GeForce GTX 480 PCI-Express Scaling

W1zzard · Mar 25, 2010, 04:19 PM

To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/N...press_Scaling/

Steevo · Mar 26, 2010, 11:00 PM

I see.

jasper1605 · Mar 26, 2010, 11:05 PM

thanks

SystemViper · Mar 26, 2010, 11:15 PM

i like the insight into the 8x vs the 16x pcie slots, again anothter sweet review/test

Apocolypse007 · Mar 27, 2010, 04:59 AM

So little difference between 8x and 16x. I guess thats a good thing though. If you were limited to running a card in 8x for SLI, one might be concerned about a performance hit due to limited bandwidth.

theorw · Mar 27, 2010, 05:58 AM

Great review!The kind u wont find anywhere else in the net!
So 2% difference 16x>8x doesnt justify the price of x48 and u we should be just fine with 2x 8x of p45 right?
Thought so too since i xfired on both and saw no difference!!

Mar 27, 2010, 07:58 AM

Excellent. So using 8x it's not such a big deal afterall... Good for SLI/Crossfire thingy

HalfAHertz · Mar 27, 2010, 10:17 AM

Is it possible to test Sli and CF at x16 vs x8? I think the hit will be much more than 2% due to the increased bandwidth.

nt300 · Mar 27, 2010, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HalfAHertz

Is it possible to test Sli and CF at x16 vs x8? I think the hit will be much more than 2% due to the increased bandwidth.

There real is no hit with 16x and 8x whether you in crossfire/sli or not. Check benchmarks, 780GX vs. 790FX with what I seen the FX was slitly faster but still bad in price/performance when compare to GX.

HillBeast · Mar 27, 2010, 10:32 AM

Interesting that. I was expecting performance to halve when in less lanes but the drop was pretty minimal. Cheers for the insight.

theorw · Mar 27, 2010, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HalfAHertz

Is it possible to test Sli and CF at x16 vs x8? I think the hit will be much more than 2% due to the increased bandwidth.

There no decrease u can notice while gaming...Benching maybe but only when using say 2x 5970 etc...
I have used both X48 and P45 chips on my 4850s and didnt notice a thing different in performance!

saikamaldoss · Mar 27, 2010, 01:13 PM

WHy are you using 9.12 for ATI ??
Here is a fud version

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/18242/1/

and they used a 10.3a

but can some one compair with similar config system ??

Mac Daddy · Mar 27, 2010, 01:47 PM

First off what an insightful review I had no idea that the difference between x16 and x8 was almost negligible. Great job and I read through the one on the 5870 as well

Quote:

Originally Posted by HalfAHertz

Is it possible to test Sli and CF at x16 vs x8? I think the hit will be much more than 2% due to the increased bandwidth.

I had a similar question but mine is directed more towards the bandwidths themselves in SLI or Crossfire. As far as I have read in either configuration it is ideal to match the core and memory clocks on all the cards used.

My question is running SLI or Crossfire in a x16 x8 configuration or x16 x8 x8 configuration going to affect performance and stability?

DonInKansas · Mar 27, 2010, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saikamaldoss

WHy are you using 9.12 for ATI ??

This was already covered in another thread. Leave it be.

btarunr · Mar 27, 2010, 01:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mac Daddy

My question is running SLI or Crossfire in a x16 x8 configuration or x16 x8 x8 configuration going to affect performance and stability?

No issues with stability, driver irons that out. Go ahead with a x16 x8 x8 build.

Mac Daddy · Mar 27, 2010, 02:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by btarunr

No issues with stability, driver irons that out. Go ahead with a x16 x8 x8 build.

Thanks for the quick reply. I have been shopping for a mobo for an i7 test system and have been holding off because everything seems to be x16 x8 x8. I was looking at this mobo actually.

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/...A-EX58-EXTREME

dumo · Mar 27, 2010, 05:11 PM

Its gonna be a lot of HD5870 for sale soon

Solaris17 · Mar 27, 2010, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonInKansas

This was already covered in another thread. Leave it be.

crazyeyesreaper · Mar 27, 2010, 05:39 PM

now this was very informative i love the PCIe scaling reviews on the new GPUs tells me exactly what i need to know for crossfire or sli on lower end boards and it seems x4 is plenty of bandwidth so a x4 x16 board can still sli and get good results from the looks.

thanks again W1zz

Nick89 · Mar 27, 2010, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dumo

Its gonna be a lot of HD5870 for sale soon

Only idiots will sell there 5870's for a 12% increase from the GTX480. you can get a 12% increase from your 5870 by overclocking it.

