concerned about pcie1.0/1.0a

[darckhart]

I did a search here and on google and mostly found that pcie2.0 cards work fine in pcie1.1 slots, but what about 1.0/1.0a slots? Are these also fully supported? And is there also a difference in bandwidth? (Read some things that said 8x pcie2.0 = 16 x pcie1.1 = ? pcie1.0a?) Mobo in sig. Thanks!

 

[BernardP]

I once started a thread on this same topic. The best objective answer I could find appears on page 2:

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2167785&enterthread=y

 

[aka1nas]

P35 is PCI-E 1.1 and will not have issues with PCI-E 2.0 cards.

This issue only really affects first-gen PCI-E chipsets, and I have only actually read of people having problems with VIA chipsets or on those Asrock hybrid boards(ULi chipset?).

 

[darckhart]

@bernadp haha. yes, i remembered posting something about this but couldnt remember which forum. your finding on the spec is good, tho whether the video card has correct implementation or not is worrisome. it also seems that the 16x slots are electrically identical, so presumably a bios update could turn a pcie1.0/1.0a/1.1 slot into a pcie2.0?

@aka1nas yes, i assumed p35 was pcie1.1, but, of course, in my abit ip35pro v1.00, only 1.0 and 1.0a listed in the bios options.

 

[BernardP]

Originally posted by: darckhart
@bernadp haha. yes, i remembered posting something about this but couldnt remember which forum. your finding on the spec is good, tho whether the video card has correct implementation or not is worrisome.

I would not be worried about a newer PCI-E 2.0 videocard, as problems seem to be limited to the first gen (eg: 8800GT) and NVidia.

it also seems that the 16x slots are electrically identical, so presumably a bios update could turn a pcie1.0/1.0a/1.1 slot into a pcie2.0?

Never heard of this and very much doubt it. Maybe someone else knows more.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: darckhart
@bernadp haha. yes, i remembered posting something about this but couldnt remember which forum. your finding on the spec is good, tho whether the video card has correct implementation or not is worrisome. it also seems that the 16x slots are electrically identical, so presumably a bios update could turn a pcie1.0/1.0a/1.1 slot into a pcie2.0?

@aka1nas yes, i assumed p35 was pcie1.1, but, of course, in my abit ip35pro v1.00, only 1.0 and 1.0a listed in the bios options.

I have a Gigabyte 4870 card working fine in my old Epox board which is an old nForce 4 board with a PCI-Express 1.0a slot.

Somebody in a different forum actually contacted ATi and they said they are backwards compatible to older PCI-Express slots.

 

[darckhart]

Yes, I looked at a few older threads and it seems the problems were prevalent in 8800gt models which tech seems to have passed by. Good to know ati cards are working fine. Thanks!