HD5870 PCI-E scaling

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It looks like even a PCI-E 2.0 4x slot does not significantly impair the performance of an HD5870:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...Scaling/1.html

Looks likethe PCI-E 8x slot in my SD37P2 is good enough for a while longer!!

[Biscuit]

so my P35 wont impare it?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

so my P35 wont impare it?

It seems like it!

[kalniel]

Looks likethe PCI-E 8x slot in my SD37P2 is good enough for a while longer!!

You shouldn't be surprised - the amount of communication between CPU and GPU doesn't really increase when you bump up the resolution or AA/AF features, just the internal work that the GPU is doing.

Direct Compute might be another matter entirely though.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Direct Compute might be another matter entirely though.

Probably your right here but TBH, as long as my current computer can last me until early 2011 for gaming purposes I will be happy. I will probably upgrade my graphics card when Crysis 2 is released so it is good news for me that the PCI-E 8x slot on my 975x should be OK for the time being.

I am looking forward to the successors to the HD4770,HD4830 and HD4850 and hopefully these should offer much greater performance in a similar power consumption envelope.

[Syllopsium]

It looks like even a PCI-E 2.0 4x slot does not significantly impair the performance of an HD5870:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...Scaling/1.html

Looks likethe PCI-E 8x slot in my SD37P2 is good enough for a while longer!!

Interesting - ta for that.

Likewise, I see no reason to move from a 975X (PCI-e 1.0) chipset any time soon. A 16x slot has a miniscule performance hit, and even if you ran two in crossfire at 1.0 x8 it'd probably still be viable without too much of an issue.

PK

[Syllopsium]

I will probably upgrade my graphics card when Crysis 2 is released so it is good news for me that the PCI-E 8x slot on my 975x should be OK for the time being.

Surely that's x16, or do you already have a card in your other x16 physical/x8 electrical (when the other slot is occupied)?

PK

[ahoyhoyhoy]

It looks like even a PCI-E 2.0 4x slot does not significantly impair the performance of an HD5870:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/A...Scaling/1.html

Looks likethe PCI-E 8x slot in my SD37P2 is good enough for a while longer!!

That is a great read. Thanks for posting it. Where is the thanks button? I'm going blind.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Surely that's x16, or do you already have a card in your other x16 physical/x8 electrical (when the other slot is occupied)?

PK

The two PCI-E slots run at 8x electrically permanently!! Shuttle did not make this clear at the time when I bought the barebones.

[Syllopsium]

The two PCI-E slots run at 8x electrically permanently!! Shuttle did not make this clear at the time when I bought the barebones.

Bummer. Still, at least from the figures you can see you're not actually losing much unless you have to have an extra 2fps on Crysis at some stupid resolution.

PK

[scaryjim]

Interesting - how does the PCIe 2.0 4x bandwidth compare to AGP 8x? About the same? I was worried that AGP might be too much of a bottleneck to make a gfx upgrade for my old pc worthwhile, but now I'm not so sure...!

[scaryjim]

Where is the thanks button? I'm going blind.

Yes. Yes you are. Or maybe you just don't have enough posts yet (with thanks to TakTak for keeping the useful links in his sig!)

[llololloy]

Interesting - how does the PCIe 2.0 4x bandwidth compare to AGP 8x? About the same? I was worried that AGP might be too much of a bottleneck to make a gfx upgrade for my old pc worthwhile, but now I'm not so sure...!

It is about he same actualy, agp 8x is about 2100MB/s, pci-e 2 has 500MB/s per lane, so yeah 4 lanes would be 2000MB/s.

Though wether anyone developes a 5series card for agp is another matter. can't see it myself.

[scaryjim]

It is about he same actualy, agp 8x is about 2100MB/s, pci-e 2 has 500MB/s per lane, so yeah 4 lanes would be 2000MB/s.

Though wether anyone developes a 5series card for agp is another matter. can't see it myself.

Not too fussed for 5-series, but I was considering upgrading my old PC one last time to either a 3850 or 4670. If a 4x PCIe doesn't bottleneck a 5800 then AGP should be fine for either of those.

Now I just have to decide which one

[Pob255]

Well that artical has shown one thing, apart from a couple of real pigs you don't need something as powerful as a 5870