Effects of PCI Express 1.0 connections on more recent graphics cards

[Agent_Flandry]

If I'm understanding correctly, graphics cards that use PCI Express 2 .0 or 3.0 connections are backwards compatible with 1.0/1.1 connectors on motherboards. My question is, how much of an effect does using a motherboard with an earlier connection type than the graphics card have? I'm assuming there's some sort of loss in performance, since the 1.0 has a lower transfer rate, but I don't know what the implications of that difference would be.

I ask because I have a motherboard with just the basic 1.0 connection (Asus M2N68-CM) and have been thinking of upgrading my graphics card (currently have GeForce 9400), but I don't know whether it would be worth it because I'm not sure how well my computer would be able to actually use a new card designed with the higher capacity of a 2.0 or 3.0 connection in mind. I'm mostly interested in lower-end cards (<$150, stuff like the Radeon HD 7750, HD 6770, or HD 6790), so maybe it's not a big issue at that level, but I wanted to be sure. I'd be grateful for any info.

 

[fantastik250]

Here are benches on the top end card. With mid range cards the performance difference is a lot smaller. On lower end cards, there will practically be slight to no difference. Some low to mid range cards can't even max out a PCI-E 2.0 connection currently.

Hope that helps

 

[k1114]

Ya it's 2-5% even on the article tom's did with the 570 and 6950 (from 2x16 to 1x16). http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pci-express-scaling-p67-chipset-gaming-performance,2887-9.html With the mid-low cards you are looking at it shouldn't be affected. With older builds, I'd be more worried about what cpu you have rather than the pcie slot.

 

[Agent_Flandry]

Thanks, guys! Everything I needed to know.

 

[Agent_Flandry]

Best answer selected by Agent_Flandry.