HEY! Wait a minute... (RTX 4060 PCIe)

[EarthDog]

Slots: The length of the slot determines the number of lanes (outward/return) x8 = 8 outward + 8 return.
This is the X16/X8/X4/X1
After that, there's nothing to stop you putting an X1 card in an X4/X8/X16 slot, or an X8 card in an X16 slot.
But you can't make the reverse physically impossible,
(although I've seen X8 slots wired in X4 (or the card, i don't remember)).

Spot on. The slot's length determines the maximum number of lanes. To add a bit to this, there can be physical and electrical differences. For example, you can have a full-length x16, but it's wired max x8. Length typically matches the electrical, but not always.

There are some 'open-ended' PCIe slots, too, that will take physically larger cards, but they are electrically limited to length. Sometimes, you see this in the smaller x1 and x4 slots.

 

[Kenrou]

@JLK03F150 That's actually a really good point, I still do a fair of video editing as well and CUDA is God

 

[Flamethrower1972]

Slots: The length of the slot determines the number of lanes (outward/return) x8 = 8 outward + 8 return.
This is the X16/X8/X4/X1
After that, there's nothing to stop you putting an X1 card in an X4/X8/X16 slot, or an X8 card in an X16 slot.
But you can't make the reverse physically impossible,
(although I've seen X8 slots wired in X4 (or the card, i don't remember)).

View attachment 365605

The bios can also decide how many channels to use for each slot.
Your example speaks for itself: your card is an X16 running in X8.

Then there's the theoretical maximum speed, which is indicated by the PCI express "version", from 1.0 to 5.0 (today).
Example: I have a PCIe 4.0 x16 card in a PCIe 3.0 slot x16, no problem.

And to come back to the original question, there's not much difference, because it's rare to use so much data.
In your current case: 15.75 GB/s, like me in PCIe 3.0 x16

View attachment 365607

That is a great explanation.

 

[rainless]

Well, a good point about the 4060 is frame generation, when they get all the kinks worked out it will be faster than the 3070 in games that support it, regardless of 8x or 16x, so you're a tad more "future proofed"

Yeah... That and all my games are "old" anyway. Cyberpunk's like 4 years old now or something. BG3 is turn-based... so even when I had an underpowered PSU and my system was suffering... it didn't really matter. Seems like it's going to take me FOREVER just to get through those two games... Plus I have Tekken 8 coming for my PS5 tomorrow so... Meh. I could probably hang on to the 4060 as long as I held onto the 2060 Super. (Though I'm expecting some EXTREMELY DRAMATIC lifestyle changes this year which may affect my overall consumption of PC components I won't have time to use...)

Slots: The length of the slot determines the number of lanes (outward/return) x8 = 8 outward + 8 return.
This is the X16/X8/X4/X1
After that, there's nothing to stop you putting an X1 card in an X4/X8/X16 slot, or an X8 card in an X16 slot.
But you can't make the reverse physically impossible,
(although I've seen X8 slots wired in X4 (or the card, i don't remember)).

View attachment 365605

The bios can also decide how many channels to use for each slot.
Your example speaks for itself: your card is an X16 running in X8.

Then there's the theoretical maximum speed, which is indicated by the PCI express "version", from 1.0 to 5.0 (today).
Example: I have a PCIe 4.0 x16 card in a PCIe 3.0 slot x16, no problem.

And to come back to the original question, there's not much difference, because it's rare to use so much data.
In your current case: 15.75 GB/s, like me in PCIe 3.0 x16

View attachment 365607

THERE'S that chart I was asking for! This guy's got his eye on the ball!

What GPU do you have again?

I remember reading old posts of @rainless that you use software which benefits from Cuda cores (video editing or something like that). AMD wasn't an option for you for that reason, even though the RX6800XT is faster @ gaming, it didn't meet your total needs.

Yeah. That's why I would've went with the 3070. I was actually on my way to pick it up... actually DROVE past the guy's HOUSE that was selling it. But I was hungry and freezing my *** off. Plus the graphics card wasn't the mission... Bringing my things, and above-all, my piano back to France was the mission. So I had to let it slide.

Sigh... Sometimes life's like that.

 

[Zerileous]

Hrmm. I'm truly not trying to stir things up, but have a strong desire to be pedantic for a moment. PCIe 3.0 x16 = PCIe 4.0 x 8. None of the cards discussed in this thread benefit from 3.0 to 4.0 at 16x lanes (to my knowledge), thus none of the cards need more than 8 lanes at 4.0. The 8x is a possible problem if you (like me) have a 3.0 board, otherwise, I don't see any real-world difference.

 

[rainless]

Hrmm. I'm truly not trying to stir things up, but have a strong desire to be pedantic for a moment. PCIe 3.0 x16 = PCIe 4.0 x 8. None of the cards discussed in this thread benefit from 3.0 to 4.0 at 16x lanes (to my knowledge), thus none of the cards need more than 8 lanes at 4.0. The 8x is a possible problem if you (like me) have a 3.0 board, otherwise, I don't see any real-world difference.

There isn't. I think we're all agreed upon the idea that there's a PERCEIVED notion of more power.

