Interface Bandwidth/Card Bandwidth

[PGdude]

I have a PCI-E 1.1 motherboard which handles a lovely 8GB/s
PCI-E 2.0 does a nifty 16GB/s

Now how on earth do I relate these to graphics cards?

I hear all over the place that PCI-E 1.0 is enough for the 4870, now how do I put those numbers on that there table into perspective for whether or not PCI-E 1.1 can handle a 5850, or even 5870.

I'm not well versed in this area so please help
Thanks.

 

[Rroff]

Theres no direct link between the interface bandwidth and the memory bandwidth...

There is no part of the card spec that can give you a direct pointer as to the interface bandwidth it needs either... its something that you either need a "feel" for or benchmarks to show...

x8 PCI-e 1.0 could probably feed a 5870 while results would be less than optimal it wouldn't be hideously throttled either... ideally you want atleast x16 PCI-e 1.x which is still sufficent to drive any card out atm - tho that might change with the 5870X2.

 

[PGdude]

My apologies, but I didn't circle those figures, that was just on a review site

How do I know if the card will work at its best on the board?

 

[craig3000]

Im going to be using a Q6600 at stock, on a PCI-E 1.0 x16 should provide more than enough bandwidth

Your motherboard has a PCI-E 1.0 x16 so you'll be fine, http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=2693 also download PCwizard 2009 pretty much tells you anything you need to know about your PC components

 

[PGdude]

What exactly defines "enough" bandwidth? I'm really confused now.

 

[craig3000]

Ok sorry, I meant to say you will not notice a difference if it were v1 or v2 of PCI-E either way so it doesn't matter and you won't need to worry about it

But then you're also thinking then what's the point of v2, it's just future proofing really, soon PC systems will be capable of using more bandwidth than v1 but by the time that happens you will have upgraded your motherboard and a new motherboard will have at least a PCI-E 2.0 slot so it's not a concern

 

[PGdude]

Ok sorry, I meant to say you will not notice a difference if it were v1 or v2 of PCI-E either way so it doesn't matter and you won't need to worry about it

But then you're also thinking then what's the point of v2, it's just future proofing really, soon PC systems will be capable of using more bandwidth than v1 but by the time that happens you will have upgraded your motherboard and a new motherboard will have at least a PCI-E 2.0 slot so it's not a concern

Thanks mate, that clears up concern. I was thinking that we were nearing that limit of bandwidth already y'see. Thanks.