[metallicamaster3]

My two GTS 250s are in SLI in my motherboard's x16 and x8 slots respectively (ports one and two). This gives my first card absolutely no breathing room. If I put it to the next slot down (x4), will my second GTS 250 take a performance hit?

 

[9KRacing]

Yes. Damn these LE boards. I can't wait for the SLI3 to come out.

 

[metallicamaster3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9KRacing Yes. Damn these LE boards. I can't wait for the SLI3 to come out.

Yeah, and in my case I can't use the last slot (x8) because it won't fit, my GTS 250 hangs over the side in my case

.

Why did they do x16/x8/x4/x8 instead of x16/x8/x8/x4?!

 

[subliminally incorrect]

it wont take much of a performance hit since its pcie 2.0. if you were on a pcie 1.0 slot and you ran it on a x4 slot it would suffer more.

 

[Fantasysage]

Dude, I really doubt you will see that much of a performance hit. And hey, give it a try and let us know. I have my 250 pumping Physx on the 4x and it works fine.

 

[jspeedracer]

You will take a hit, the electrical 4x slots are 2.0 compatible but they are only 4 by 1.0 electrical. I tried my 9800gtx in the 4x slot and lost about 2k points in 3dmark06, my 9600gt pushes the limits of the 4x in sli.

 

[metallicamaster3]

Yeah, when I had my 260s installed (which weren't affected by the lack-of-space issue), one of my 250s were in the x4 slot, which all it did was folding, power two external monitors, and PhysX. Handled it well.

Plus PCIe 2.0 x4 = PCIe 1.0 x8. Maybe I'll give it a shot.

My temps are horrible on the first card. Both cards are folding right now and it's at 75C for card 1, and card 2 is only at 58C.

 

[jspeedracer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by metallicamaster3 Yeah, when I had my 260s installed (which weren't affected by the lack-of-space issue), one of my 250s were in the x4 slot, which all it did was folding, power two external monitors, and PhysX. Handled it well. Plus PCIe 2.0 x4 = PCIe 1.0 x8. Maybe I'll give it a shot. My temps are horrible on the first card. Both cards are folding right now and it's at 75C for card 1, and card 2 is only at 58C.

Yea folding the cards pumped out the same ppd but they don't use the pci-e like games do, all the work is done on the card and same thing for PhysX mostly as well. Also I have not read anywhere that confirms the x4 slot runs at 4x2.0, it implies it but if you research it I think you'll find it is only 4x1.0=4.

 

[9KRacing]

It's weird, I have my cards sandwiched, running 1.087 volts and a custom fan profile, and both my cards idle in the mid 40s and load to like low 70s. I really expected way worse temps with this board. These cards aren't nearly as bad as everyone says.

 

[metallicamaster3]

Hey 9KRacing, off topic here, but what are your settings for 4.1GHz on your 930? Also, how are your temps?

 

[ryman546]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...0,1915-10.html

check that article out. its old but doesnt look like much performance impact on crysis.

on this one however theres a noticeable impact
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...0,1915-12.html

 

[metallicamaster3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryman546 http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...0,1915-10.html check that article out. its old but doesnt look like much performance impact on crysis. on this one however theres a noticeable impact http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...0,1915-12.html

I must say that's not bad at all. I think I'm going to go for it.

. I can handle a 5fps drop.

 

[1337LutZ]

No, you can do it

 

[9KRacing]

That doesn't look like anything I'd be interested in.

 

[metallicamaster3]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9KRacing That doesn't look like anything I'd be interested in.

Yeah, but that's Crysis, as well as a dual GPU card. Who knows, I'll find out when I try BC2 later.

 

[Kevlo]

i think there is like a 5% performance drop from 16x to 4x so mabey 1-2 frames, nothing big in most games

 

[iStoleTheGoods]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 9KRacing That doesn't look like anything I'd be interested in.

Mmm 89 FPS vs 131 FPS doesn't really matter.. won't even notice. Something like 30 FPS vs 15 FPS would matter though.

 

[ablearcher]

iirc, the X4 slots is linked off of the southbridge's PCIe links? SO it's PCIe 1.x?

 

[TCOC]

It's only -4% with a single card going from 16X to 4X so I doubt you will notice it.

 

[clerick]

The 9800x2 bench is pci-e 1.0, the only linked above me is 2.0. So yea you won't suffer much if any.