PCI-E 2.0 VS PCI-E 3.0

[marty_1986]

Hello guys, I'm starting to look ahead toward upgraded my GPU's when i return home from my deployment next summer. right now i got a 2500k on a Z77 MOB. That MOB has the ability to use PCI-E 3.0 cards. I will be running a SLI setup, is there a major difference between PCI-E 2.0 and PCI-E 3.0!

[_ASSASSIN_]

not right now, the only one I can think of is using a PCi-E SSD

[Sarcasm]

In theory, yes. In practice, no.

[Ryan Leech]

Not unless you have SLI GTX 690s

[M-ursu]

Not unless you have SLI GTX 690s

Not even then.

PCI-E 3.0 is theoretically 2x faster but, in real life there is only 1-5% performance difference.

[AMICLG]

Nope, no real world performance difference.

[Guest]

You'll see yourself being held back by PCIe 2.0 when you've got a 10gigabit NIC + a couple of seriously bawling RAID cards. However that sort of thing you'll only find inside a server. For a GPU based setup, you won't have an issue.

[Lays]

from what I've seen unless you're playing games with 2-4 cards in SLI on resolutions like 5760x1080 and above it makes no difference 

[orangecat]

PCI-e 3.0 is just more bandwidth really. Not that it makes much of a difference.

[SteepGnomeKing]

In theory, yes. In practice, no.

 

No for both, Show me a theory that the bandwidth of pcie 2.0 x16 is less than what a 780 can push out.

[Sarcasm]

No for both, Show me a theory that the bandwidth of pcie 2.0 x16 is less than what a 780 can push out.

He asked the difference between 2.0 and 3.0, not in GPU terms. And I'm pretty sure that double the bandwidth is a pretty big difference...

[SteepGnomeKing]

He asked the difference between 2.0 and 3.0, not in GPU terms. And I'm pretty sure that double the bandwidth is a pretty big difference...

"I'm starting to look ahead toward upgraded my GPU's"  "I will be running a SLI setup"

 

Call me crazy but, pretty sure that means he's asking about pcie 2.0 vs 3.0 for gpu's.

 

Double the bandwidth is a big difference. But when even a 780 doesn't cap out pciex16 2.0 than why does he need 3.0

[SkilledRebuilds]

Your motherboard supports PCIE3, however your CPU is going to impede your motherboard from using it.

Trust me, 2000 series CPU's which all started with PCIE2 using 3000 Series enabled motherboards and PCIE3, your only getting PCIE2.0 out of it.

The reason Sandy bridge doesn't support PCI-e 3.0 is because its PCI-e controller is on the CPU and it was only built to support 2.0/2.1.

[marty_1986]

Also I forgot add that I intend to be getting a 4K monitor when they get to a reasonable price!

[Mentalguy]

Your motherboard supports PCIE3, however your CPU is going to impede your motherboard from using it.

Trust me, 2000 series CPU's which all started with PCIE2 using 3000 Series enabled motherboards and PCIE3, your only getting PCIE2.0 out of it.

The reason Sandy bridge doesn't support PCI-e 3.0 is because its PCI-e controller is on the CPU and it was only built to support 2.0/2.1.

it dont matter though

[A/C]

Also I forgot add that I intend to be getting a 4K monitor when they get to a reasonable price!

 

Think of the PCI-e lanes as lanes on the motorway.

 

The 2.0 has  "3 motorway lanes" for ilustration purposes, and the 3.0 has "6 motorway lanes". Now your GPUs won't really benefit form the six lanes because they only create as much traffic to fill up "2 motorway lanes" - you followin' me? -good

 

So, like @Windspeed36 said up there you don't create enough traffic to fill the available bandwidth.

 

Bottom line - you won't notice a difference. Only the psychological effect ,

 

 

Also, the 4k monitor has nothing to do with PCI-e lanes. Frankly the monitor is dependent of only what the GPU outputs in it.

[SkilledRebuilds]

it dont matter though

I know that, be he wanted actual info on it.

[TheProfosist]

You wont be able to use pci-e 3.0 with a 2500k