4K using PCI-E 1.0 , 2.0 and 3.0 what a shocker !!!

[Kaapstad]

I have just run the Sleeping Dogs bench @4K maxed to answer a question about PCI-E 1.0 , 2.0 and 3.0 I got in another thread.

If you get the chance, is there any possibility of seeing if PCI-E generation has a higher impact with the higher resolution? I know PCI-E 2 to 3 has a limited impact at 1080P (less than 5% from memory?) but wondering if that increases with 4K. To be honest, I just want to know how much my 2600K is holding back my two 290s at 3K as to whether it's worth the money to upgrade to Ivybridge/Haswell - I'm hoping not as I haven't got the money to spend!

4 x 290X @1000/1250 stock

4930k @4.0

4K

Sleeping Dogs maxed



PCI-E 3.0 x16/x8/x8/x8

Spoiler

PCI-E 2.0 x16/x8/x8/x8

Spoiler

PCI-E 1.0 x16/x8/x8/x8

Spoiler

There is a big difference in FPS between 2.0 and 3.0 which was more than I was expecting.

Using PCI-E 1.0 resulted in another big drop and worse still the bench looked like a slide show. Even more serious was when selecting settings my mouse was barely usable and it was much quicker to use the keyboard to select bench settings. All in all PCI-E 1.0 was terrible.

 

[Kaapstad]

Am I reading it wrong? I was actually impressed with 52fps in 1.0, I thought it would bomb into single figures - that's hardly a slide show?

To watch it running it is very cartoony using 1.0 and a lot worse than the figures suggest.

When it comes to gaming I am not too fussy about image quality having started on DOS games but I could not put up with using PCI-E 1.0 on this.

 

[Kaapstad]

Interesting results Kaap. Is it possible you could test pci-e 2.0 x16 x16 in a two way setup on this game and maybe another game? Considering 4K myself tbh but want to do plenty of research before hand so i don't get caught with my trousers down anywhere.

Two card results I have just done are much closer to each other.

2 X 290X @1000/1250

4930k @4.0

PCI-E 3.0 x16/x16

Spoiler

PCI-E 2.0 x16/x16

Spoiler

PCI-E 1.0 x16/x16

Spoiler

I will do more testing when I get time.

Remember I am using an IB-E hexcore, on SB things may be different. I know from past experience the IB-E CPUs are very strong with PCI-E bandwidth.

 

[Kaapstad]

Thanks Kaap, much appreciated. That's put my mind at rest in one regard, but made me think i might need three cards.

I think i might be ok regarding bandwidth as ive noticed the Plx chip on my mobo takes strain off the cpu and pci-e lanes. I get better firestrike physics and combined scores when i use the Plx chip lanes on my mobo. Maybe that would help a bit?

There is a lot of stuff we don't know about 4K this is why I am posting stuff whether it makes hardware look good or bad. It is more important to know what the limits of 4K is.

It was no accident that I used the 290Xs to test the PCI-E bandwidth, as they come with a 512bit bus this tends to rule out any short comings with the cards. I will test later with the Titans and their 384bit bus but I expect the results to be similar at best and possibly worse than the 290Xs in a 4 way setup.

Another thing on the horizon is Maxwell full fat, these cards are going to be about 50% faster than anything we are using now, what happens when they run @4K - will the PCI-E slots bottleneck them?

 

[Kaapstad]

Nice benches

Which 4K monitor did you get out of curiosity ?

One of these

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-071-DE

 

[Kaapstad]

What's the difference in single card between the PCI-E modes?

Is the fact that AMD are not using an external bridge between the cards for the 290x contributing to higher PCI-E bandwidth being used now that they are routing the communication between the cards in crossfire across the PCI-E so therefore using them in PCI-E 3.0 mode yields better performance?

Just run Sleeping Dogs on 4 stock Titans

4 x Titan @837/1502

3930k @4.0

4K 60htz

PCI-E 3.0 x16/x8/x8x/x8

Spoiler

PCI-E 2.0 x16/x8/x8x/x8

Spoiler

PCI-E 1.0 x16/x8/x8x/x8

Spoiler

Notable drop going from PCI-E 3.0 to 2.0 and huge drop going from 2.0 to 1.0


I also ran a single Titan @stock x16 with PCI-E 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 but it is not worth posting the screenshots as the results were identical to within 1/10 of a FPS.

 

[Kaapstad]

8ms response, Wow that's a little high, should have gone for one of the other models with lower input lag.

I don't need anything faster, my favourite games are things like Civ5 where screen size is more important.

 

[Kaapstad]

Nice Monitor! You really don't do things by halves kaap

Thanks.

 

[Kaapstad]

Ahh cooleo, Yeah same here pretty much, Not too keen on the twitch shooters, More of an Anno player myself

Decided to join you in the land of 4K and got this beauty

4k, 1ms, 60Hz, No USB hubs, Card readers or speakers, Just the way I like it

Just played a bit of Batman Arkham Origins and I was quite pleased with the performance, Maxed out no AA was hovering around 50-60 which considering I'm only running 1 x 780 Ti I thought the performance was damn good

Very nice.

Don't forget a lot of the bench threads have 4K sections now and we could do with more results.