PCI Express 3.0

[Lionstarr]

I am currently building my own workstation. First one! very excited . I am using an Intel Core i7 3930K 3.2 GHZ Processor with an EVGA Geforce GTX 670 FTW Graphics Card. I called EVGA who told me the combination would work, but that things would run smoother If the Processor supports PCI express 3.0. I haven't found a solid answer yet. any knowledge would be appreciated!

 

[S_I_N]

ivy bridge are the only cpus out atm that support pci-e 3.0. But most will agree you will not see hardly any difference between 2.0 and 3.0 as the 2.0 bandwidth hasnt even began to be saturated yet. I'm currently running 2 7970's in crossfire on Z68 which is pci-e 2.0 limited. I have no issues smashing any game I play.

 

[overclocking101]

PCI-e right now doesnt mean much. in another year maybe 2 it will. personally I upgrade for the next 2yrs tops so IF I were to upgrade it would be with something that supports pci-e 3.0 BUT if you can afford a new board or cpu in a year then it really doesnt make a difference. really it is preference

 

[EarthDog]

The performance drop is 1% on average from pcie3 to 2.

 

[EarthDog]

The performance drop is 1% on average from pcie3 to 2. There isn't a smoother about it. That rep is off his rocker.

 

[TeknoBug]

Yeah I don't think Sandy Bridge-E supports PCI-E 3.0, not that it matters right now really, you won't see that much of a difference from 2.0 and 3.0.

On the upside I think that 3930K will let you run 2 cards in SLI at full x16 each.

 

[EarthDog]

Difference there isn't much either since its the same as pcie2 at 16x (pcie3 8x/8x).

 

[manu2b]

What about that?
http://www.techpowerup.com/168027/N...g-Patch-for-Sandy-Bridge-E-HEDT-Platform.html

 

[EarthDog]

Interesting... Not sure if it works. Guess it does?

 

[azanimefan]

I am currently building my own workstation. First one! very excited . I am using an Intel Core i7 3930K 3.2 GHZ Processor with an EVGA Geforce GTX 670 FTW Graphics Card. I called EVGA who told me the combination would work, but that things would run smoother If the Processor supports PCI express 3.0. I haven't found a solid answer yet. any knowledge would be appreciated!

The EVGA rep needs to learn computers and stop reading their own press releases.

There isn't a gpu out there that maxes out a PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot. Frankly, I doubt the 670 will max out a pcie 2.0 x8 slot (it might be close, but the benches don't seem to indicate it will).

it will be some time (2 or 3 more gens of cards probably) before there are gpus that need PCI-E 3.0

 

[S_I_N]

I recently changed from a UD4 mobo to a UD7 mobo that allowed me to run my 7970's at full x16 on both versus the UD4's x8 for both and I really didnt see any improvement well none I could see and feel. C3 ran at about 75fps max on the UD4 and 80FPS max on the UD7 averages were about 65fps for both and they were both very very playable. I'm not sure exactly what setting I was at since I just launched and played. I'll report back and share my settings.

 

[Techjesse]

This works http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answ...sion/L3RpbWUvMTM0MDIyMzU2OC9zaWQvaDEzbE45X2s=
I'm running SLI and 3 way SLI on PCI-E 3.0

 

[S_I_N]

ok loaded it up and set everything to max ave fps was 35 with maxes to 58fps. dual 7970's 1050Mhz core 1500mem a lil choppy at parts but overall playable. again everything was maxed out. I have a GTX260 laying about I may pop in later and see if it helps take on some of the physics

edit: so now what i need is for someone to send me a 3770K and Z77 mobo so I can compare results

 

[Lionstarr]

Thanks everyone! what I've found is that my system will not work at 3.0 speeds without hacking it. Some users have posted the link to this Hack. I will just look for another processor instead.

 

[S_I_N]

wondering on this even with a hack how can it make 2.0 run at 3.0?? I mean isnt that hardware not software. I'm thinking that hack basically allows it to SHOW its 3.0 while its not running it.

 

[manu2b]

Nope, it's not hardware, it is drivers related.

 

[S_I_N]

so your saying if i made a hack i could get 3.0 on a 1.0 spec'd board???

I know its software driven but the hardware has to support the standards as well. 3.0 came along with a design change in the IB processor. so there has to be something within the hardware or perhaps the instruction set with in the hardware to make it work. But as I said earlyer and other have responded as well 2.0 hasnt even been maxed out so imho its all moot.

 

[wingman99]

To the OP I would not worry about running PCI-E 3.0 it wont make a difference at 1%, at Hardocp testing the PCI-E 2.0 did better in some benchmarks do to the timing latency.

 

[EarthDog]

Is that latency because of the plx chip on z77? Never heard the latency thing outside of that... .

 

[wingman99]

At Hardocp They where saying that the PCI-E Buss 3.0 has timing latency like system memory, the faster the buss speed more the need to increase buss timing adding latency for small burst of data to the video card not utilizing all the bandwidth at that given moment.