[the_texan]

As I stated in another thread, I live in an AGP world and am looking to cross over to PCIe. Now, I'm naturally assuming that the 16x is going to be faster, and my new cards will be going towards an SLi setup. But, on some motherboards I see that the PCIe "speed" changes based on whether you run SLi. This confuses me somewhat. I have seen where it changes from two 16x to 8x/8x, I have seen two 16x change to 16x/1x. I do not understand these "measurements" at all. Is there any motherboard that will run PCIe as 16x/16x if you have two 16x cards? Or is that simply a wishful impossibility?

 

[Chim3ra]

They really aren't speeds. They are available "lanes" for data to move through. x16 (by 16) has 16 lanes to use to move information through. In SLI (not the SLI32) your bus width is split up to a x8 x8 configuration. The x1 slots are supposed to replace the standard PCI and PCIX slots, however, there aren't that many components that utilize those slots.

 

[sccr64472]

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_texan As I stated in another thread, I live in an AGP world and am looking to cross over to PCIe. Now, I'm naturally assuming that the 16x is going to be faster, and my new cards will be going towards an SLi setup. But, on some motherboards I see that the PCIe "speed" changes based on whether you run SLi. This confuses me somewhat. I have seen where it changes from two 16x to 8x/8x, I have seen two 16x change to 16x/1x. I do not understand these "measurements" at all. Is there any motherboard that will run PCIe as 16x/16x if you have two 16x cards? Or is that simply a wishful impossibility?

Asus and MSI have motherboards that are 16x/16x for SLI. You won't notice much of a difference,though. Crossfire also has motherboards that are 16x/16x. What cards are you looking at? Post what cards and how much you're paying because members might be able to make a better suggestion or find the cards that you like cheaper.

 

[|2A|N]

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_texan As I stated in another thread, I live in an AGP world and am looking to cross over to PCIe. Now, I'm naturally assuming that the 16x is going to be faster, and my new cards will be going towards an SLi setup. But, on some motherboards I see that the PCIe "speed" changes based on whether you run SLi. This confuses me somewhat. I have seen where it changes from two 16x to 8x/8x, I have seen two 16x change to 16x/1x. I do not understand these "measurements" at all. Is there any motherboard that will run PCIe as 16x/16x if you have two 16x cards? Or is that simply a wishful impossibility?

There isnt currently any support for running full 16/16... Its there but you cant use it to its full potential basically

 

[Omri]

for now the PCI-Express x1 is just free space for a bigger vga fan

 

[the_texan]

Well I'm still budget minded, so bear that in mind too, but here ya go:
http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814130265
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130271
Those are the two cards I'm most likely gonna debate over for a while. Looking at going with these to compliment the two new cards:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103547
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131568
But, since you say in a 16x/16x config you won't really notice much, would that then basically be wasted money?

 

[sccr64472]

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_texan Well I'm still budget minded, so bear that in mind too, but here ya go: http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814130265 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130271 Those are the two cards I'm most likely gonna debate over for a while. Looking at going with these to compliment the two new cards: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103547 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131568 But, since you say in a 16x/16x config you won't really notice much, would that then basically be wasted money?

For the 2 cards and the motherboard, you're spending over $600. IMO, you'd be much better off with an MSI Neo4-F and a 1900xt. It'd be slightly cheaper and would outperform that setup. You could sub a crossfire motherboard for the MSI, but I don't think it's necessary unless you think you'd want another video card before you left socket 939.

 

[the_texan]

Well, if I did anything, it's going to be a 2-5 year setup. The setup I have now is about 4 years old--the only thing replaced relatively recently is my current videocard (about 6 months ago). I would be fine with a reduction in performance just a little bit, because I think pretty much anything out there now is gonna be better than what I have. Pixel pipelines: 12 vs 16. I don't think it's really going to matter to me that much, because right now I'm still running with just (gasp) 4. Not only that, but I may actually just buy one card for now and see how that runs. If I need another one for later, then in a few months I'll pick up another one (hopefully at a drastically reduced price) and run full SLi and overclock both of them

. I like alot of games, and right now play Brothers in arms, getting about 30-40 fps on my ATI 9550. A small jump or huge leap forward in technology for me probably wouldn't be that different, so I might look into cost a little bit more. Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[sccr64472]

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_texan Well, if I did anything, it's going to be a 2-5 year setup. The setup I have now is about 4 years old--the only thing replaced relatively recently is my current videocard (about 6 months ago). I would be fine with a reduction in performance just a little bit, because I think pretty much anything out there now is gonna be better than what I have. Pixel pipelines: 12 vs 16. I don't think it's really going to matter to me that much, because right now I'm still running with just (gasp) 4. Not only that, but I may actually just buy one card for now and see how that runs. If I need another one for later, then in a few months I'll pick up another one (hopefully at a drastically reduced price) and run full SLi and overclock both of them . I like alot of games, and right now play Brothers in arms, getting about 30-40 fps on my ATI 9550. A small jump or huge leap forward in technology for me probably wouldn't be that different, so I might look into cost a little bit more. Thanks for the suggestion though!

Keep in mind that it takes a beefy power supply to run to video cards. If you're looking for a great bang for the buck, try looking for a 7800gt and go with just 1 card for now. That will run games very well and can be found on sale weekly. Btw, keep in mind that they're not going to make those cards anymore, so you might be forced to use Ebay if you decided to use SLI down the road.

 

[the_texan]

I got a 550W sunbeam modular power supply on the way here, so I hope that all will be well with it too. The pricing point of the 7800's seems to be the 20 pipelines versus 12. But I have actually started looking at this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130256
and I put it in my wish list, so whatcha think about that one?

 

[TheLegend]

Quote:

Originally Posted by the_texan I got a 550W sunbeam modular power supply on the way here, so I hope that all will be well with it too. The pricing point of the 7800's seems to be the 20 pipelines versus 12. But I have actually started looking at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130256 and I put it in my wish list, so whatcha think about that one?

Great choice on the power supply, its a tough one to beat for the money. As for the video card, I have the exact card except its not the CO version. I have my 7800gt overclocked to 500/1118. You could expect a little better overclock because of the copper heatsink, but overall two great buys!