GTX 660 Running @ PCI-E 2.0 x 16

[MayuraDeSilva]

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.

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

 

[Sakkura]

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.

 

[MayuraDeSilva]

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?

 

[Sakkura]

Yeah you'd need a CPU upgrade for PCIe 3.0 support. But there's no need for it, since you're not losing any performance by running PCIe 2.0.

 

[MayuraDeSilva]

Yeah you'd need a CPU upgrade for PCIe 3.0 support. But there's no need for it, since you're not losing any performance by running PCIe 2.0.

Thank you so much for the clarification Much appreciated.