week i am getting new motherboard and 4870..
can you tell me any good mobo?

 

[customisbetter]

anything other than ECS should do just fine. ; )
the 4870 is a great card too.

 

[_orbital_]

i am looking at XFX MIA78S8209

 

[Darkmatterx]

What kinda annoyes me is that I have a Gigabyte P35 DQ6 and it says on the box that it has 2 PCI-E X16 slots optimized spefically for crossfire, except once you read the fine print you find out that those "2 X16 slots" are actually 1 X16 and 1 X4 slot... How can you label something as having 2 X16 slots when 1 is 16 and the other is 4..... It seems like pretty basic english to me... Apparently when in crossfire mode both slots run at PCI-E X8 which, for these new cards isn't enough bandwidth to allow for 100% performance. (unless I am mistaken)

 

[_orbital_]

you are not mistaken.. some mobos are like that.. some are x16 and x16.. in your case it is x8 and x8 in crossfire..

 

[Darkmatterx]

and for the 4870's, X8 and X8 won't cut it right?

(it doesn't really matter for me atm because I don't plan on going xfire right now, but it still irritates me that they can advertise something that isn't true)

 

[_orbital_]

yeah.. you are right.. it won't cut.. like we talked already so it would cut maybe a million part of a second.. so not big deal ;]

 

[Darkmatterx]

Ok thanks Orbital. I was feeling that the 5-7% posted above would kinda be enough of a dip to be noticable but according to the link posted it really isn't.

Also, I have a lot of ram so I would think that would help buffer from any issues, as well as having a lot of ram on the video cards themselves.

This is all good info to know if I ever do decide to go crossfire.

I guess the only thing that crossed my mind now is, with the 4870's, and soon the 4870X2s that'll end up in systems crossfired, how is the northbridges in todays systems handling all data being shoveled at it from so many sources. The ammount of data that a motherboard has to content with just keeps skyrocketing upwards faster and faster. I know the FSB speeds have gone up but it doesn't FEEL like its keeping up with the ammount of data we're sending at it.

 

[_orbital_]

he he.. you are right..
well but fsb is getting bigger as well and faster, but again thay all cost a bit more so..

 

[grizz86]

i am looking at XFX MIA78S8209

That mobo is a micro.. and have onboard vga.. I doubt its not perform like atx mobo..
U can take this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813127046&Tpk=abit%2bax78

Forget the reviews. I own it and for cheap atx mobo, I'm impressed for its overclocking capability. Btw it has crossfire slot (1x16 ; 1x4) pci-e 2.0 and has latest technologies. Good luck!

 

[_orbital_]

Thanks man.. but i have a question
is it really PCIE x16 2.0 version? couldn't find info

 

[pauldh]

Firingsquad shows zero difference with SLI 8800GTS 512MB between 8x/8x and 16x/16x. Look at 750i vs 780i -

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/evga_nforce_750i_sli_ftw_review/page11.asp

 

[grizz86]

Thanks man.. but i have a question
is it really PCIE x16 2.0 version? couldn't find info

It is pci-e x16 2.0.
http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=AX78&fMTYPE=Socket+AM2&DEFTITLE=Y
Make sure ur buy or flash the new bios 13. It has bug fixed.

 

[_orbital_]

It is pci-e x16 2.0.
http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/motherboard/motherboard_detail.php?pMODEL_NAME=AX78&fMTYPE=Socket+AM2&DEFTITLE=Y
Make sure ur buy or flash the new bios 13. It has bug fixed.

Yes sure...
thanks man..