gpu What does the Bus Interface on a GPU do?

[SkyFear]

So I've gotten into PC building very recently and I'm currently choosing a GPU for my future gaming PC. I'm doing a bunch of comparisons to see what GPU I should choose and I'm confused on what "Bus Interface" is for. Does it impact performance? How do I know the Bus Interface I chose is good? And most importantly, wtf is it for??

 

 

I'm doing the comparisons on a website called PassMark.com and I don't know if it's a reliable source for checking componants' performances, so let me know if there are any good alternatives!

 

Any help is appreciated, thank you for reading this and have a nice day!

[Electronics Wizardy]

Send data from the CPU to the CPU . 

 

Generally look at performance for the card to see how they compare. 

 

A slower bus link won't matter with lower end cards, but it may be a issue if using on a gen 3 system(probably still a pretty small impact)

[Imakuni]

23 minutes ago, SkyFear said:

Does it impact performance?

Possibly, if your motherboard is not up to stuff.

 

23 minutes ago, SkyFear said:

How do I know the Bus Interface I chose is good?

That's the neat part: you don't. You can't do anything about it, the card comes with the spec it comes, and there's nothing you can do about it. Forget this, worry about whether the "4060 / 4070 / whatever" is a good buy.

 

24 minutes ago, SkyFear said:

And most importantly, wtf is it for??

Transfering data between the card and the cpu.

 

24 minutes ago, SkyFear said:

I'm doing the comparisons on a website called PassMark.com and I don't know if it's a reliable source for checking componants' performances, so let me know if there are any good alternatives!

Nope, it isn't. If you want a good source, check stuff like HardwareUnboxed or Gamers Nexus.

 

Finally, it would be good if you could tell us your current setup, budget, location, and goal of the build. We can help you out, but we need to know you better before we do so.

[SkyFear]

1 hour ago, Imakuni said:

Finally, it would be good if you could tell us your current setup, budget, location, and goal of the build. We can help you out, but we need to know you better before we do so.

Thank you for the help! I'm a little nervous to ask people for help cause of how massive the PC building community looks and the complexity of learning the basics of PC building, if you know any video that teaches the basics of PC building please send it!

 

1 hour ago, Imakuni said:

it would be good if you could tell us your current setup

I'm not quite sure what you mean by current setup, but I'm guessing it's my current PC's components, so here they are!

 

Motherboard: ASUS M5A78L-M LX3

CPU: AMD FX(tm)-4300 Quad-Core Processor

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GT 730

PSU: Tecnoware Power Systems ATX 500W

RAM: 8,0 GB Other (Not sure what the brand is)

Drivers: TOSHIBA DT01ACA100 (Has windows 10 installed on it) and a ST2000DM008

 

1 hour ago, Imakuni said:

budget,

My budget is at around 1000€-1200€

 

1 hour ago, Imakuni said:

location,

I live in Paris

 

1 hour ago, Imakuni said:

and goal of the build.

I haven't really thought of the goal of the build, but really mainly just get any recent game to run on 60 FPS at Mid-Graphics, use it for game development and Blender, I'm not sure if I'm understating or overstating it for my budget but this is my goal.

 

I'm also trying to make the PC be visually appealing, my goal is:

Have the box, motherboard and PSU be white, while all other components be black with RGB lights. I think it would look pretty neat!

 

On an unrelated note, one of my close friend (that made his own gaming PC) made me a list for components I should buy, and I think sharing it here would be great for getting feedback on what there is to improve. I'm not planning on using his list because I wanna get into PC building myself and to know what I'm buying! Anyway here's the list:

 

Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix B550-A Gaming

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Boxed

GPU: GigaByte GeForce RTX 4060 D6

PSU: be quiet! System Power 10 550W

RAM: Kingston FURY Beast Kit 32 Go two bars DDR4-3200 CL16 (KF432C16BB1K2/32)

Drivers: Crucial P3 Plus 1TB

Water Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 420 A-RGB White

Box: Corsair 3500X White (already bought it, planning on using it with my own list)

[Imakuni]

20 minutes ago, SkyFear said:

Thank you for the help! I'm a little nervous to ask people for help cause of how massive the PC building community looks and the complexity of learning the basics of PC building

Nah fam, just ask. We love roasting newbs helping people out and talking about hardware.

32 minutes ago, SkyFear said:

if you know any video that teaches the basics of PC building please send it!

Make sure to grab some popcorn beforehand.

 

32 minutes ago, SkyFear said:

I'm not quite sure what you mean by current setup, but I'm guessing it's my current PC's components, so here they are!

Yeah, and unfortunately it kinda looks like you can't really use any of it on the new build.

