PCIE Versions nomenclature?

[Jusmar]

What the heck does this "Expansion Slots: 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16);1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4); 2 x PCI Express x1 slots; 2 x PCI slots" Mean? And will my PCIe 3.0 GPU be crippled by it?

 

[Benevolence]

These are the available lanes into the CPU from the PCIE. The data bandwidth is the base frequency (almost always 100 MHz) multiplied by the lane multiplier (x16,x8,etc..).
A newer GPU will run at PCIex16, and with some chipsets if you run multiple GPU's, the additional GPU's will run at x8, x6 or x4. Anything less than x16 is a bottleneck for a PCIE3.0 GPU.

 

[laviniuc]

that means one slot is running at full speed (the first one) and the second at max 4x instead of 16x. yes, a video card would get bottlenecked by this. i'm assuming you talk about a H87 motherboard. sli can't be used on them because of the 16x vs 4x btw and crossfire even if "supported" has been found to have issues. so if you have just one card, use the first (16x) slot for best results

if you plan to use multiple gpu-s get a Z series motherboard instead.

the version 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0 is also a relevant but in general this would not be a big factor in speed and graphics cards will always work backwards compatible in order version ports. speed difference is minimal.

 

[Benevolence]

Which class is this for?
The first gen i-core (P55, H55 etc) also have this issue with PCI lanes since the memory controllers are in-bedded in the CPU.

 

[Jusmar]

Benevolence, this is for me trying to finalize a new build where I'm trying to shoehorn a 770GTX onto a Sub $100 haswell board.

 

[Benevolence]

Haha so sorry friend, there's someone that's been posting CS101 questions on the site for the past few hours now. Been having fun starting discussions on his posts. Most of the Haswell boards have at least one x16 PCIe slot on them, and since the form factors are backwards compatible, it shouldn't be too difficult to find a good match for your setup. How many GPU's are you looking to have? Sub $100 and I'm thinking just the one but you never know.

 

[Jusmar]

I've been debating it, but I'm going to stick with just 1 card. I've got a 1920x1080 monitor so I think the special EVGA 770 can handle it. Hey, I survived from late 2010 running a 460GTX, I think I'll be good.

 

[Benevolence]

Sounds like a solid plan to me. Best of luck!

 

[Jusmar]

Thank you! Can You just give me a quick opinion of this board? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D94X6AK/?tag=pcpapi-20

 

[Benevolence]

The price is right, and it's got some good expand-ability options as well. Just don't plan on overclocking with this board. I can tell visually that there aren't enough capacitors and resistors near the CPU to support an aggressive OC.

 

[Jusmar]

Damn, picking a decent board is hard. I can talk GPUs till the cows come home....

 

[Benevolence]

I find that the mobo is definitely the hardest component to pick when making a new build. Everything else comes naturally lol... I need sleep now...
Feel free to ask the community for help, I'm a bit too fried for real tech support tonight.
zzzzzzzzzzzzz.........

 

[Jusmar]

How about this guy? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CU4L4NQ/ref=asc_df_B00CU4L4NQ2859152?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=pgtvs-474-17-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395097&creativeASIN=B00CU4L4NQ