updated at last...
apologies for the delay in getting back here to thank you all for your input below.
I wanted to also select Traciatim as best answer but I guess it only allows for one best answer?
part of the attraction in moving the GTX 670 from the 2nd PCI Express slot (to the 1st slot) would be to get better air cooling from the fans in my HAF-X case - ive noticed the card runs about 10 Celsius hotter at present currently in the 2nd slot (only at load, idle is same around 25 Celsius).
I think I'm looking at about 4% to 5% which wouldn't equate to a lot. I play lots of games but I have put some serious hours into Skyrim ramped up with HD mods galore and ENB with lots of eye candy and also BF3 at max settings, both 1920x1080). So in these 2 games I might see 2fps or 3fps increase at most, most other games it wouldnt matter either as things like COD, racing games like NFS/Dirt 3 and other games like Borderlands 1&2, Fallout 3 & NV get framerates +/-100 so my eye won't notice an increase from say 120fps to 130fps.
However having built my 1st system and upgraded along the way I'm still struggling to resist tweaking it further (some of the components in my sig below need updating) so I am considering going for a new motherboard that has PCI-E x1 at the bottom to accommodate my beloved Asus Xonar D2X - either that or a new sound card or use the on-board sound.
Does anyone have any experiences using both onboard sound on a similar board to mine and a card like Asus Xonar D2 or D2X?
so I am down to these choices now (got there eventually);
1. purchase new motherboard - looking at Asus Z77 Sabretooth - will accomodate Asus Xonar D2X at the bottom and the GTX 670 Phantom in the 1st slot, and with addition of Sandybridge-E or Ivybridge much much later will make my system PCI-E 3.0 GPU friendly
2. ebay the D2X and use onboard sound - I will test this weekend on Onkyo receiver with 550w speakers, some Creative Inspire T6100 speakers and Plantronics gamecom780 headphones - this solution will free up the 1st slot for the GTX 670
3. ebay the D2X and purchase a new soundcard like the Xonar D2 which will free up the 1st slot for the GTX 670
4. get a new and smaller CPU cooler, currently have Phanteks PH-TC14PE working wonders for the CPU overclock @ 4.8GHz but swapping the cpu cooler out will allow me to keep the D2X and be able to move the GTX 670 to the 1st slot
5. quit tweaking and save for my next build in a few years
any advice, suggestions on above? can anyone recommend a nice easy to fit, quiet CPU water cooling kit?
I shall report back after the checking the onboard sound but I think I will be disappointed compared to the D2X as I do watch films enjoying DTS and Dolby 5.1 and it seems to rock for surround sound games also
Anyway, thanks again for all the original responses
This is still my 1st build so I guess it's my precious lol, plus I'm relative noob still
Chaz
Hi all, I know there are charts detailing the difference in terms of performance between PCI Express 2.0 x16 vs x8 and PCI Express 3.0 @ x16 and x8 etc but I damned if I can find them.
I'm looking to get most out of my single GTX 670 which I currently have sat in the 2nd PCI Express lane (on Asrock Z68 Extreme 4) and it's performing at x8 rather than x16 - relocating it to the 1st slot would mean having to remove my beloved Asus Xonar D2X from the system so I want to see if the performance increase for the GPU is worth it - any help appreciated, thanks
Chaz
apologies for the delay in getting back here to thank you all for your input below.
I wanted to also select Traciatim as best answer but I guess it only allows for one best answer?
part of the attraction in moving the GTX 670 from the 2nd PCI Express slot (to the 1st slot) would be to get better air cooling from the fans in my HAF-X case - ive noticed the card runs about 10 Celsius hotter at present currently in the 2nd slot (only at load, idle is same around 25 Celsius).
I think I'm looking at about 4% to 5% which wouldn't equate to a lot. I play lots of games but I have put some serious hours into Skyrim ramped up with HD mods galore and ENB with lots of eye candy and also BF3 at max settings, both 1920x1080). So in these 2 games I might see 2fps or 3fps increase at most, most other games it wouldnt matter either as things like COD, racing games like NFS/Dirt 3 and other games like Borderlands 1&2, Fallout 3 & NV get framerates +/-100 so my eye won't notice an increase from say 120fps to 130fps.
However having built my 1st system and upgraded along the way I'm still struggling to resist tweaking it further (some of the components in my sig below need updating) so I am considering going for a new motherboard that has PCI-E x1 at the bottom to accommodate my beloved Asus Xonar D2X - either that or a new sound card or use the on-board sound.
Does anyone have any experiences using both onboard sound on a similar board to mine and a card like Asus Xonar D2 or D2X?
so I am down to these choices now (got there eventually);
1. purchase new motherboard - looking at Asus Z77 Sabretooth - will accomodate Asus Xonar D2X at the bottom and the GTX 670 Phantom in the 1st slot, and with addition of Sandybridge-E or Ivybridge much much later will make my system PCI-E 3.0 GPU friendly
2. ebay the D2X and use onboard sound - I will test this weekend on Onkyo receiver with 550w speakers, some Creative Inspire T6100 speakers and Plantronics gamecom780 headphones - this solution will free up the 1st slot for the GTX 670
3. ebay the D2X and purchase a new soundcard like the Xonar D2 which will free up the 1st slot for the GTX 670
4. get a new and smaller CPU cooler, currently have Phanteks PH-TC14PE working wonders for the CPU overclock @ 4.8GHz but swapping the cpu cooler out will allow me to keep the D2X and be able to move the GTX 670 to the 1st slot
5. quit tweaking and save for my next build in a few years
any advice, suggestions on above? can anyone recommend a nice easy to fit, quiet CPU water cooling kit?
I shall report back after the checking the onboard sound but I think I will be disappointed compared to the D2X as I do watch films enjoying DTS and Dolby 5.1 and it seems to rock for surround sound games also
Anyway, thanks again for all the original responses
This is still my 1st build so I guess it's my precious lol, plus I'm relative noob still
Chaz
Hi all, I know there are charts detailing the difference in terms of performance between PCI Express 2.0 x16 vs x8 and PCI Express 3.0 @ x16 and x8 etc but I damned if I can find them.
I'm looking to get most out of my single GTX 670 which I currently have sat in the 2nd PCI Express lane (on Asrock Z68 Extreme 4) and it's performing at x8 rather than x16 - relocating it to the 1st slot would mean having to remove my beloved Asus Xonar D2X from the system so I want to see if the performance increase for the GPU is worth it - any help appreciated, thanks
Chaz