 

33 minutes ago, SkyFear said:

On an unrelated note, one of my close friend (that made his own gaming PC) made me a list for components I should buy, and I think sharing it here would be great for getting feedback on what there is to improve. I'm not planning on using his list because I wanna get into PC building myself and to know what I'm buying! Anyway here's the list:

 

Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix B550-A Gaming

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Boxed

GPU: GigaByte GeForce RTX 4060 D6

PSU: be quiet! System Power 10 550W

RAM: Kingston FURY Beast Kit 32 Go deux barrettes DDR4-3200 CL16 (KF432C16BB1K2/32)

Drivers: Crucial P3 Plus 1 To

Water Cooler: ARCTIC Liquid Freezer III 420 A-RGB White

Box: Corsair 3500X White (already bought it, planning on using it with my own list)

This is a good base, but,

1. The 5800 / 5700x is basically the same CPU, so if it can be found for cheaper, you can save a bit of money there. Do not buy the regular 5700 or the G variants, they are bait CPUs.
2. Be Quiet is a decent brand, sure, but often more expensive than it's worth it. Besides, I suggest a 650w PSU to leave good room for upgrades in the future.
3. I'm personally not a fan of 32gb of outdated tech... I'll probably get shafted for saying this, but unless you're buying 32gb as part of a kit / bundle with the mobo or CPU, stick to 16gb and use the money elsewhere.
4. This is an amazing cooler; drop it down to a normal 360 / 240 radiator and save a crapton of money. You don't need so much performance considering the level of your machine.
5. With the money you saved from above, maybe you can find it in you to grab a 4070 instead of the 4060? Or at worst, a 4060ti 8gb?

[SkyFear]

 

On 1/8/2025 at 11:46 PM, Imakuni said:

Make sure to grab some popcorn beforehand.

This really isn't what I'm looking for, what I meant by learning the basics is learning the naming of components and such (Like specs). For example, on a random motherboard model I found, "Micro ATX MSI PRO H610M-G DDR4". Everything that's bolded is wording I don't understand.

Also after looking at the video's first 10 minutes, I don't know if me having already bought the case was a good idea (I know it's not) considering I haven't choosed the components or planned anything yet?

 

I also wanna restate what I wanna do with this computer and its budget:

I wanna use it for general game development (Programming, Playtesting), 3D modeling (High-poly, Texturing, Shading, Rendering), and of course play games (Mainly Roblox, but I also wanna be able to play modern games to try them out) on max graphics with at least ~120 FPS.

 

Budget is 1000€ - 1500€ Max (Does not include the keyboard, mouse and monitor!!!). I'm planning on getting an RTX 4070 because of the stuff the video said, but I don't know if it will be enough for my budget.

 

Like I said in my last post, I don't know if I'm understating/overstating the budget for my PC's goal performance.

 

On 1/8/2025 at 11:46 PM, Imakuni said:

Yeah, and unfortunately it kinda looks like you can't really use any of it on the new build.

So should I drop my 2TB hard drive?

 

On 1/8/2025 at 11:46 PM, Imakuni said:

The 5800 / 5700x is basically the same CPU, so if it can be found for cheaper, you can save a bit of money there. Do not buy the regular 5700 or the G variants, they are bait CPUs.

What are bait CPUs?
 

On 1/8/2025 at 11:46 PM, Imakuni said:

I'm personally not a fan of 32gb of outdated tech... I'll probably get shafted for saying this, but unless you're buying 32gb as part of a kit / bundle with the mobo or CPU, stick to 16gb and use the money elsewhere.

How can I know if something's outdated?

 

On 1/8/2025 at 10:04 PM, Imakuni said:

Nope, it isn't. If you want a good source, check stuff like HardwareUnboxed or Gamers Nexus.

Is there a specific reason that's it's an unreliable source? Ofc I'm not gonna keep on using that website but I'm just curious onto why it's not a good source.

 

 

Other questions I have:

Are there any differences between AMD and Intel?

How do I choose the right PSU for my computer? Choosing the Watts amount, brand?

How can I know what I need for my computer? For example the amount of RAM I need.

 

I also just want to make sure you know I'm really thankful for the help, it means alot to me!

[starsmine]

48 minutes ago, SkyFear said:

 

This really isn't what I'm looking for, what I meant by learning the basics is learning the naming of components and such (Like specs). For example, on a random motherboard model I found, "Micro ATX MSI PRO H610M-G DDR4". Everything that's bolded is wording I don't understand.

Also after looking at the video's first 10 minutes, I don't know if me having already bought the case was a good idea (I know it's not) considering I haven't choosed the components or planned anything yet?