[I.R.A]_FBi · Mar 27, 2010, 09:42 PM

dugg

boulard83 · Mar 27, 2010, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick89

Only idiots will sell there 5870's for a 12% increase from the GTX480. you can get a 12% increase from your 5870 by overclocking it.

+1 ... sry +950 !

I was able to run 950/1300 on the stock cooling. Whit water in it its a breeze ...

This review is interesting but i think someone received some money for this review

HillBeast · Mar 27, 2010, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyeyesreaper

now this was very informative i love the PCIe scaling reviews on the new GPUs tells me exactly what i need to know for crossfire or sli on lower end boards and it seems x4 is plenty of bandwidth so a x4 x16 board can still sli and get good results from the looks.

thanks again W1zz

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the PCI-E bus has the most stress in loading when it has to send the textures to the card, and then after that it is mainly instructions. I'm probably wrong, but I'd say this is why there would be such a minimal drop.

lemonadesoda · Mar 28, 2010, 09:48 PM

Correct. You are not wrong. Minimum framerates are directly impacted by this, not just complexity of the scene being rendered.

This review is very interesting, but what it misses in the discussion is the interaction of PCI-E bandwidth, memory bandwidth, and chipset. The reason is that x16 2.0 is getting very close to memory bandwidths, give or take all the overhead and data marshalling.

W1z is getting some difference in performance on his highly OC rig where memory bandwidth >> PCI-E bandwidth, so that it is the PCI lane that is causing a potential bottleneck.

BUT for a regular DDR2 or DDR3 non-OC extreme edition, the difference would be much smaller still. So while it is nice to see OC figures to the max, it may also misrepresent the true behaviour for the regular user.

Furthermore, if you have SLI crossfire system, the results WILL NOT scale in the same way. Why? Because the bandwidth needed to fill 2x PCI-x16 2.0 lanes simultaneously is getting pretty close to memory bandwidth, esp. with all the data-marshalling going on in the chipset.

I would like to encourage w1z to do a follow-up to his otherwise most excellent review:

1./ I would really like to see the results at stock.
2./ Do a test with SLI/crossfire. The whole x8 x16 discussion is moot without putting into real context. The results will not scale in the same way as the single card set up... so therefore the results of the single card setup are irrelevant to the discussion about SLI/Crossfire performance under x4, x8 or x16
3./ By all means, do a sensitivity analysis on how OC'ing improves the results, or indeed worsens them from a relative perspective
4./ But also see how the results change by increasing/decreasing memory bandwidth by dropping a memory channel or two
5./ As 1 but do the test on a similarly clocked dual xeon system with memory channel bandwidth to the max, and see how much the results pull away compared with 1.

I think the results 5 vs. 1 vs. the original would be a very interesting comparative and help enthusiasts see the value of dual xeons vs single CPU vs x4 x8 x16 vs. SLI/Crossfire.

lemonadesoda · Mar 28, 2010, 11:34 PM

The poor man has to sleep too! Never mind about follow up analysis. The points are valid though.

To flog an old horse, if a GTX480 works so well on a PCI-E x4, then what about AGP... it would have been fine too, possibly better performance than the x4 even, due to lower latencies

There's a great review of SLI GTX480 over on anantech. Wow, the new GT100 architecture scales well. But OMG look at those SLI power consumptions, over 800W system power with a simple SLI setup! eek!

Mar 25, 2010, 04:19 PM	#1
W1zzard Benevolent Dictator Join Date: May 2004 Location: Stuttgart, Germany Posts: 13,865 (4.17/day) Thanks: 184 Thanked 10,447 Times in 3,216 Posts System Specs	GeForce GTX 480 PCI-Express Scaling To read this review go to: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/N...press_Scaling/ Last edited by W1zzard; Mar 26, 2010 at 07:40 PM.

