High end graphics card - motherboard can't handle it?

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Considering my budget and since it feels it might be better to wait with newer motherboards until PCI 3.0 slots become common practice, I can't get myself to buy a motherboard for 150+ Euros, just for the 3.0 slot and yes, I know the upgrade gives about a 1-3% power increase, so please don't troll me. However I ran into a pretty difficult question - gt/sec and gbps really confuse me.

Planned graphics card with motherboard =

  • Graphics card: Sapphire R9 270X Dual-X OC
  • Graphics card specs: 1020MHz core speed 832 actual shaders 28nm 80Tmu 32ROP bus 256-bit, GDDR5 RAM 2024MB memory, speed 1400MHz, bus 256-bit
  • Texture rate 81,6 GTexel/sec
  • Pixel rate 32.6 GPixel/sec
  • Motherboard: ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0, 2x pci-e 2.0 x16 slots present on the board

The big issue is, will this graphics card generate more gt/sec or Gbps than the PCI/motherboard can possibly process, considering it will be slotted into a 1x pci-e 2.0 x 16 slot? It is not worth buying a new motherboard, if I will get only a 1-3% power increase.

However this new card might generate (random number) 6gt/sec, while the slot and/or motherboard can only handle 5gt/s making me lose 1gt/sec (20% power).

I'm a medium-high gamer, and I'm not going to crossfire in the near future... more powerful motherboards don't seem to add any necessary functionality, unless the 2.0 PCI simply can't cut it for this card.

Please help. I'm sure someone knows how to calculate this stuff.

Dyon

Posted 2013-11-14T07:40:04.573

Reputation: 31

I wouldn't worry about what might be generated. The performance gain from the card even, if there is a bottlekneck, would perform better then any PCE-2.0 card at the same price point. Besides you purchase it now, use it, and simply place it in a system with a new motherboard and you have an instance upgrade ;-) – Ramhound – 2013-11-14T12:17:15.533

Answers

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PCIe is very fast, I'm pretty sure a 270X will not saturate a PCIe 2.0 slot. Even if it does, the performance loss will be very minimal.

Some more commentary on this issue at Tom's Hardware.

The more important question (to me, anyway), is what power supply do you have?

Ash

Posted 2013-11-14T07:40:04.573

Reputation: 2 574

I agree wiht this, and if I may add, don't rely on specifications, trust review, and meta-reviews. – mveroone – 2013-11-14T09:29:12.383

first off, thanks for reassuring me And secondly, my power supply is kicking 650Watt and is only half a year old The previous one died on me, and back then i figured to think ahead and take bigger capacity then needed at the time. as long as i dont crossfire the 270x on that Mobo it should run energywise – Dyon – 2013-11-15T05:30:44.083

Asked: 2013-11-14T07:40:04.573

Viewed: 1 061 times

Active: 2016-02-04T01:28:45.820