PCI-E 3.0 Cards in a PCI-E 2.0 slot?

[Gravemind]

I'm trying to put an RX 480 into a hypothetical build, but I'm not finding any boards that support PCI 3.0, I'm only finding 2.0. And even more confusing is seeing build videos like this one here where he does just that, putting a 480 into a 2.0 slot in the motherboard.

 

Does... that work?

[SnowyMus]

It'll work. PCIe is backwards (and forwards) compatible, and 16 PCIe 2.0 lanes is still more than enough for a PCIe 3.0 GPU without bottlenecking.

[Gravemind]

Just now, Kavawuvi said:

It'll work. PCIe is backwards compatible, and 16 PCIe 2.0 lanes is still more than enough for a PCIe 3.0 GPU without bottlenecking.

So it'll work with this board here just fine, despite not having 3.0...?

[Mark77]

Are you using older hardware or something?  PCI-E (presume you mean PCI-E, not PCI) 3.0 has been pretty much the standard since Ivy Bridge. 

 

And yes, barring obscure exceptions, its all backwards and forwards compatible. 

[Mark77]

Yeah that'll definitely work.

[Gravemind]

Just now, Mark77 said:

Are you using older hardware or something?  PCI-E (presume you mean PCI-E, not PCI) 3.0 has been pretty much the standard since Ivy Bridge. 

 

And yes, barring obscure exceptions, its all backwards and forwards compatible. 

Yeah I meant PCI-E 3.0 and PCI-E 2.0. Whoops.

I'd plan on putting a Sapphire RX 480 in the board linked above

[Nena Trinity]

No issues what so ever!

[SnowyMus]

22 minutes ago, Gravemind said:

So it'll work with this board here just fine, despite not having 3.0...?

Yes.

 

21 minutes ago, Mark77 said:

Are you using older hardware or something?  PCI-E (presume you mean PCI-E, not PCI) 3.0 has been pretty much the standard since Ivy Bridge.

The OP is using one of AMD's FX processors, which to my knowledge, they do not (yet) directly provide any PCIe 3.0 lanes.

[Gravemind]

2 minutes ago, Kavawuvi said:

Yes.

 

The OP is using AMD's FX processors, which to my knowledge do not (yet) directly provide any PCIe 3.0 lanes.

Here's the processor I was planning on using.

I don't see whether it does or doesn't =/

[SnowyMus]

9 minutes ago, Gravemind said:

Here's the processor I was planning on using.

I don't see whether it does or doesn't =/

AMD doesn't have something nearly as nice as Intel's ARK to list all of these details nicely, but this is the page to look at for the details on the chipset used: http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/chipsets/9-series

[Electronics Wizardy]

17 minutes ago, Gravemind said:

Here's the processor I was planning on using.

I don't see whether it does or doesn't =/

Id highly suggest you get a core i3 or i5 instead. There much faster in games and support many newer features and also use much less power.

[Gravemind]

Just now, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id highly suggest you get a core i3 or i5 instead. There much faster in games and support many newer features and also use much less power.

Was trying to find a good i5 or even the cheapest i7 I could find, but my budget is very tight.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Gravemind said:

Was trying to find a good i5 or even the cheapest i7 I could find, but my budget is very tight.

A i3 would still be faster than any fx chip in almost any game.

[Gravemind]

13 minutes ago, Kavawuvi said:

AMD doesn't have something nearly as nice as Intel's ARK to list all of these details nicely, but this is the page to look at for the details on the chipset used: http://www.amd.com/en-us/products/chipsets/9-series

In this video the guy uses this processor,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286&cm_re=amd_fx6300-_-19-113-286-_-Product

 

with this board,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157582&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-TechSource Official-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=7899552&SID=

 

Which happen to be the CPU and board I wanted in my small case. So unless he never actually made sure it worked, I'm just assuming everything will be fine...?

[Gravemind]

5 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

A i3 would still be faster than any fx chip in almost any game.

But it has more cores and a higher clock and cache, and reviewers say it's a fantastic CPU. Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong, though. It just seemed like a very attractive and cheap CPU when I'd rather spend most of my budget on the 480 for $200

[SnowyMus]

39 minutes ago, Gravemind said:

In this video the guy uses this processor,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286&cm_re=amd_fx6300-_-19-113-286-_-Product

 

with this board,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157582&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-TechSource Official-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=7899552&SID=

 

Which happen to be the CPU and board I wanted in my small case. So unless he never actually made sure it worked, I'm just assuming everything will be fine...?

It should work just fine from the looks of it. As said numerous times, there's nothing wrong with putting a PCIe 3.0 graphics card into a PCIe 2.0 slot.

 

36 minutes ago, Gravemind said:

But it has more cores and a higher clock and cache, and reviewers say it's a fantastic CPU. Feel free to tell me if I'm wrong, though. It just seemed like a very attractive and cheap CPU when I'd rather spend most of my budget on the 480 for $200

Clock speed doesn't tell the whole story unless you're comparing similar architectures. Cache might help, but it's most likely not going to make any tangible benefit in gaming or make up for any differences in performance. Also, the FX-6300 is nearly three years older than the i3-6100 and is still on a 32 nanometer process.

 

In many cases, an Intel Core i3-6100 can be the better CPU. However, if you're trying to spend as little money as possible for the best performance, the FX-6300 is a very capable processor for its price and should work just fine with the RX 480. You can even overclock it if you want, though you may need to buy an aftermarket cooler depending on how far you want to take it.

 

If you're really budget-limited, have you considered buying a used CPU? You can get a much better price for the same performance.