Processor:	Intel Core i7-2600K @ 3.4 GHz
Motherboard:	ASUS P8Z68-V Pro
Memory:	3x 2048 MB Mushkin DDR3
Video Card:	ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II TOP
Hard Disk:	Crucial C300 128 GB, WD6400AAKS 640 GB, WD15EADS 1.5 TB
Optical Drive:	BenQ DW1640
CRT/LCD Model:	Dell U3011 30", 2560x1600 + 19" 1280x1024
Case:	NZXT H2
Sound Card:	On-board Realtek HD
PSU:	Kingwin Absolute Platinum 550 W
Software:	Windows 7 64-bit

Mar 26, 2010, 11:00 PM	#2
Steevo Eligible for custom title Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 5,578 (2.00/day) Thanks: 239 Thanked 983 Times in 732 Posts System Specs	I see. __________________ “it would have been perfect....its got trains and the line"tech your kids not to do what iv done"(or similar) because i had obviously done something to warrent 2 e-thugs to come 4000miles out of their way and kill me.” -Solaris17 “yeah i failed. i noticed the "coming soon" part after i posted.” -Mussels “people are just stupid.” -W1zzard Yes I am evil, yes you can have some.

System Name:	MoFo
Processor:	AMD PhenomII 1100T @ 3.7Ghz/4.1Ghz Turbo
Motherboard:	Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe 2202 BIOS
Cooling:	Swiftec 655 pump, Apogee GT, MCW60-R GPU, MCR360mm Rad, 1/2 loop.
Memory:	G-Skill 1200Mhz 5.5.5.15 2T
Video Card:	HD5870 1Gb HIS custom BIOS watercooled & VRM-R4
Hard Disk:	2 Agility 3 SSD RAID 0 on highpoint 640, 2 3TB RAID 0, 1 2TB and one failing 750Gb
Optical Drive:	Lite-On DL DVD
CRT/LCD Model:	Asus 1920X1200 60Hz 25.5" LCD, 46" 1080P Toshiba LCD
Case:	Rosewill R6A34-BK modded (thanks to MKmods)
Sound Card:	On Board
PSU:	750W PC Power & Cooling modded (thanks to MKmods)
Software:	Vista X64 Ultimate/Win 7 Ultimate
Benchmarks:	780 MBps read on HDD's 1052 core on 5870.

Mar 26, 2010, 11:05 PM	#3
jasper1605 Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Ohio Posts: 1,178 (0.89/day) Thanks: 356 Thanked 228 Times in 191 Posts System Specs	thanks __________________ 1 in 8 people in the world do not have access to clean water. 20 Liters is trying to do something to change 750,000,000 people's lives. Click to help - Love life and live a life of love - If you would like prayer for anything going on in your life or someone else's send me a PM My Heat 11-0-0 My Sig Rig Pics -Updated 11/1/10 TPU Eyefinity Club

System Name:	Vegnagun
Processor:	i5 750 @ 3810 MHz 200.7 X 19
Motherboard:	Asus P7P55D Deluxe
Cooling:	Noctua NH-U12P SE 2
Memory:	2X2bg GEIL 2000 MHz 9-9-9-24
Video Card:	Radeon 5850 Toxic 950-1355-1.088v
Hard Disk:	WD Caviar Black 640gb
Optical Drive:	lite on DH-20A6S
CRT/LCD Model:	5760x1200 eyefinity Topaz S and Gateway FPD2485Ws
Case:	Azza Solano 1000
Sound Card:	10.1 on mobo :)
PSU:	Seventeam ST-850ZAF
Software:	Windows 7 pro on college student discount :)
Benchmarks:	top 1% in the world for weekly score in Killzone 2 :)

Mar 26, 2010, 11:15 PM	#4
SystemViper Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 2,304 (1.15/day) Thanks: 693 Thanked 477 Times in 396 Posts	i like the insight into the 8x vs the 16x pcie slots, again anothter sweet review/test __________________ HEAT

Mar 27, 2010, 04:59 AM	#5
Apocolypse007 Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: New Sewickley, PA Posts: 455 (0.17/day) Thanks: 92 Thanked 78 Times in 56 Posts System Specs	So little difference between 8x and 16x. I guess thats a good thing though. If you were limited to running a card in 8x for SLI, one might be concerned about a performance hit due to limited bandwidth. __________________

