Perry

I've always known a bit about PCI-E 2.0 with regards to theoretically allowing twice the data transfer between a video card and the motherboard/CPU (x16 with PCI-E 1.1 compared to x32 with PCI-E 2.0) but it has me wondering if there is really any reason to upgrade.

As it stands right now there really isn't any performance difference between PCI-E x8 and x16 based on the cards that are currently out (although I'm curious if the 8800GT, G92 8800GTS or 3870 come close) and there isn't anything so far that can push the limits of x16 (except possibly the above mentioned cards) but with the next generation of of video cards sporting some stupid fast speeds and claiming to be PCI-E 2.0 capable there may or may not be more to this than a simple cash grab by the manufacturers.

So the questions.

Since the majority of new cards from both manufacturers seem to be sporting the PCI-E 2.0 compatible tag does it mean that you will automatically see an increase if you switch to a chipset that supports it?

Are you really limiting yourself by continuing to run a 2.0 capable card on a PCI-E 1.1 board?

Is there a video card out there that would benefit from the switch because it's actually fast enough to create a bottleneck with PCI-E 1.1?

Would I be getting more performance on a 9600GT running on a PCI-E 2.0 capable board than someone running an 8800GT on one that is only PCI-E 1.1 capable?

If the answer to these questions are yes then I'm surprised that more motherboard manufacturers haven't jumped on the PCI-E 2.0 bandwagon and scaled back their current offerings to give those with slimmer wallets a chance to increase their performance. Let's face it...$200 for a motherboard is a lot for an average Joe like myself but gamers are always looking for the next big thing that will allow them to increase their performance (or bragging rights ).

I'm sure that some if not all of this won't be able to be answered until the 9xxx series hits the store shelves.

Someone on another forum used a great analogy. If a car is capable of doing 100mph but the highway has a speed limit of 120mph then what good would it be for the highway to open lanes that allow people to drive 140mph if they can't utilize the current ones to their full extent?

Sorry if this post seems all over the place but I'm writing it off and on while at work. God forbid I actually do work when I'm here.

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DuckieHo

The short answer is: No.

The long answer to all of the above is: No.

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To answer most of your questions: (1) a fridge cannot cool a PC (2) 64-bit OS for over 3.4GB (3) If a PCIe card fits, it should work (4) Resolution, not screen size (5) If you have a question, it is not news (6) Report, not respond to Spam (7) Single-Rail/Non-Modular PSUs are not always better than Multi-Rail/Modular (8) Sequential does not matter as much as random for OS drives

Ryude

I think there are too many factors, such as drivers/chipset/etc.

Perry

So at this point even thinking of moving up to a PCI-E 2.0 capable board is a moot point. I can't say as I'm surprised since money does make the world go 'round and there are people out there willing to drop insane amount of money just because something has a new feature.

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linskingdom

PCIE 2.0 has new features but needs time to develop in order to take full advantage of it. We don’t even use full 1.1 specs so PCIE 2.0 is a long way to go. In most cases, extra hundreds of dollars just gain a few percentages of performance.

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Push to the limit one more time..

noobdown

short and sweet
gotta love duckieho

just like everyone has said no

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ATi 4830 Club

Perry

Good enough although I'm a bit disappointed that a 9600GT with 2.0 won't beat an 8800GT with 1.1.

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Marin

8800GT has 2.0

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ErBall

This I did not know. Nor did I know my evga supported it until i bought the sucker. Hooray for tech you didn't know you had.

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nathris

Wow, then I think you need to read up a bit on video cards then.


8800GT has twice the stream processors as the 9600GT, so even if we were talking about 8x to 16x, or maybe even 4x to 8x, the 8800 would still pwn.

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