PCI Express 2.0 x16 backward compatible

[nal]

Will a PCI Express 2.0 x16 work in my motherboard that only supports PCI Express x16? My mother board is an ASUS A8N5X, it's pretty old.

 

[ViviTheMage]

Yes you can

A PCIe x16 2.0 video card will work in a x16 motherboard.

and a PCIe x16 video card will work in a PCIe x16 2.0 motherboard.

 

[luv2liv]

wow. i was wondering the same thing tooo! thanks!

 

[dflynchimp]

PCI-e 2.0 is nearly identical to PCI-e 1.0 in all utility aspects. The ONLY thing that changed is that 2.0 carries double the bandwidth, so 1.0 X16 = 2.0 X 8. Simple math really.

 

[hclarkjr]

Will a PCI Express 2.0 x16 work in my motherboard that only supports PCI Express x16? My mother board is an ASUS A8N5X, it's pretty old.

for the most part it is backward compatible but version 1.0 slots have been documented to have some trouble with 2.0 video cards. read here http://www.google.com/search?q=PCI-...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

 

[askowal]

So does that mean the card will be running at slower speed in an x16 slot? Will there be a significant difference in its performance? I was thinking of upgrading to a 9800GT from my old ATi x1650. My processor isn't the fastest (dual core 2.20 Ghz) Will I notice an increase in performance? I don't really wanna speed that much money on a new processor, motherboard etc. Will the graphics card cut it?

Sorry about asking this on the same thread, I was reluctant to start a new one about basically the same thing. Hope that's ok.

 

[dflynchimp]

dual core 2.2GHz but what brand? The old Athlon X2's are no match for Core 2 Duo's at that frequency.

a 9800GT is a pcie 1.0 card, you won't be having any bandwidth issues assuming you're running it in a 1.0 X 16 slot or 2.0 slot.

 

[askowal]

This card? I thought it was 2.0

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-339-_-Product

And unfortunately my processor is the athlon, which I know isn't the greatest. Regardless, do you think this would boost my performance? Or do you think I'd need a new processor AND video card to really see a difference? I'm wondering if the different slot interfaces combined with my mediocre processor would result in a similar performance as my current, 3 year old, card.

 

[dflynchimp]

what games are you playing?

To be fair, a Athlon X2 at 2.2GHz was loads better than any of its Pentium D series competitors. But eventually if you wish to play modern games you should look to upgrade to at least a Core 2 Duo rig.

Realistically you shouldn't even be considering a 2.0 series card as there are plenty of 1.0 series cards that will push your cpu to its limits, but that's a gross generalization. I'd say for you a 9800GT from Nvidia or 3870/4670 from AMD is about right if you're keeping your cpu.

 

[askowal]

Well it sounds a bit like the video card isn't the problem then, would I get more mileage out of a better processor, performance wise? If I do that instead, I can hold off on the graphics (the 9800GT is only ~$110) for a lil while and upgrade when I have a bit more cash. But you're saying it would be better that I get something will my slot type. Those would work better than the 9800, because of it running at a slower speed? Anything you would suggest?

Thanks guys

 

[dflynchimp]

don't get me wrong. there's really nothing wrong with using 2.0 cards in 1.0 slot. The only thing that effects is how much bandwidth the card gets for data transfer, but in practice a regular 1.0 slot has more than enough bandwidth. What I was saying is that 2.0 cards, being newer, generally have faster performance, meaning a good percentage of them will outstrip your cpu.

Still, what games are you playing?

 

[askowal]

Oh sorry, forget to tell you, haha.

TF2, Mass Effect (2 eventually), Bioshock (2 eventually), Dragon Age. Among others. I've been reluctant to buy too many games until I upgrade a little, the ones I get I make sure to try a demo first, to see if it'll perform ok.

Also, I'm reluctant too spend to much money upgrade this computer, the motherboard really isn't good enough to handle it anyway. Plus I won't be using the computer for too long (seeing as I'll be out of the house in a few short years). I'm looking to get something that can run just about any game I buy (minus maybe crisis XD), at a solid, playable frame rate at highish settings at 1280, but not HD resolutions.

With that being said, I'm open to any recommendations. I was hoping I could spend the $120 on a new graphics card and be done with it, but I've had some conflicting information saying that really won't help very much, thanks to my processor/mobo. Thanks again for your help dflynchimp.

 

[nal]

Ok thanks. I want to get a decent 2.0 in anticipation of upgrading my computer soon to hopefully a i7 rig.

 

[nal]

I also plan on running ubuntu on this computer.

 

[dflynchimp]

Oh sorry, forget to tell you, haha.

TF2, Mass Effect (2 eventually), Bioshock (2 eventually), Dragon Age. Among others. I've been reluctant to buy too many games until I upgrade a little, the ones I get I make sure to try a demo first, to see if it'll perform ok.

Also, I'm reluctant too spend to much money upgrade this computer, the motherboard really isn't good enough to handle it anyway. Plus I won't be using the computer for too long (seeing as I'll be out of the house in a few short years). I'm looking to get something that can run just about any game I buy (minus maybe crisis XD), at a solid, playable frame rate at highish settings at 1280, but not HD resolutions.

With that being said, I'm open to any recommendations. I was hoping I could spend the $120 on a new graphics card and be done with it, but I've had some conflicting information saying that really won't help very much, thanks to my processor/mobo. Thanks again for your help dflynchimp.

at 1280X1024 you should be fine with a 9800GT or a GTX250 (really a 9800GTX). That should last you until your next major rebuild I think. And maybe you'll want 2GB of ram if you don't already have that much.

 

[ViviTheMage]

I don't even think any 2.0 PCIe2.0 video card can even max out PCIe 1.0 yet...so if you are concerned about bandwidth, you shouldn't be.

Per lane:

* v1.x: 250 MB/s
* v2.0: 500 MB/s
* v3.0: 1 GB/s

16 lane slot:

* v1.x: 4 GB/s
* v2.0: 8 GB/s
* v3.0: 16 GB/s