PCIe 1.0 with a geforce 9800 GT 1Gb GPU PCIe 2.0

[Leu16]

Hi,
I am running a MSI K9N SLI V2 mobo, with the Nvidia NForce 570 LT SLI chipset, and have found out that the PCIe slots are PCIe x16 1.0 version. Not only that, when plugging a graphics card in, it looks like it will only run on x8 of the x16 channels!? Is this right?

I also recently bought a EVGA GeForce 9800 GT 1GB DDR3; PCIe 2.0 Video card. I understand that it will work in the PCIe 1.0 slot.......but since my mobo PCIe 1.0 will only use x8 channels max per video card, will i see a significant lack of performance because of it? Would it be worth upgrading motherboards at this point to a newer one with PCIe 2.0?

I haven't received and tested the 9800 gt yet, but i can provide better info for those that are helping me with these questions, once i do run it.

Also, is there a huge difference between the PCIe 1.0, PCIe 1.0a, and the PCIe 1.1?

I am eager to have a smooth gaming experience, i know the video card is good, just need to know how much the rest of the system is limiting its potential.

Thanks!

 

[chookman]

It should run at 16x, should only run at 8x if its in SLI mode or there is another card in the other 16x slot.

 

[Leu16]

I am only using one of the x16 slots. The thing is when i was looking for info, i checked into the nForce 570 LT SLI chipset it is equiped with, and it stated the configuration for the PCIe was 8,8,1,1. When i used PC Wizard to look at the configuation to the PCIe slots, i found out first that they are the 1.0 type, second, each of the PCIe x16 slots for the graphics card runs at x8 max...........I know it is x8 when SLI is used, but it seems odd that it would still be x8 max on a single GPU.

 

[mi1ez]

Can you change the settings in the BIOS at all?

 

[Leu16]

Not anywhere i can find at this time.

 

[chookman]

On further inspection looks like you could be forced to use 8x
From your mobo manual (2-19)

"PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) Express Slot
The PCI Express slot supports the PCI Express interface expansion card.
The PCI Express x 8 supports up to 2.0 GB/s transfer rate.
The PCI Express x 4 supports up to 1.0 GB/s transfer rate.
The PCI Express x 1 supports up to 250 MB/s transfer rate."

And NVIDIA states in tech specs the 570 SLI LT can only do 8x, comparted to the 570 SLI that does 16x
http://www.nvidia.com/page/nforce5_specs_amd.html


9800GT could be limited slightly due to 8x vs 16x but at this point i think your platform would be slowing you down more. I think the next upgrade is definetly CPU and Mobo