Micro ATX is a standard size, ATX, Micro ATX, Mini ITX (or ITX) are all standard sizes for boards and cases, ATX-E is not a standard, DTX hasnt been a thing for decades
BTX also exists, which is liked a mirrored ATX, they were supposed to be better for case airflow, this standard is also deprecated. 


PRO H610M-G DDR4
Pro is just where it lines up in MSI's product stack, this is mostly meaningless as every OEM has a different branding for each spot in its product stack and the brandings will not be static past a single generation.

H610
H610M its a H610 Chipset, the M is non standard its being used to denote that its Micro here. So Pro (chipset)M-G is the name of the board, and DDR4 is saying its the DDR4 version, rather then DDR5 as H610 boards can take either ram version. 
 

48 minutes ago, SkyFear said:

Other questions I have:

Are there any differences between AMD and Intel?

Yes..... but they are both x86, their differences are in how they implement the Instruction set, every model and every socket, and every chipset are different, but they are also the same. That question is to broad to answer. 

48 minutes ago, SkyFear said:

How do I choose the right PSU for my computer? Choosing the Watts amount, brand?

Brand matters less

you need a PSU that is able to provide the maximum wattage your PC will draw. Anything more is so you can expand or to show off how much money you spent. 
Efficiency will save you money over time. so like, if you build a PC that at 100% load draws 500W, a 500W PSU at 80% effiency will pull 625W from the wall. a 90% efficient PSU will pull 555W from the wall, that is a 70W difference. That 90% efficient PSU will be saving you a couple dozen bucks a year. A PSU is usually most efficient at 60% ish load, but you are talking about it being like 90% efficient rather then 88% or something, its not really that important. 

You want a PSU with solid voltage stability, and solid ripple suppression, and solid current protections. 
This is not gospel, its good enough though, anything tier C or better is honestly amazing. 
https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/

 

48 minutes ago, SkyFear said:

How can I know what I need for my computer? For example the amount of RAM I need.

The board will tell you what RAM is certified to work in it. Many similar RAM that is not on that list will still work no problem, its just not been tested by the manufacturer
... MSI what the fuck is this... 3200 MT is not 3200 MHz... anyways
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-H610M-G-DDR4/support#mem

So any kit of 3200MT will probably work with this board, get the lowest CAS latency that is reasonable to your budget and the amount you want. Also get the size you want. This board only has two slots so if you want to upgrade ram you will have to do a swap rather then just add in new sticks. 
I would rather buy a DDR5 board for that socket because those chips do want the higher bandwidth. if you upgrade to raptor lake (the 13th or 14th gen) thats 10% of their performance right there.

48 minutes ago, SkyFear said:

I also just want to make sure you know I'm really thankful for the help, it means alot to me!

The person saying DDR4 is outdated is... idk man. its not like AM4 can take DDR5. AM4's problem isnt DDR4, its that the upgrade path is over.
If you are not planning to do in place upgrades and intend to do a full rebuild that is a complete a non issue. 

 

[Imakuni]

59 minutes ago, SkyFear said:

This really isn't what I'm looking for, what I meant by learning the basics is learning the naming of components and such (Like specs). For example, on a random motherboard model I found, "Micro ATX MSI PRO H610M-G DDR4". Everything that's bolded is wording I don't understand.

Don't worry too much about the order these things appear, as it can vary. But basically,

1. "Micro ATX" = form factor. There are others, but the 3 main ones are mini-ITX, Micro ATX and ATX.
2. "PRO" = something MSI put into the name to make it look fancy. It has no meaning.
3. "H610" = the socket.
4. "M" = something MSI put into the name to help identify Micro ATX boards.
5. "-G" = something MSI put into the name to indicate this is a slight variation from other similar boards. Think of it like your name.
6. "DDR4" = this specific socket supports 2 types of RAM, so MSI put "DDR4" on it to indicate which one it is.

1 hour ago, SkyFear said:

So should I drop my 2TB hard drive?

No, you can use it in the new machine.

 

1 hour ago, SkyFear said:

What are bait CPUs?

You know what "bait" is? As in, something that looks enticing, but it's actually bad? You know... bait?

 

Yeah. That. Those CPUs are bait.

1 hour ago, SkyFear said:

How can I know if something's outdated?

Depends on part you're looking at. In regards to RAM, every single CPU being released nowadays uses DDR5, which is another way of saying DDR4 is outdated.

 

1 hour ago, SkyFear said:

Is there a specific reason that's it's an unreliable source? Ofc I'm not gonna keep on using that website but I'm just curious onto why it's not a good source.

They don't really measure real world usage, only a synthetic workload.

