I`d like to confirm that the xfx 7600GT card (or any other such graphics card)will be compatible at 16x speeds on the m2n-e sli motherboard if i use just ONE graphics card( and not two of them in sli configuration). i read on the nvidia website that the motherboard i have(asus m2n-e SLI) can support the graphics card only at 8x speed, while all other higher and lower end models can run at 16x speeds. is that true? has anyone had issues like this? please respond asap coz i plan to get the above 7600GT tomorrow first thing. thank you and hope to hear from you soon.
After a brief check of motherboard specs, what I see is, the 7600GT card will run at 16x in the 16x slot, but if you have TWO SLI cards they both run at 8X. Makes sense. Unless there is a public outcry concerning this, I'd suspect the info you have is a bit off. ZT3000 "Beta tester of "0"s and "1's"
Look on the 2nd page of your pdf document, under the first heading "Graphics Interface", it shows PCI Express with explanation "Supports the latest add in graphics cards and other features with FULL x16 implementation. Delivers 4GB/sec. in both upstream and downstream data
transfers"
The picture you posted (and I found, downloaded and read the entire document) doesn't mention YOUR card or YOUR motherboard at all, as I had expected it would.
Both XFX and Asus say their products run at 16x, since 16x is the top end of the supported video bandwidth for their products.
I did find an AGP version of the 7600GT which, of course, runs at 8x due to AGP, but your motherboard supports 16x and so does the single XFX 7600GT.
Word to the wise:
Never depend on Nvidia specs on a non-Nvidia product, even though it has an Nvidia chipset. Instead use the manufacturer documentation. (in this case, it would be XFX and Asus)
ZT3000
"Beta tester of "0"s and "1's"
One more thought:
Two SLI cards at only 8x definitely outrun a single 16x card, but why?
Because it's not the bandwidth (16x, 8x, etc lanes) that is the most limiting factor, it's the processing power of the card.
First-generation PCI-e is often quoted to support a data rate of 250 MB/s in each direction, per lane.
This figure is a calculation from the physical signaling rate (2.5 Gbaud) divided by the encoding overhead (10bits/byte.) This means a 16 lane (x16) PCIe card would then be theoretically capable of 250 * 16 = 4 GB/s in each direction.
Your video card will only have 256MB installed, cannot process enough information to fill 4GB/s and will not come close to a 4GB per second transfer rate. PCI-E also has signalling overhead which eats into the bandwidth.
Reading the technical information on most, if not all, computer products will only reveal that the marketing folks are much more adept at spouting unusually high figures than the hardware folks can keep up with.
ZT3000
"Beta tester of "0"s and "1's"
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yes, the specs say it has 16x capability, but a pdf document released by nvidia this june says that this specific board can operate upto 8x only. i dunno if thats a print mistake or anything. i'll try to attach the picture i took of the said document along with this. thank you.
hey ZT3000, thank you for the great info. never expected this much to be happening "behind the scenes" at our computers. hehe. anyway, that was great. really appreciate your knowledge man. thanks again.
hey, just to let you know: the mobo i specified (m2n-e sli)runs the nvidia nforce 500 sli chipset if you check the mobo specs. thats why i'd circled it etc. so i guess its safe to go for the given mobo and pcie card as per your suggestions. right? coz i have to give my dealer the specs i need by tomorrow, and this is the current configuration that i'm interested in for my budget.
btw: sorry i had to post this here as a solution...didnt know or see where to post it otherwise.
hey ZT3000, thank you for the great info. never expected this much to be happening "behind the scenes" at our computers. hehe. anyway, that was great. really appreciate your knowledge man. thanks again.
hey, just to let you know: the mobo i specified (m2n-e sli)runs the nvidia nforce 500 sli chipset if you check the mobo specs. thats why i'd circled it etc. so i guess its safe to go for the given mobo and pcie card as per your suggestions. right? coz i have to give my dealer the specs i need by tomorrow, and this is the current configuration that i'm interested in for my budget.
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