PCIE 16x vs 8x slots

[xFZ1x]

There are always a lot of questions regarding using the lower (8x when SLI jumpers are moved) slot vs the upper (16x) slot. Some folks say that the performance difference is negligable (1-2%) and others say the current cards cannot even fill the 8x channel so there is no performance difference.

There is a good article on Toms Hardware guide (http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/11/...ng/page11.html) testing this out. Basically,

The applications we used (e.g. Doom 3 or Unreal Tournament 2003) require a minimum bandwidth of about x4 PCI Express. Above that setting, it was almost impossible to feel the performance difference. This is especially surprising considering that the rather challenging 3DMark 05, which can be described as a technical trend-setter, is not exactly conservative in terms of graphics features.

So, upper, lower, 8x, 16x...fuggetaboutit.

[daytona]

seeing that all the new cards are now PCI-E and mostly compairing the same price and perfomance PCI-E is cheaper it really doesnt matter if its maxing 8X out or not.

[xFZ1x]

Sure it does if you have an SLI board but are only using one of the slots. On the DFI boards (which is why this is posted in the DFI section), the 16x slot is directly above the chipset which causes heat issues. However, most people are afraid to use the second slot (8x) because they feel that it will bottleneck their card. Verstehen Sie?

[vikeor]

for me its just a natural reflex to put the card in the first slot

[FartBubblez]

Originally Posted by vikeor

for me its just a natural reflex to put the card in the first slot

So true ^^, although i do myself have my gtx in my second slot.. no difference.. ( had to do this because of clearance issues with my ghetto mod

[xFZ1x]

You guys are right. Although if you want to water cool your chipset (waste of time IMHO fior these boards) you almost have to move the card to the second slot. There is a place in Germany that makes a block that will work with it though.

[daytona]

my bad i lack at reading skillz

[SaFrOuT]

i ama sure if they used more modern cards like the 6800GS, 7xxx series or X1800 series the gap between the 8x and the 16x would be bigger

[FartBubblez]

u can always did what my friend did.. he changed the placing of the screw holes.. the board ended up just fitting in the middle of the two tubes..