PCI-E 3.0 and PCI-E 3.0x16?

[NiteHood]

So, my motherboard lables some of its slots as PCI Express 3.0x16. Is there a significant difference between this and the regular 3.0 slot? I've been shopping for a graphics card, and some have their interface labled just "PCI Express 3.0" without the x16, and some lable it with it. What significance does that x16 make? I'm pretty sure I can still use a graphics card without the x16 and it will still work in the slot, but should I choose one with the x16 over one without, or will it not make a differnce?

[Midnitewarrior4]

So, my motherboard lables some of its slots as PCI Express 3.0x16. Is there a significant difference between this and the regular 3.0 slot? I've been shopping for a graphics card, and some have their interface labled just "PCI Express 3.0" without the x16, and some lable it with it. What significance does that x16 make? I'm pretty sure I can still use a graphics card without the x16 and it will still work in the slot, but should I choose one with the x16 over one without, or will it not make a differnce?

go with the one with the x16 im guessing the non x16 is an x8, not an expert but its still better to use an x16

[Najuno]

PCIe 3.0 16x means this slot is directly connected to the CPU´s native PCIe lanes (on consumer grade mainboards it is usually slot 1) and should be used for your 3D accelerator in other word your GPU. Also PCIe 3.0 x16 has right now as Gen3 the highest bandwidth available.

[App4that]

PCIe 3.0 16x means this slot is directly connected to the CPU´s native PCIe lanes (on consumer grade mainboards it is usually slot 1) and should be used for your 3D accelerator in other word your GPU. Also PCIe 3.0 x16 has right now as Gen3 the highest bandwidth available.

Not to hijack the topic but I have a similar question. Is it an issue to not use the 3.0x16 but the 3.0x8? The lower slot let's you see the back plate better. I know, completely superficial reason, but it also seems to stay cooler.

[Glenwing]

So, my motherboard lables some of its slots as PCI Express 3.0x16. Is there a significant difference between this and the regular 3.0 slot? I've been shopping for a graphics card, and some have their interface labled just "PCI Express 3.0" without the x16, and some lable it with it. What significance does that x16 make? I'm pretty sure I can still use a graphics card without the x16 and it will still work in the slot, but should I choose one with the x16 over one without, or will it not make a differnce?

 

What motherboard is it?

 

"PCIe 3.0" is just the generic term for all sizes, it could refer to anything, just depends on the motherboard.

[Najuno]

Not to hijack the topic but I have a similar question. Is it an issue to not use the 3.0x16 but the 3.0x8? The lower slot let's you see the back plate better. I know, completely superficial reason, but it also seems to stay cooler.

No no, unless you do highend benchmarking and need PCIe x16 x16 the PCIe 3.0 x8 is fine because it equals to PCIe 2.0 x16 and that´s really all the bandwidth you need. Even a Fury X or a Titan won´t be able to use more. The performance loss from PCIe 3.0 x16 to x8 is marginally.

[Clear17Mud]

It doesn't matter you can use 3.0 x4 (2.0 x8) with no loss in performance.

On AMD cards I think nvidia needs x8 to run.

[NiteHood]

What motherboard is it?

 

"PCIe 3.0" is just the generic term for all sizes, it could refer to anything, just depends on the motherboard.

It's a ASRock H97M Pro4. Here's a link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157512

[Najuno]

It's a ASRock H97M Pro4. Here's a link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157512

It is as I said the first slot is a PCIe 3.0 x16. The second and third are mere PCI (not express) for soundcard of WiFi card and such. The fourth slot is PCIe 2.0 x16 which equals to PCIe 3.0 x8. And you could setup a CF with 2 AMD cards with it.