GPU relocation and performance changes

[ragnarok_421]

I am having an overheating issue that I have pinpointed to the proximity of my GPU to the CPU heatsink. I have a Crosshair V Formula Z MB with a rather large aftermarket cooler installed and the GPU is right next to it in the slot closest to the CPU (x16 I believe) My question is how much of a performance difference will I see gaming wise if I drop this card down to the next slot to make space between it and the CPU? The GPU is a Sapphire AMD Radeon R9 200 series and it generates quite a lot of heat and I have had CPU overheating issues since installing it when running games like fallout 4 at max. I should mention that the way my tower is setup the GPU is right under the CPU and the heat all rises off of it onto the CPU heat sink which is casing most of my overheating problem. All my fans work but I figure if I can get some space between these components without losing too much of the performance it will be the easiest route for me to take. Thoughts?

 

[hang-the-9]

Going from a PCIe 16 to 8 slot will have pretty much 0 impact on speed.

 

[ragnarok_421]

Going from a PCIe 16 to 8 slot will have pretty much 0 impact on speed.

Just curious then, what is the difference between x16 and x8 slots?

 

[hang-the-9]

Going from a PCIe 16 to 8 slot will have pretty much 0 impact on speed.

Just curious then, what is the difference between x16 and x8 slots?

x16 has more bandwidth, but unless it's a high end card, there won't be any difference in performance, and when there is, it' won't be much, maybe a few % points, unless you are really maxing out the bus with high settings at high resolutions with a high refresh rate and have a GTX 980 or something.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_980_PCI-Express_Scaling/

 

[ragnarok_421]

Going from a PCIe 16 to 8 slot will have pretty much 0 impact on speed.

Just curious then, what is the difference between x16 and x8 slots?

x16 has more bandwidth, but unless it's a high end card, there won't be any difference in performance, and when there is, it' won't be much, maybe a few % points, unless you are really maxing out the bus with high settings at high resolutions with a high refresh rate and have a GTX 980 or something.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GTX_980_PCI-Express_Scaling/

Thanks for the article. That is some good information to have.