System Name:	six pack
Processor:	Phenom II X6 1090T BE
Motherboard:	ASRock 890FX Deluxe3
Cooling:	Cool-it ECO ALC Water cooler
Memory:	4GB G-Skill Flares CL7
Video Card:	1GB HIS HD4890 930core / 1025mem 4100mhz effective
Hard Disk:	320Gb Seagate Barracuda (w/perpendiular recording) and 750GB Western Digital Caviar Black
Optical Drive:	1 CDwriter 1 DVD-ROM
CRT/LCD Model:	Acer B273HU 2048 x 1152 native resolution
Case:	Xoxide X-Sentric Professional Series w/250mm Fan
Sound Card:	SB Audigy 2 Value
PSU:	750 Watt Apevia Warlock
Software:	Windows Vista Home Premium 64bit (w/dreamscene patch)/Windows 7 Pro 64bit
Benchmarks:	3DMark06:10,516 3Dmark Vantage: P8537

Mar 27, 2010, 05:58 AM	#6
theorw Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Athens GREECE Posts: 702 (0.32/day) Thanks: 37 Thanked 50 Times in 43 Posts System Specs	Great review!The kind u wont find anywhere else in the net! So 2% difference 16x>8x doesnt justify the price of x48 and u we should be just fine with 2x 8x of p45 right? Thought so too since i xfired on both and saw no difference!! __________________ CPU-Z validation sig pics temporarily blocked

Processor:	C2D 8400@ 4,05GHz(currently)1,36v
Motherboard:	DFI LP x48 DK T2RS
Cooling:	XIGMATEK 1283 w/ bolt-thru kit/SCYTHE Mushashi x2
Memory:	Crucial BALLISTIX 6400 @900MHz 2,00v
Video Card:	HD 5770 1040/1400 unlocked/musashi
Hard Disk:	SG 120GB+WD 160GB
CRT/LCD Model:	24" FLATRON W2442PA Full HD
Case:	COOLERMASTER HAF 932
PSU:	Thermaltake PUREPOWER RX 600
Software:	Vista ultimate SP1
Benchmarks:	VANTAGE:11700 3DMARKO06:18600 FURMARK:9K

Mar 27, 2010, 07:58 AM	#7
TAViX Guest Posts: n/a (0/day)	Excellent. So using 8x it's not such a big deal afterall... Good for SLI/Crossfire thingy

Mar 27, 2010, 10:17 AM	#8
HalfAHertz Join Date: May 2009 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,750 (1.16/day) Thanks: 376 Thanked 351 Times in 253 Posts System Specs	Is it possible to test Sli and CF at x16 vs x8? I think the hit will be much more than 2% due to the increased bandwidth. __________________ smile or the devil will get in your head and sing karaoke forever...

System Name:	Mini Kraken
Processor:	i5-3330
Motherboard:	AsRock B75M-DGS
Cooling:	stock
Memory:	2x4GB Kingston 1600MHz
Video Card:	Saphire Radeon 7850 2GB
Hard Disk:	Plextor M5S 120GB+1TB Seagate
Optical Drive:	-
CRT/LCD Model:	23' Dell
Case:	Nonamebrand ATX case with lots of fans
Sound Card:	stock
PSU:	CM Extreme Power 475W
Software:	W7

System Name:	Gamers PC
Processor:	AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE @ 3.80 GHz
Motherboard:	MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3
Cooling:	Corsair H50 Cooler
Memory:	Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3-1333
Video Card:	XFX Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5
Hard Disk:	2 x WD Caviar Green 1TB SATA300 w/64MB Buffer (RAID 0)
Optical Drive:	LG UH08LS10K BK 8X Blu-Ray/DVD
CRT/LCD Model:	Samsung 2494SW 1080p 24" WS LCD HD
Case:	CM HAF 932 Full Tower Case
Sound Card:	Creative SB X-FI TITANIUM -PCIE x 1
PSU:	Corsair TX Series CMPSU-650TX (650W)
Software:	Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

Mar 27, 2010, 10:32 AM	#10
HillBeast Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: New Zealand Posts: 407 (0.33/day) Thanks: 13 Thanked 27 Times in 21 Posts System Specs	Interesting that. I was expecting performance to halve when in less lanes but the drop was pretty minimal. Cheers for the insight. __________________ Intel Core i7 930 @ 3.6GHz with HT on @ 1.17V - 8GB OCZ Extreme DDR3-1333 @ 7-7-7-18 timings (still tuning) - Gigabyte X58A-UD3R - Intel X58 Chipset - Sapphire Radeon 5870 Vapor-X Rev.2 - Gigabyte GeForce GTX285 for PhysX - Gigabyte Odin Pro 800W - 2x WD Green 1TB in RAID - Windows 7 Professional - Onboard Realtek 889 HD Audio

System Name:	Kuja
Processor:	Intel Core i7 930
Motherboard:	Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
Cooling:	Corsair H50 HB.o Special Edition with Koolance CHC-122 NB Block
Memory:	OCZ Extreme Edition 4GB Dual Channel
Video Card:	Sapphire Radeon 5870 Vapor-X Rev. 2
Hard Disk:	2x 1TB WD Green in RAID
CRT/LCD Model:	BenQ V2400W
Case:	Lian Li PC-A17 HB.o Special Edition
Sound Card:	Onboard Realtek 889A
PSU:	Gigabyte Odin Pro 800W
Software:	Windows 7 Professional
Benchmarks:	93632 sysPoints in sysTest '09 47 FPS in Star Tales Benchmark

Mar 27, 2010, 01:13 PM	#12
saikamaldoss Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: India (Chennai) Posts: 197 (0.12/day) Thanks: 22 Thanked 28 Times in 23 Posts System Specs	WHy are you using 9.12 for ATI ?? Here is a fud version http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/18242/1/ and they used a 10.3a but can some one compair with similar config system ??

System Name:	AMD Drag
Processor:	AMD Phenom II 955 @ 3.8GHz
Motherboard:	GIGABYTE GA-MA78G-DS3H
Cooling:	AIR Artic
Memory:	4 GB DDR2 1144 MHz
Video Card:	ATI 5770 985/1320mhz
Hard Disk:	Seagate 1.7 TB
Optical Drive:	Samsung DVD RW 22x
CRT/LCD Model:	Samsung 22"
Case:	Z-bro
Sound Card:	XI-FI 24bit 7.1
PSU:	eXtreme Power 650W
Software:	Windows 7 x64

Processor:	Core i5 750
Motherboard:	Gigabyte p55-ud3r
Cooling:	Zalman CNPS10X Extreme
Memory:	Geil 2133mhz DDR3
Video Card:	XFX 6870
Hard Disk:	120GB GSkill Phoenix Pro, 640GB WD Black
Optical Drive:	Sony DVDRW SATA
CRT/LCD Model:	LG 23" 1920x1080
Case:	Antec One
Sound Card:	Onboard
PSU:	Antec HCG 620W
Software:	Windows 7 Pro x64

System Name:	Blackbox
Processor:	AMD FX-8350
Motherboard:	ASUS M5A99FX Pro R2.0
Cooling:	Xigmatek Aegir SD128264 with IC Diamond 24 Thermal Compound
Memory:	16 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600
Video Card:	Palit GeForce GTX 680 JetStream 2GB outfitted with IC Diamond 24 TIM
Hard Disk:	Samsung 840 Series 250GB
Optical Drive:	HT-LG DVD-RW
CRT/LCD Model:	ViewSonic VX2450wm-LED
Case:	Cooler Master CM690 Window
Sound Card:	Creative SB Recon3D
PSU:	Corsair HX850W
Software:	Windows 8 Pro 64-bit

Mar 27, 2010, 05:11 PM	#17
dumo Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 457 (0.15/day) Thanks: 47 Thanked 307 Times in 126 Posts	Its gonna be a lot of HD5870 for sale soon

System Name:	Prometheus
Processor:	Xeon W 3520 4.5ghz
Motherboard:	DFI Lanparty UT t3eH8
Cooling:	Xigmatek Dark Knight
Memory:	(3x8GB) 24GB Avexir Core series triple channel 1600mhz
Video Card:	MSI GTX470
Hard Disk:	OCZ Agility3 120, SS 1TB, SS 2TB
Optical Drive:	Pioneer DVD Dual layer burner R+RW (Firmware Upgrade)/Philips lightscribe DVD burner Dual layer
CRT/LCD Model:	Dell 2007FP
Case:	Xigmatek Utgard
Sound Card:	ASUS Xonar D2X 7.1 on Logitec X-540/Razer Carcharias
PSU:	Corsair HX1000
Software:	Windows8 x64 \|\|Poser7, Cinema4D, CS5, 3DSM10, Lightwave9, Bryce7
Benchmarks:	I'm such a tease

Mar 27, 2010, 05:39 PM	#19
crazyeyesreaper Chief Broken Rig Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: 04578 Posts: 6,036 (3.90/day) Thanks: 767 Thanked 2,269 Times in 1,570 Posts System Specs	now this was very informative i love the PCIe scaling reviews on the new GPUs tells me exactly what i need to know for crossfire or sli on lower end boards and it seems x4 is plenty of bandwidth so a x4 x16 board can still sli and get good results from the looks. thanks again W1zz

System Name:	Black Box
Processor:	Ivy Bridge 3770K @ 4.6 GHz
Motherboard:	Biostar TZ77XE4
Cooling:	Thermaltake Water 2.0 Pro
Memory:	Mushkin Redlines 1866 9-10-9-28-1T 2x4gb (8gb)
Video Card:	EVGA GTX 670 FTW at 1050 base 1179 boost
Hard Disk:	120gb Adata S510 ssd + 5.5 TB storage
Optical Drive:	LG Dual layer sata burner
CRT/LCD Model:	Samsung T24A350 1920x1080, Junk Sanyo TV 1440x900
Case:	Fractal Designs Define XL Black Pearl
Sound Card:	onboard
PSU:	Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 1050W 80+ GOLD
Software:	Windows 7 64bit Professional

System Name:	9th Level
Processor:	AMD Phenom II 940 BE @3.4Ghz
Motherboard:	GIGABYTE MA790FX-UD5P
Cooling:	Corsair H100, x2 250mm, x1 140mm, x3 120mm fans.
Memory:	8GB Patriot DDR2
Video Card:	EVGA GTX480 (800/1600/2000/@1.0v)
Hard Disk:	x1 80GB, x2 1TB.
Optical Drive:	x1 LG DVD/CD Drive
CRT/LCD Model:	Acer 24" 2ms 1920x1200
Case:	HAF 932
Sound Card:	Sound Blaster Fatal1ty Xtreme gamer 64mb Xram
PSU:	Corsair HX850W
Software:	Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit

Mar 27, 2010, 09:42 PM	#21
[I.R.A]_FBi Eligible for custom title Join Date: May 2007 Location: c:\programs\kitteh.exe Posts: 6,152 (2.77/day) Thanks: 724 Thanked 556 Times in 461 Posts System Specs	dugg __________________ Rig 1+1 Athlon XP 2200+, MSI KM2M Combo, ATI 9200SE 128 MB DDR, 2 X 512 MB DDR333, 250GB + 80 HDD? “try intel cpu, amd is only good for going to nude sites” -firehawkxd “go for the 5850 now and play games while the nvidiots wait for the ceo to show an actual working product” -W1zzard “An MSI logo? This offends my retina. I await your apology.” -MRCL www.autolounge.com.jm

Processor:	C2Q6600 @ 1.6 GHz
Motherboard:	Anus PQ5
Cooling:	ACFPro
Memory:	GEiL2 x 1 GB PC2 6400
Video Card:	MSi 4830 (RIP)
Hard Disk:	Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB Perpendicular Recording
Optical Drive:	Lite On 16X SATA Burner
CRT/LCD Model:	Dell 17'
Case:	El Cheepo
Sound Card:	7.1 Onboard
PSU:	Corsair TX750
Software:	MCE2K5

System Name:	Boulard83 Rig V4.0
Processor:	I7 920 D0 @ 4.0ghz 1.2875v (still tweeking)
Motherboard:	P6TD Deluxe (191x21)
Cooling:	Apogee GTZ, TFC360, Komodo, MCR220, 2x MCP655, MCresV2
Memory:	3x2gb G.Skill Trident @ 1528mhz 7-7-7-21-1N-72 @ 1.54v
Video Card:	HD5870 @ 950/1300 1.187v and 1066/1325 bench
Hard Disk:	WD VR150 OS, 2x WD 250 SE16 raid0, WD green 500gb 32mb
Optical Drive:	LG DVD RW
CRT/LCD Model:	22" LG
Case:	Tecnofront HWD
Sound Card:	onboard
PSU:	Antec 1200 OC
Software:	Win7 Pro 64
Benchmarks:	~27k 3Dmark06 6.084sec Wprime

Mar 28, 2010, 09:48 PM	#24
lemonadesoda Eligible for custom title Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 5,347 (2.15/day) Thanks: 750 Thanked 960 Times in 710 Posts System Specs	Correct. You are not wrong. Minimum framerates are directly impacted by this, not just complexity of the scene being rendered. This review is very interesting, but what it misses in the discussion is the interaction of PCI-E bandwidth, memory bandwidth, and chipset. The reason is that x16 2.0 is getting very close to memory bandwidths, give or take all the overhead and data marshalling. W1z is getting some difference in performance on his highly OC rig where memory bandwidth >> PCI-E bandwidth, so that it is the PCI lane that is causing a potential bottleneck. BUT for a regular DDR2 or DDR3 non-OC extreme edition, the difference would be much smaller still. So while it is nice to see OC figures to the max, it may also misrepresent the true behaviour for the regular user. Furthermore, if you have SLI crossfire system, the results WILL NOT scale in the same way. Why? Because the bandwidth needed to fill 2x PCI-x16 2.0 lanes simultaneously is getting pretty close to memory bandwidth, esp. with all the data-marshalling going on in the chipset. I would like to encourage w1z to do a follow-up to his otherwise most excellent review: 1./ I would really like to see the results at stock. 2./ Do a test with SLI/crossfire. The whole x8 x16 discussion is moot without putting into real context. The results will not scale in the same way as the single card set up... so therefore the results of the single card setup are irrelevant to the discussion about SLI/Crossfire performance under x4, x8 or x16 3./ By all means, do a sensitivity analysis on how OC'ing improves the results, or indeed worsens them from a relative perspective 4./ But also see how the results change by increasing/decreasing memory bandwidth by dropping a memory channel or two 5./ As 1 but do the test on a similarly clocked dual xeon system with memory channel bandwidth to the max, and see how much the results pull away compared with 1. I think the results 5 vs. 1 vs. the original would be a very interesting comparative and help enthusiasts see the value of dual xeons vs single CPU vs x4 x8 x16 vs. SLI/Crossfire.

System Name:	ICE-QUAD // ICE-CRUNCH
Processor:	Q6600 // 2x Xeon 5472
Memory:	2GB DDR // 8GB FB-DIMM
Video Card:	HD3850-AGP // FireGL 3400
CRT/LCD Model:	2 x Samsung 204Ts = 3200x1200
Sound Card:	Audigy 2
Software:	Windows Server 2003 R2 as a Workstation

Mar 28, 2010, 11:34 PM	#25
lemonadesoda Eligible for custom title Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 5,347 (2.15/day) Thanks: 750 Thanked 960 Times in 710 Posts System Specs	The poor man has to sleep too! Never mind about follow up analysis. The points are valid though. To flog an old horse, if a GTX480 works so well on a PCI-E x4, then what about AGP... it would have been fine too, possibly better performance than the x4 even, due to lower latencies There's a great review of SLI GTX480 over on anantech. Wow, the new GT100 architecture scales well. But OMG look at those SLI power consumptions, over 800W system power with a simple SLI setup! eek!

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
BFG GeForce 9800 GTX 512MB OC2 running at PCI Express 1.0 x16?	Q9650	NVIDIA	11	Apr 3, 2010 03:09 AM
XFX GeForce GTX 480 and GeForce GTX 470 Pictured	btarunr	News	68	Mar 30, 2010 01:43 PM
GeForce GTX 480 has 480 CUDA Cores?	btarunr	News	79	Mar 20, 2010 05:47 AM
AMD Radeon HD 5870 PCI-Express Scaling	W1zzard	Reviews	73	Mar 18, 2010 04:21 AM
GeForce 9800 GTX+ 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express	trt740	Hot Deals	2	Mar 14, 2010 05:06 PM