In this particular case, though.... that notion would've, just so happened to have led me to buy a more "powerful" card... (Either of the NVIDIA cards would've handled video editing and compositing just fine... But they're all pretty wide from the mark of the type of 4K gaming that I do. I ain't got no EarthDog money for an RTX 4090... at least not yet.)

But going back to the ORIGINAL topic of this thread... I think it would be nice to look at HWInfo or CPU-z or whatever and SEE that you've got a PCIe 5.0 card (though they don't exist yet) in your 5.0 board and you're in a 16x slot with your 16x card. You're alllllll maxed out on everything.

THAT is more of a cosmetic thing (screenshots). Like all the RGB lights in my case.

 

[Blaylock]

Slots: The length of the slot determines the number of lanes (outward/return) x8 = 8 outward + 8 return.
This is the X16/X8/X4/X1
After that, there's nothing to stop you putting an X1 card in an X4/X8/X16 slot, or an X8 card in an X16 slot.
But you can't make the reverse physically impossible,
(although I've seen X8 slots wired in X4 (or the card, i don't remember)).

View attachment 365605

This is mostly correct but can be deceiving. You cannot simply go off of the size of the slot. As you mentioned at the end of your paragragh, you "have seen X8 slots wired in X4". The same is commonly true for X16 slots being wired for X8. Very common in fact. You are far better off looking at the back of the motherboard to see the solder points of the PCIe slots to determine it's bandwidth capbilities.

Conversely, I have seen PCIe slots that are open on the right side to allow, say a X8 card in a X4 slot. (EDIT: naturally the device would only run at x4 speeds, assuming it was wired as x4, which most were)

 

[EarthDog]

The guy who said marketing earlier gets a prize!

THAT is more of a cosmetic thing (screenshots). Like all the RGB lights in my case.

So is the notion of x16 vs x8. Cosmetic. I get you, we'd all like to see it (I'm a bit OCD and, hear ya!), but, it's just numbers.



Edit: spot on @Blaylock , exactly what was mentioned in post 21.

 

[mackerel]

Chinese-Made PCIe 5.0 Gaming GPU Benchmarks Emerge (Updated)

The mother of all China's domestic gaming GPUs

www.tomshardware.com

The only current PCIe 5.0 GPU I'm aware of. It performs about 1/3 of an A770 at best, but if you want that box in GPU-Z to say 5.0, this is it!

 

[Blaylock]

Edit: spot on @Blaylock , exactly what was mentioned in post 21.

Hahahaha. That's one of those scenarios where you don't notice that there's another page to the conversation. I will go back to hiding in my dark corner again. LOL

We need an Emot of Smiley backing into the bushes like Homer.

 

[DaveB]

I built a dual Xeon server/workstation 5 or so years ago and ran my x16 Zotac GTX 1080 in an x8 slot with no problems. Might have run 3% to 5% slower but you really couldn't notice. It had short x8 slots with an open back and even a locking clip to hold an x16 GPU. The Zotac GTX 1080 is sitting in a slot identical to the one circled above it.

 

[JLK03F150]

I think it would be nice to look at HWInfo or CPU-z or whatever and SEE that you've got a PCIe 5.0 card (though they don't exist yet) in your 5.0 board and you're in a 16x slot with your 16x card. You're alllllll maxed out on everything.

I think we are all a little OCD.
When I built my gamer pc I wanted a gen 4 nvme, but there were only about 4 1TB models on the market & they were expensive af. Bought a gen 3 1TB for the original build. I watched for the market to fill out & prices to drop so I could get that gen 4 nvme. I can't see a difference watching MSFS load, but it looks good in CrystaDiskMark! lol

 

[TELmo]

What GPU do you have again?

3080 Ti, but here we're talking about PCIe lanes and versions, so don't compare 2 graphics cards on that basis alone.

@Blaylock
The easiest way is to look in the manual or in the Bios I think, as most MBs today have a nice covered back.
There are also switches, which you can't always control directly, or perhaps via the bios by deactivating one card to activate other channels on another card, it's possible.
And if your system is full NVME/PCIe, you'll have to make concessions between them.
But I'm sure I'm not teaching you anything.

 

[EarthDog]

Good stuff... may I add....

as most MBs today have a nice covered back.

Most do not have a cover. It's not until you get into more expensive options do you see backplates. If it has one, you'd obviously need to figure it out another way or get the screwdriver out, lol.

There are also switches, which you can't always control directly, or perhaps via the bios by deactivating one card to activate other channels on another card, it's possible.

Sure! Though, electrical is electrical. It'd always tell you the 'max' it could be by looking at electrical connections. Any changes would be due to board configurations. Goes back to what to you said above, RTFM!

And if your system is full NVME/PCIe, you'll have to make concessions between them.

True. But it depends on the board and platform/chipset. Moreso for Intel for sure since it has fewer lanes than amd. Boards that have fewer m.2 sockets (read, 2 or 3) in the top chipsets won't though amd there are plenty of boards like that.

 

[rainless]

3080 Ti, but here we're talking about PCIe lanes and versions, so don't compare 2 graphics cards on that basis alone.

I wasn't... I was just curious.