 

1 hour ago, SkyFear said:

Are there any differences between AMD and Intel?

How do I choose the right PSU for my computer? Choosing the Watts amount, brand?

How can I know what I need for my computer? For example the amount of RAM I need.

1. In regards to:
   1. CPUs: everything Intel is bad right now, don't buy. Not to say that everything from AMD is good, but most of it is, whereas all of Intel definitely isn't.
   2. GPUs: AMD gpus are acceptable, depending on the price, and Intel is a hard "don't buy" until they can get their stuff together.
2. Watts comes down to experience, you basically balance out the config you're going to buy now with the possible upgrades down the line. As for model, the brand can be a first filter, but it's really down to the quality of the model; no way around it other than grabbing test data from trusted sources. As a rough guide, you can look at the PSU Tier List.
3. You look for benchmarks on the apps you use, compare to various different hardware configs, and draw the conclusion on where to spend the money based on that.

[starsmine]

36 minutes ago, Imakuni said:

 

1. In regards to:
   1. CPUs: everything Intel is bad right now, don't buy. Not to say that everything from AMD is good, but most of it is, whereas all of Intel definitely isn't.
   2. GPUs: AMD gpus are acceptable, depending on the price, and Intel is a hard "don't buy" until they can get their stuff together.
2. Watts comes down to experience, you basically balance out the config you're going to buy now with the possible upgrades down the line. As for model, the brand can be a first filter, but it's really down to the quality of the model; no way around it other than grabbing test data from trusted sources. As a rough guide, you can look at the PSU Tier List.
3. You look for benchmarks on the apps you use, compare to various different hardware configs, and draw the conclusion on where to spend the money based on that.

1.1
Thats such an over simplification, that it is false. Post bios fix, Raptor lake is fine; Arrowlake has always been fine. Do not confuse underwhelming with bad. People found Arrow lake to be underwhelming, they did NOT find it to be bad. No one will be disappointed with getting arrow lake unless they are coming from a Raptor Lake PC, and those people, are wrong. Those people are always wrong for casual home use. Even if arrow lake was twice as fast, they are wrong. Outside of enthusiasts tinkering around, you skip platforms, because your PC is fine. 

1.2 
What do you mean intel is a hard dont buy? even with heavy drivers its still a very solid 250 USD GPU. 

2
Watts are watts? Im lost to what you mean by experience. if a computer uses 500W at full load, you get a PSU that can comfortably provide 500W. use the 12V rails to make this judgement, not the combined wattage. So that often means getting a 600W or more PSU. 

 

[Imakuni]

1 minute ago, starsmine said:

1.1
Thats such an over simplification, that it is false. Post bios fix, Raptor lake is fine; Arrowlake has always been fine. Do not confuse underwhelming with bad. People found Arrow lake to be underwhelming, they did NOT find it to be bad. No one will be disappointed with getting arrow lake unless they are coming from a Raptor Lake PC, and those people, are wrong. Those people are always wrong for casual home use. Even if arrow lake was twice as fast, they are wrong. 

1.2 
What do you mean intel is a hard dont buy? even with heavy drivers its still a very solid 250 USD GPU. 

2
Watts are watts? Im lost to what you mean by experience. if a computer uses 500W at full load, you get a PSU that can comfortably provide 500W. use the 12V rails to make this judgement, not the combined wattage. So that often means getting a 600W or more PSU. 

1. I consider anything that "has no reason to be bought over the competition" as "bad", but sure, you do you...
2. You sure you're going to recommend an Intel GPU, with all of their random problems, to a first time builder? For real?
3. Read my post again please.

[SkyFear]

I've been waiting for the weekend to start choosing the components for my computer with the use of the PC Building video sent by Imakuni but watchting through it just feels so overwhelming. I only understand like a third of what they say and it's pretty frustrating.

 

I decided to start choosing the CPU and GPU like the video said, but I got litteraly no idea where how to search for any of them. I guess I found my GPU as I decided to get the "GigaByte GeForce RTX 4070 WINDFORCE 2X OC 12G", seems good

 

19 hours ago, SkyFear said:

This really isn't what I'm looking for, what I meant by learning the basics is learning the naming of components and such

What I meant here is some guide to help me through wording used in all components you need for a computer (CPU, GPU, Motherboard, RAM, PSU, SSD, Cooler...). Of course I've been searching for what some of them means but sometimes I just can't find a clear answer (Like Chipset and PCie)

 

17 hours ago, Imakuni said:

Depends on part you're looking at. In regards to RAM, every single CPU being released nowadays uses DDR5, which is another way of saying DDR4 is outdated.

CPU? Isn't it the motherboard?

Edited January 11, 2025 by SkyFear