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PCI-E 2.0

S

sanitystealer

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 7, 2007
Messages
230
Anyone up to the task of trying to explain and clarify what PCI-E 2.0 is, how it differs from PCI-E, and what it means to somone looking to do a build now (or in a couple weeks/ a month)?

I'm particularly interested in how it will be used, what boards will support it, and any other information (speculation?) on the subject.

Thanks in advance, I know a bit about computers but I'm by no means an expert, and I know how hard it can be to explain these types of things.

Cheers :D
 
Faster bandwidth, more voltage i think.... not sure on that one though.

Probably something else but i can't think.

I believe all PCI-E 2 cards will work in normal PCI-E and vice-versa, so unless you want the latest and greatest there isn't really that much of a need.

But im probably missing something major out...
 
We're far from maxing out the bandwidth of a normal pcie x16 slot so I think right now the major thing with pci 2 will be the fact that it can deliver more power to the card, but it does also have alot more bandwidth.
 
I know that PCI-E 1.1 cards will work in 2.0 slots but I doubt that the reverse is true. I don't have the time to look over all of the information on PCI-E 2.0 but it is all here, here, and here with the last 2 links being very technical.
 
Scotty_SFF said:
Faster bandwidth, more voltage i think.... not sure on that one though.
Click to expand...
Voltage will be the same or reduced, it wouldn't make sense to increase the voltage.

Voltage for the power pins will likely stay the same.

They may reduce the voltage on the I/O lines in order to help clock higher, and maybe use less power. Though, it may stay the same. Haven't read either way.
 
Interesting - so, the Nov. release video cards (I know, it's all speculation at this point) may use PCI-E 2.0?

Does anyone know which boards support 2.0?
 
X38 chipset boards support PCI-E 2.0. The eaglelake chipset (update to the bearlake family -- g31/g33/p35/x38/etc) from intel coming out in H1'08 will have it as well.
 
will PCI E 2 give any (even a littile bit) boost in frame rates for pci e 1 cards?
 
lukx said:
will PCI E 2 give any (even a littile bit) boost in frame rates for pci e 1 cards?
Click to expand...

I'm assuming it will get a boost only if the PCI-E 1 card is saturating the current bandwidth.
 
The feeling I'm getting is that it isn't a terribly big deal...

I am trying to decide on x38 vs p35, and so far I see no reason to wait for x38.
 
The x38 will probably be all DDR3. However, the motherboard manufacturers might build ddr2 capable boards. I'm too sleepy to concentrate on this from the SIG PCIE-2 FAQ, but i am reading "2-way" compatability:

Q5: Then PCIe 2.0 must be backward compatible with PCIe 1.1 and 1.0?
A5: Yes. The PCIe Base 2.0 specification supports both the 2.5GT/s and 5GT/s signaling technologies. A device designed to the PCIe Base 2.0 specification may support 2.5GT/s, 5GT/s or both. However, a device designed to operate specifically at 5GT/s must also support 2.5GT/s signaling. The PCIe Base specification covers chip-to-chip topologies on the system board. For I/O extensibility across PCIe connectors, the Card Electromechanical (CEM) and ExpressModule™ specifications will also need to be updated, but this work will not impact mechanical compatibility of the slots, cards or modules. Currently, the PCI-SIG is defining the PCIe CEM 2.0 specification which has been released to members for review at v0.5. There are currently no plans to adapt the PCIe Mini CEM specification for the faster bit rate as the market need has not yet materialized.
Click to expand...

The new NVIDA G90 and G92 GPUs will be PCI-e 2.0 devices (German website). But i guess it would be totally stupid for them to not make it compatible to PCI-e 1.1 mobos. AGP 8x cards were able to run in 4x and 2x mode (where they really?), why should a PCI-e 2.0 device not run in a PCI-e 1.1 slot...
 
More bandwidth (doubled), more wattage over the PCIe bus (doubled I believe; NOT more voltage, more wattage, meaning fewer external power connectors), and backwards compatability with good ol' PCIe (your older card will still work in the new mobo).

And the X38 supports both RAM types (as the P35 does), so I think we'll be seeing plenty of DDR2 boards for awhile :p
 
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