Will PCI-E 3.0 x16 GPU work in PCI-E 2.0 x4 slot

[N4vySc4n]

Title is pretty straight-forward...

[matrix07012]

Yes, but it will be useless.

[Aleksbgbg]

10 minutes ago, N4vySc4n said:

Title is pretty straight-forward...

I don't think so Ahri

 

It will work in PCIe 2.0 x16 but not x4, isn't it a bit too short?

[N4vySc4n]

1 minute ago, Aleksbgbg said:

No Ahri

 

It will work in PCIe 2.0 x16 but not x4, it is too short

Aaah, okay. Thanks for help c:

[Naeaes]

It'll work if it fits in. The slot may have the back end open to allow a larger card in. If it's not, you can carefully dremel it open. But it's usually closed because there are components on the board anyway. Those you cannot remove, obviously.

[N4vySc4n]

3 minutes ago, matrix07012 said:

Yes, but it will be useless.

Why?

[Naeaes]

3 minutes ago, Aleksbgbg said:

I don't think so Ahri

 

It will work in PCIe 2.0 x16 but not x4, isn't it a bit too short?

Some slots have the back open to allow larger cards.

[matrix07012]

20 minutes ago, N4vySc4n said:

Why?

Standart GPU requires atleast 8GB/s throughput, that is what PCI-E 2.0 16x and PCI-E 3.0 8x have. PCI-E 2.0 4x has 2GB/s so the GPU will run at 1/4 of its speed.

[mariushm]

There's no such thing as minimums

 

A pci express 2.0 x1 offers about 500 MB/s of transfer speed between processor and video card. A x4 slot will give the video card up to 2 GB/s of transfer speed

PCI Express 3.0 changes the way data is transferred through the wires so it's possible to transfer around 980 MB/s through one x1 link, but it's also backwards compatible, the mode can be changed to the classic 2.0 mode so all pci express 3.0 video cards should work in pci express 2.0 slots as well

 

All video cards work on pci express x8 slots because a lot of slots are x16 physically but only x8 electrically (or when you install two cards in the computer, both x16 slots change to x8 electrically while they're still physically x16)

 

Going from x16 to x8 means very little drop in video card's performance, the cards don't usually saturate this bandwidth of  8 GB/s

When you go from x8 or x16 to x4 the drop in performance is more pronounced, you will definitely feel it, especially with games that transfer to and from video cards a lot of data constantly. But it should still be possible.

You can put pci express video cards in slots smaller than x16 as long as the slot is physically designed to allow that (there's no wall at the end of the slot) and there's no components on the motherboard that would block (or touch) the video card connector that remains in the air outside the smaller slot.

Sometimes, the motherboard manufacturer uses slots that don't have that wall at the end removed, in which case you can cut it out manually and it's guaranteed to work.

The pci express slot is designed to be modular like that, and the video card also can work with its contacts just partially inserted in a connector.

 

However, it's important to know that x1 slots (and x4 slots but I'm not sure) are only guaranteed to receive from the motherboard up to 25 watts of power through the slot, unlike x8 or x16 slots which are guaranteed up to 60 watts.

Depending on the motherboard design, this limitation of 25 watts may be real or on very cheap motherboards the electric traces in the motherboard may be just thick enough to handle this much power but not up to 60w. Most manufacturers don't bother artificially limiting the power to slots so in most cases you do get the full 60w to all slots.

This is important only if your video card doesn't have an additional pci-e 6-pin or 8-pin connector, which means it takes all its power from the slot. If it's slot powered only, it's up to you if you want to risk installing that card in a x1 or x4 slot,

[N4vySc4n]

21 hours ago, matrix07012 said:

Standart GPU requires atleast 8GB/s throughput, that is what PCI-E 2.0 16x and PCI-E 3.0 8x have. PCI-E 2.0 4x has 2GB/s so the GPU will run at 1/4 of its speed.

aah okey thank you c:

[N4vySc4n]

19 hours ago, mariushm said:

There's no such thing as minimums

 

A pci express 2.0 x1 offers about 500 MB/s of transfer speed between processor and video card. A x4 slot will give the video card up to 2 GB/s of transfer speed

PCI Express 3.0 changes the way data is transferred through the wires so it's possible to transfer around 980 MB/s through one x1 link, but it's also backwards compatible, the mode can be changed to the classic 2.0 mode so all pci express 3.0 video cards should work in pci express 2.0 slots as well

 

All video cards work on pci express x8 slots because a lot of slots are x16 physically but only x8 electrically (or when you install two cards in the computer, both x16 slots change to x8 electrically while they're still physically x16)

 

Going from x16 to x8 means very little drop in video card's performance, the cards don't usually saturate this bandwidth of  8 GB/s

When you go from x8 or x16 to x4 the drop in performance is more pronounced, you will definitely feel it, especially with games that transfer to and from video cards a lot of data constantly. But it should still be possible.

You can put pci express video cards in slots smaller than x16 as long as the slot is physically designed to allow that (there's no wall at the end of the slot) and there's no components on the motherboard that would block (or touch) the video card connector that remains in the air outside the smaller slot.

Sometimes, the motherboard manufacturer uses slots that don't have that wall at the end removed, in which case you can cut it out manually and it's guaranteed to work.

The pci express slot is designed to be modular like that, and the video card also can work with its contacts just partially inserted in a connector.

 

However, it's important to know that x1 slots (and x4 slots but I'm not sure) are only guaranteed to receive from the motherboard up to 25 watts of power through the slot, unlike x8 or x16 slots which are guaranteed up to 60 watts.

Depending on the motherboard design, this limitation of 25 watts may be real or on very cheap motherboards the electric traces in the motherboard may be just thick enough to handle this much power but not up to 60w. Most manufacturers don't bother artificially limiting the power to slots so in most cases you do get the full 60w to all slots.

This is important only if your video card doesn't have an additional pci-e 6-pin or 8-pin connector, which means it takes all its power from the slot. If it's slot powered only, it's up to you if you want to risk installing that card in a x1 or x4 slot,

Thanks c: