PCI-E 2.0 Compatibility (8800gtx vs 9800gtx)

Ashtaroth · May 13, 2008, 01:38 PM

Hey guys,

I'm planning on buying either a 8800 gtx or 9800 gtx, after seeing benchmarking and prices and warranty etc. I'm thinking of getting the 9800 gtx.

I know my motherboard can physically hold both of these cards (PCI-E x16), but my motherboard is pretty old and only the latest motherboards are really PCI-E 2.0 compatible.

So my problem or rather my question is: will I suffer performance loss due to running on the old(lower) PCI-E bandwidth with the 9800 GTX?

In other words, will I be able to fully ultilize the 9800 gtx?

Any help would be awesome !

mkk · May 13, 2008, 05:16 PM

There's been no practical peformance benefit showing with PCIe 2.0 yet so you don't need to worry about that when buying a graphics card today.

Ashtaroth · May 13, 2008, 06:24 PM

I haven't been able to find any real information about PCI-E 2.0 other that it is backwards compatible and will work in most motherboards with an PCI-E x16 slot.

However if you look at motherboard specs they do list if they are PCI-E 2.0 fully compatible or not.

So I assumed that it does have some affect on performance, but it could just be future proofing or marketing at work there.

Thanx for the reply anyway and I'll keep on trying to get more opinions and knowledge from the people who know about this.

**kris23** · May 13, 2008, 06:34 PM

get the 9800GTX man