any point to a 5850/5870 with PCIx 1.1

skyofavalon

Senior member
Jul 11, 2007
328
0
71
I wanna make one more Video card upgrade before I do a total system overhaul. The 4850 just isnt cutting it anymore with the games I play,my q6600 probably wont soon either.

Is there any point in getting a 5850/5870 without a PCIx 2.0 motherboard ?Maybe I'm better off with a 4890 for the final card.
 

dguy6789

Diamond Member
Dec 9, 2002
8,558
3
76
The 5850 and 5870 work perfectly fine performance wise on non 2.0 PCI Express motherboards.

Note: PCIx is not the abbreviation of PCI Express. PCI X is something completely different.
 

error8

Diamond Member
Nov 28, 2007
3,204
0
76
The performance loss is next to nothing on a PCI express 1.1 16X slot over a PCI express 2.0 slot, with a 5870 card.
 

vj8usa

Senior member
Dec 19, 2005
975
0
0
Originally posted by: skyofavalon
I wanna make one more Video card upgrade before I do a total system overhaul. The 4850 just isnt cutting it anymore with the games I play,my q6600 probably wont soon either.

Is there any point in getting a 5850/5870 without a PCIx 2.0 motherboard ?Maybe I'm better off with a 4890 for the final card.

http://www.techpowerup.com/rev...0_PCI-Express_Scaling/
PCIe 1.1 x16 offers the same bandwidth as PCIe 2.0 x8, and from that review it seems to be perfectly adequate for the 5850 and 5870.

As for your Q6600, I don't see why that'd be inadequate for gaming anytime soon, especially if you overclock it to 3+GHz.
 

Tempered81

Diamond Member
Jan 29, 2007
6,374
1
81
Yah in TPUs article you're looking at like 98% on PCIE 1.1 and 100% on PCIE 2.0. So like an average loss of 2% in FPS by you not using a 2.0 motherboard.
 

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
98% with a much faster CPU than yours.
98% in a less CPU limited means 1.1 vs 2.0 for your setup will be more like 99.5%.
 

Zinthar

Member
Aug 1, 2006
94
0
0
Originally posted by: Lonyo
98% with a much faster CPU than yours.
98% in a less CPU limited means 1.1 vs 2.0 for your setup will be more like 99.5%.

Exactly.

I have a DFI P35 board paired with a Q6600 at 3.6 ghz. Since the vast majority of games are GPU-limited at 1920x1200 and up, this is still an EXCELLENT setup to pair with a 58xx series GPU. The Q6600 G0 was an epic CPU by Intel... still going strong nearly 2 years post launch.
 

Clinkster

Senior member
Aug 5, 2009
937
0
76
Originally posted by: Zinthar
Originally posted by: Lonyo
98% with a much faster CPU than yours.
98% in a less CPU limited means 1.1 vs 2.0 for your setup will be more like 99.5%.

Exactly.

I have a DFI P35 board paired with a Q6600 at 3.6 ghz. Since the vast majority of games are GPU-limited at 1920x1200 and up, this is still an EXCELLENT setup to pair with a 58xx series GPU. The Q6600 G0 was an epic CPU by Intel... still going strong nearly 2 years post launch.

Seconded. I have mine OC'd to 3.4 Ghz and nothing comes close to maxing it out.
 

skyofavalon

Senior member
Jul 11, 2007
328
0
71
Thats awsome then. I was fearing with the monster performance of the new ATI and upcoming Nvidia cards that PCI express 1.1 would start becoming the new agp 8x.

My q6600 wont over clock for shit. I have a good motherboard for overclocking (abit p35) good power supply and memory,I just got a dog of a cpu for overclocking.

Yea I still make the PCIx mistake all these years later,I'll probably never get rid of that habit.