Difference between PCI-E and PCI-EX???

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carbonsteel

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Feb 24, 2005
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Could someone please tell me the difference between PCI-E and PCI-EX if there even is a difference. Some video cards i read about are PCI-E and others are PCI-EX, i may be being stupid here and there both exactly the same thing, but i want to make sure before i buy one. However i do know the difference between AGP and the PCI series. I just need to know if there is a difference between those PCI's, if there is. Thanks very much for your time.
 
there is a rather large difference. pci-e is for graphics cards, and pci-x is f0or things like raid aray controllers and other high bandwith non video things.

at least this is how i always understood it
 
But i see some video cards as being labled pci-x...is that just an advertising thing, and its really pci-e??? I see difference ads like PCI-EX, PCI-E, PCI-X....in general, are all these video cards the same thing, and its just an advertising thing? Thanks again
 
Are you talking about PCI-E and PCI-X? In that case they are very different. PCI-E is mostly used for graphics cards on desktop computers, whereas PCI-X is a type of high-bandwidth PCI bus that is only found on server boards and is used mostly for storage controllers (like someone said in the post above mine).

I've never heard of a PCI-X graphics card though, so maybe you're taking about PCI-E and PCI-E x16? In that case, they're almost certainly the same thing when used to describe a graphics card.

EDIT: BTW, there is no such thing as PCI-EX. You must be either talking about PCI-X or PCI-E x16. PCI-X, however, is something completely different. Could you post an example of one of these graphics cards you've found that uses "PCI-EX"?
 
alright,

I see an add in the paper here that says

Asus 256mb Extreme AX800XT PE PCI-EX 2DHTV DDR3 DVI TV-OUT

Now, it does say PCI-EX....is that just a stupid advertising thing, and its actually PCI-E. Im planning to get a board with PCI-E. Would this video card be compatible, as far as i think...it would be...but its that PCI-EX thing that throws me off... Please explain.

Thanks again.... And whats the diference between AX800XT and X800XT....is AX800XT just an ASUS thing? Thanks again...

Carbonsteel
 
carbonsteel,

They are just trying to say PCI Express (PCI-(Ex)press).

But yes, I don't believe its correct to say that, unless as others here have said you trying to refer to the number of lanes. So technically I think that should have said PCI-Ex16.

Don't worry. If you have a PCI-E slot in your computer, you'll be able to use this card if you wish.
 
One more question.... Whats the difference between AX800XT and the X800XT, and also, is there even such thing as a video card that uses the true PCI-EX???
 
AX800XT I believe refers to the company Asus, which makes motherboards, video cards, etc. It's just an Asus brand of X800XT.
 
carbonsteel said:
One more question.... Whats the difference between AX800XT and the X800XT, and also, is there even such thing as a video card that uses the true PCI-EX???
Click to expand...
We won't see full utilization of PCI-E for quite a while.....even the best AGP cards don't even utilize AGP's full potential yet.
 
carbonsteel said:
is there even such thing as a video card that uses the true PCI-EX???
Click to expand...

As long as that is PCI-E, then yes, all except the very first PCI-E cards use PCI-E (the first few were just the AGP cards with PCI-E adapters built in). They don't use the entire x16 bandwidth, but there is usually a small performance boost going from x8 to x16, so it is worth having now.

PCI-X was an extention to PCI that gave more bandwidth to controller cards (usually SCSI, RAID, or Gigabit ethernet), and is common in server platforms. I've never heard of a PCI-X graphics card, but there could have been some, or perhaps some where developed for Apple.

As stated above, PCI-EX is almost certianly a typo or other mistake for PCI-E.
 
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