GTX 660 Running @ PCI-E 2.0 x 16

MayuraDeSilva

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Apr 30, 2013
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Hello,

I'm using ASUS GTX 660 graphics card on my PC with Intel i3-3210 CPU and ASUS P8B75-V Motherboard.

Despite both the graphics card and motherboard support PCI-E 3.0, GPU-Z report it only supports PCI-Express x16 v2.0.

68LREK.jpg


Since I have an Ivy Bridge CPU, shouldn't it support PCI-E 3.0 by default?

PS: Out of curiosity, I've tried the Force Enable PCIe 3.0 tool provided by NVIDIA for X79 platform too - http://nvidia.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3135/~/geforce-gen3-support-on-x79-platform
 
The Ivy Bridge Core i3s don't support PCIe 3.0, the Core i5s and i7s do (except maybe some low-power variants).

Scroll down to "Expansion Options" to see the difference - here's a Core i5-3570K vs. the Core i3-3210:

http://ark.intel.com/products/65520

http://ark.intel.com/products/71053

By the way, PCIe 2.0 is more than plenty for a GTX 660, or even pretty much any other graphics card on the market.
 
Solution
Thanks for the quick response, @Sakkura. Hmm... Thought that PCI Express Revision applies only to iGPU.

If I got it right, I'll have to upgrade to a CPU with PCI Express Revision: 3.0 to gain PCI-E 3.0?

And even if I did, doesn't see much gain with current Graphics Card?
 


Thank you so much for the clarification :) Much appreciated.