PCI 3.0 Graphics cards on a PCI 2.0 bus? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: JohnnyGringo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2013, 02:42:44 pm
content: One of my graphics cards died. At this time I'm looking to only replace it (or both of them) and not the entire system.I prefer NVIDIA cards, but all their newest cards run on the PCI 3.0 bus. MY ASUS motherboard (P8P67 DELUXE) only has the PCI 2.0. However, the Nvidia GTX 680 GPU Specs specify:"PCI Express 3.0**GeForce GTX 680 supports PCI Express 3.0. The Intel X79/SNB-E PCI Express 2.0 platform is only currently supported up to 5GT/s (PCIE 2.0) bus speeds even though some motherboard manufacturers have enabled higher 8GT/s speeds."www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-680/specificationsDoes anyone have any experience or opinions on how well this would work?Is it time to bite the bullet and build a new system? I'd prefer spending that money on a bench top power supply and function generator.As always, thanks for your feedback. It is greatly appreciated.

author: Fsck
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2013, 02:47:12 pm
content: two words: backwards compatible.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2013, 02:48:27 pm
content: PCI-Eis generally back and forth compatible. It'll work fine.

author: JohnnyGringo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2013, 02:52:23 pm
content: Thanks !!! Is that generally true for all (NVIDA) PCI-E 3.0 GPUS? Or just the 680?

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2013, 02:53:01 pm
content: It's generally true for the entire bus.

author: JohnnyGringo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 29, 2013, 02:54:53 pm
content: Outstanding! That greatly increases my choice of cards. Thanks for your replies everyone.

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2013, 12:00:04 am
content: I recently got a nvidia GTX760 to replace a dead 8800GT and it worked great in my old motherboard which is PCI-Express 1.1

author: JohnnyGringo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2013, 03:23:46 am
content: How do you like the 760? Would you recommend it over the new titan or the 690?

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2013, 03:38:15 am
content: No point getting a titan or 690. The 760 plays all games perfectly fine at a fraction of the cost.The extra cost of a titan or 690 only means the card will last a bit longer before becoming too slow in the future.It's much more cost effective to buy a generally good card now, then another in a few years. (verses one expensive card now)When you upgrade more often you get an improved chipset which provides a larger speed/quality improvement than one initial expensive card with a high clock rate.

author: hans
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2013, 11:01:04 am
content: The only difference in PCI-E specifications is the available bandwidth. When PCI-E 3.0 was introduced the current gen graphic cards (GTX 6-series) got absolutely zero increase in fps, because it could not take advantage of the extra bandwidth.I think a GTX 7-series will likely perform the same, or only a very few fps extra with PCI-E 3.0. So nothing to be lost.Likely PCI-E 3.0 will only matter when you run cards in SLI or something with 3 monitor gaming with ridiculous sized textures.I always have a budget on computer equipment, aimed for the 'sweet spot'. Don't buy rubbish, because it's of no good use. Don't buy the absolute high-end stuff, because it's a waste of money. 2 years back I got a HD7850 (AMD, regretful) card, for ~220 euro point. I will likely not upgrade it in the upcoming year or so, because it runs all of my games superb (like Skyrim modded to the bone, and some simulator games with 3 monitor eyefinity)

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2013, 12:04:18 pm
content: And if you are not a gamer/3D renderer/etc. that requires a lot of GPU power, the simplest integrated GPU will be more than enough. High-end GPUs tend to use more power even at idle , run hotter, and have louder fans.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2013, 10:27:43 pm
content: Quote from: Psi on November 30, 2013, 03:38:15 am4k takes about 4 times as much GPU as 1080p at the same frame rate. You'll really want a top notch GPU or two for that. Keep that in mind if you're planning to upgrade to that anytime soon.

author: JohnnyGringo
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: November 30, 2013, 10:49:35 pm
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on November 30, 2013, 10:27:43 pmDo you think that nvidia's 700 series will handle 4K?EDIT: Looks like it but only at around 60 Hz...QuoteWoW!! This is the first I've heard about 4K. Any ETA on when we'll see 4K monitors?Quote

author: Psi
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 01, 2013, 09:48:39 am
content: Yeah, i doubt even the most expensive ati/nvidia card available now will have the power to play the kind of games that will be out when 4K desktops becomes mainstream.Probably wont see consumer 4k for another few years at least.We may see >1080P desktop monitors getting cheaper in that timeframe though, like 2560x1600The next gen oculus rift might be interesting though. The consumer version will be 1080P but this kind of VR really needs 4K.Its also much easier to make small 4k displays, so we might see a 4K oculus rift V2 and that will require a videocard that can game at 4k

author: Fsck
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 01, 2013, 10:17:37 pm
content: Quote from: JohnnyGringo on November 30, 2013, 10:49:35 pmalready out. just price prohibitive for most. a 4k 30Hz monitor is only like 600$ CAD though it's not 10-bit.

author: iceisfun
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 02, 2013, 07:16:22 pm
content: I have good luck driving 4x1920x1080 on my 680