PCI-e 16x vs 8x SLI

2006-08-19 01:28:55

#1

Dingarth: Member; +17|6894|Australia

I have a ASUS M2N SLI Deluxe Motherboard that has a PCI-e slot at 16x but when two cards are running at SLI they will only operate at 8x.

I currently have a 7900gt. Is it worth buying another a bit later for sli when prices go down or just keep on buying a medium-top level single card in future.

Not sure how dual 8x would affect the running of the cards

Help appreciated!!!!!!!!!!

2006-08-19 01:30:59

#2

the1: Member; +1|6809

from the reviews ive seen in theiry x16 sli should be faster but it's not, x8 sli is, go the dfi nf4 sli dr expert mobo i have one with a dual core opteron and 2x 7600gt and runs good.

2006-08-19 01:34:50

#3

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,060|7074|PNW

OP: your 7900GT should handle itself until you decide to get a new system. My AGP 6800U still hasn't run into any difficulties with new releases. Plus, the G80 will flatten anything you accomplish by putting in that extra 7900GT. When you do get a new system, be sure the motherboard is of a true 2x16x configuration, so that both cards installed (if you use two) will run at 16x simultaneously.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2006-08-19 01:35:11)

2006-08-19 01:37:16

#4

Dingarth: Member; +17|6894|Australia

Unfortunately I just bought my new system so probably wont upgrade the mb for at least a year or so. I'm happy to buy individual good cards....just wondering whether the sli thing was worth it at 8x.

Last edited by Dingarth (2006-08-19 01:37:42)

2006-08-19 01:40:40

#5

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,060|7074|PNW

Dingarth wrote:
Unfortunately I just bought my new system so probably wont upgrade the mb for at least a year or so. I'm happy to buy individual good cards....just wondering whether the sli thing was worth it at 8x.

No. Just keep it for awhile, and then chuck it for a decent DX10 card when those come out and are tested. You'll have a half-a-year's wait for that.

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2006-08-19 01:41:48)

2006-08-19 02:46:20

#6

pete123456: Member; +0|6799

unnamednewbie13 wrote:
Dingarth wrote:
Unfortunately I just bought my new system so probably wont upgrade the mb for at least a year or so. I'm happy to buy individual good cards....just wondering whether the sli thing was worth it at 8x.
No. Just keep it for awhile, and then chuck it for a decent DX10 card when those come out and are tested. You'll have a half-a-year's wait for that.

Does that mean that you are saying the 78/7900GT won't support DX10?

Last edited by pete123456 (2006-08-19 02:47:01)

2006-08-19 03:29:27

#7

Dingarth: Member; +17|6894|Australia

I don't believe it does or will. My understanding is only cards after dx10 is released will.

2006-08-19 05:34:38

#8

pete123456: Member; +0|6799

Okay thanks for the info

2006-08-19 05:52:03

#9

jsnipy: ...; +3,277|6824|...

Dingarth wrote:
I don't believe it does or will. My understanding is only cards after dx10 is released will.

no your card will work with dx10 .. but some special functionanality (analogous to shader v3 in 9c) would be be supported. Most of the time things wont be developed using new bells and whistles right away, anyway

2006-08-19 12:11:55

#10

pete123456: Member; +0|6799

Sweet thats made me feel better Cheers for the info

2006-08-19 16:17:56

#11

unnamednewbie13: Moderator; +2,060|7074|PNW

jsnipy wrote:
Dingarth wrote:
I don't believe it does or will. My understanding is only cards after dx10 is released will.
no your card will work with dx10 .. but some special functionanality (analogous to shader v3 in 9c) would be be supported. Most of the time things wont be developed using new bells and whistles right away, anyway

Well, of course there will be some basic compatibility, but I have a feeling that the new 'bells and whistles' will be put into use right away, with the upcoming release of Crysis and that studio's reputation for feature-patching, and that they'll be trading blows with UT2007...not to mention everyone else's race to realism.

But the point is not to blow a wad on a few extra FPS in another 7900GT, and just eventually replace it with a card that does support all the 'bells and whistles.'

Last edited by unnamednewbie13 (2006-08-19 16:19:56)

2006-08-19 20:47:17

#12

CommieChipmunk: Member; +488|6872|Portland, OR, USA

yeah dude just wait, unless you have a lot of cash to blow and want your benchmarks to be a little better...

you're not guna see an amazing difference with 2 7900gts.. its not worth it, but dx10 will be

2006-08-20 00:37:46

#13

pete123456: Member; +0|6799

Yep I saw a game that was supposedly in DX10 made by EA (oh no) it had a jungly theme I think but can't remember what it was called. It looked awesome though, mind-blowing graphics.

2006-08-20 00:54:31

#14

Reciprocity: Member; +721|6883|the dank(super) side of Oregon

pete123456 wrote:
Sweet thats made me feel better Cheers for the info

sorry, but no. DX10 is an entirely new critter. DX10 games will of course be backwards compatible for the next 2-3 years at least. DX10 is a whole new ballgame, not just a shiny version of 9. If a 7950 were DX10 capable, wouldn't that be a selling point? the companies are not saying a word about compatability because they want you to keep dumping money on those soon to be obsolete cards so you can also dump money on that spankin' new $600-800 card in 5 months.

2006-08-21 16:31:20

#15

Adonlude: Member; +2|7081

Dingarth wrote:
Unfortunately I just bought my new system so probably wont upgrade the mb for at least a year or so. I'm happy to buy individual good cards....just wondering whether the sli thing was worth it at 8x.

I dont think you have to worry about the dual 8x thing. SLI may not be worth it as a technology but if you are only worried about the bandwidth dropping down to 8x then I dont think you have to worry. GFX cards are not yet using all that extra bandwidth anyway. Recently either Anandtech, Extreemtech, or Tomshardware did tests comparing cards that were sold both for AGP8x and PCIe16x and their performance was identical.

SLI does not yeild a 100% increase in performance, its more like 40-60%, but I have never read anywhere that any of the performance loss had anything to do with splitting the bandwidth.

2006-08-22 00:23:17

#16

-101-InvaderZim: Member; +42|7146|Waikato, Aotearoa

Thats a REALLY good point Dingarth.

I too was under the assumption that PCIe video cards will run at 16x but they dont - (my 7600GT SLi config only runs at 8x)

2006-08-22 00:53:01

#17

Intheshadows: Member; +5|6846

pete123456 wrote:
Yep I saw a game that was supposedly in DX10 made by EA (oh no) it had a jungly theme I think but can't remember what it was called. It looked awesome though, mind-blowing graphics.

Crysis

2006-08-22 13:52:16

#18

Adonlude: Member; +2|7081

NVIDIA nForce 590SLI Intel Edition chipset will be out next month and will allow dual 16x PCIe:

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2820

BF2S Forums PCI-e 16x vs 8x SLI

Dingarth wrote:

unnamednewbie13 wrote:

Dingarth wrote:

Dingarth wrote:

jsnipy wrote:

Dingarth wrote:

pete123456 wrote:

Dingarth wrote:

pete123456 wrote:

Board footer