PCIe x4 video card?

P

puffcap

Weaksauce
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
127
Are there any video cards for PCIe x4? I've seen a few for x1 but it would be nice if I could take full advantage of the x4 bandwidth.

If not are there any decent x1 cards that can play videos smoothly at 1280x1024 or higher resolution?
 
An actual X4 slot? (not a full sized X16 slot with only 4 lanes)?

No.

You can however get a "wear out extender" or "lane converter" that has a full sized X16 slot and X4 fingers that will permit you to plug a regular X16 video card into a much shorter X4 slot. I've used one to fit a 7600GT into a low end Dell Poweredge "server" with an 8X slot. They add a little height, but not much.
 
puffcap said:
Are there any video cards for PCIe x4? I've seen a few for x1 but it would be nice if I could take full advantage of the x4 bandwidth.

If not are there any decent x1 cards that can play videos smoothly at 1280x1024 or higher resolution?
Click to expand...

markintosh13, I don't understand your reasoning.

1280x1024 x24bitcolor x60fps = ~1,9gigabits. PCIe bandwidth is about 1gbit per lane, x4 = 4gbit, and about half the bandwidth is supposed to be usable for data transactions.... 2gigabits. Therefore, X4 will be enough most any 1280x1024 video, and much of your video may only be 24fps...

Someone with a tweakable board could test this on an x16 card by locking out 12 lanes.
 
What reasoning?

He asked for a PCI-E 4X video card, there aren't any. There are however lane converters from X16 slot down to 8X, 4X and 1X.

There are only a couple of 1X video cards, none of which strike me as particularly interesting.
 
Thanks.

markintosh
I did some research on converters but I can't find any pictures on how the card is going to fit in the case. It would seem the card couldn't be screwed into the case if it gets taller. Is there some sort of bracket adapter? Also do you know how reliable the converters are? Does any x16 card just work as is except at lower bandwidth?

poohster
Any clue how the Matrox card will do at playing videos?


I may just give up and build a cheap media PC with an x16 slot. I don't play games so I could probably get by with a few hundred and get much better video quality.
 
Okay - clarification time.

What mobo are you dealing with now that has a physical 4X slot?

I've seen physical X16 slots that only have X8 and X4 lanes enabled. I've seen X8 slots. I've seen X1 slots. What mobo are you talking about specifically?
 
We use the triple head Matrox cards at work for dispatching, The night dispatchers " test" :p the dvd playback , (for training dvd's of course) ;) They seems to have no problems, but many here may be more particular
 
markintosh13 said:
Okay - clarification time.

What mobo are you dealing with now that has a physical 4X slot?

I've seen physical X16 slots that only have X8 and X4 lanes enabled. I've seen X8 slots. I've seen X1 slots. What mobo are you talking about specifically?
Click to expand...

Some of the brand new Intel boards have a (physical sized) PCI-e 4X slot. If all you are looking to do is use it for playing DVDs/Movie files and 2D, one of those PCI-e 1X Radeon 1300 should work fine for you, rather than using the 4X PCI-e slot. Otherwise, Markintosh's suggestion is also sound, but I wouldn't bother if you won't be gaming with it. In that case, I'd go ahead and get a full blown PCI-e card. If it's an issue of lack of slots, then obviously you will have to make some trade-offs, so in that case a PCI-e 1X card in a PCI-e 1X slot would be fine. I personally have not seen a PCI-e 4X card for sale yet (or actually any 4X cards of any kind), so if they make a physical sized 4X extender then I'd use that and whatever fit my needs.
 
http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/11/22/sli_is_coming/page8.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/11/22/sli_is_coming/page10.html
Pay extra attention to the gaming benches on the bottom link. You'll be fine.

And by the way, you could always do what MSI did with its K8N Neo4-F: the board has a physical/electrical x4 slot, with the back wall broken off the connector. As a result, you can plug in an x8 or x16 just fine, it'll just hang on empty space over the unconnected parts. Break off the back wall and you can use ANY card. Yes, they're all upwards- and downwards-compatible.
 
Breaking the back off a slot isn't a big deal. Breaking the back pins off a video card just strikes me as wrong. $25 for a wear out extender / lane converter is a much better idea.

The low end Dell Poweredge servers use an 8X slot (and this is officially for raid cards only, not for video cards) and they put a big heatsink directly behind the slot.

The above mentioned slot wear out extenders / lane converters add a little height, which allow a regular X16 video card to clear this heatsink.

Yes, the extra height makes it impossible to screw the slot cover into the chassis the regular way (and it required me to trim away some excess plastic from a DVI connector in order to fit two DVI cables in at the same time). You can use a number of case standoffs to build up the screwhole, or a long bolt and nut. Some creativity may be required. Works great though.
 
If your board has a PCI slot you can use an old PCI video card.
 
mavalpha said:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/11/22/sli_is_coming/page8.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/11/22/sli_is_coming/page10.html
Pay extra attention to the gaming benches on the bottom link. You'll be fine.

And by the way, you could always do what MSI did with its K8N Neo4-F: the board has a physical/electrical x4 slot, with the back wall broken off the connector. As a result, you can plug in an x8 or x16 just fine, it'll just hang on empty space over the unconnected parts. Break off the back wall and you can use ANY card. Yes, they're all upwards- and downwards-compatible.
Click to expand...

Damn, good information. Strictly out of curiousity, could you do this with a 1X PCI-e slot?

EDIT: Looking at the benchmarks, there doesn't seem to be much of a difference between 4X and 16X. 1X, though is noticeable. Very good information Mavalpha. I certainly learned something new today!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top