reality check -- PCIe x1,x4,x16 and nForce4 ultra,sli

[zskillz]

ok peeps... i did a search and didn't find my question asked or answered, so here goes --

let's start with the PCIe question:
I understand that x16 has higher throughput then x4 and x1, but I'm not really sure of the implications of this right now... before when you bought a PCI card, it would just work and that was great... now, if a card needs PCIe, am I correct in assuming that it will indicate whether it needs x1,x4, or x16?... are most graphics cards x16?? ugh - this is almost too confusing these days...

also, I'm thinking of getting one of the new AMD 64 X2 systems and i need a mobo for it.... i know that i want an nForce4 board, but here is the question...
apparently it comes in 3 flavors
-vanilla
-ultra
-sli

no i know I don't need the SLI, this is not for a gaming system, but I don't know the difference between the vanilla and the ultra versions... can anyone clear this up for me...


also, I would appreciate links to any helpful explanatory web pages, etc...


thanks in advance
-Z

[washe]

Usually Ultra versions, have added hardware or functions like a second nic, fireware ports, extra slot off ram, overclocking options, extra usb ports, etc, etc...

Just pick the vanilla and compare with the ultra specs and you will notice the difference between the models

[zskillz]

yes... i've cleared up teh nForce 4 issue by doing just as you suggested, but i could still use some explanation on the PCIe stuff...

thanks
-Z

[Bryco]

Yeah most of the graphics cards on the market now adays are either PCI or PCIE x16. Most places you get the cards will tell you if it's x1 x4 or x16. Hope that helps.

[njolakoski]

Originally Posted by Bryco

Yeah most of the graphics cards on the market now adays are either PCI or PCIE x16. Most places you get the cards will tell you if it's x1 x4 or x16. Hope that helps.

I think you mean most cards on the market are PCI-E or AGP, PCI-E is the newer ones out, PCI it self is long outdated

[project vegas]

mmmm vanilla
sorry had to do it

[Bryco]

Originally Posted by njolakoski

I think you mean most cards on the market are PCI-E or AGP, PCI-E is the newer ones out, PCI it self is long outdated

Yeah sorry didn't eat my wheaties this morning

[bwcc]

Sorry Washe - nForce 4 vs nForce 4 Ultra has a lot more to do with than just "extra hardware". Zskills is referring to the chipset. The nForce 4 chipset came in 3 flavors - yes.

nForce 4 : This is a generic version of the chipset which supports only the 800 MHz HyperTransport bus, offers support for four SerialATA channels with the 150 MB/s bandwidth.

nForce 4 Ultra : The Ultra version is different from the generic version in that it offers support for the 1000 MHz HyperTransport bus as well as in support for the ActiveArmor (hardware firewall). The SerialATA bandwidth has been increased to 300 MB/s (4 channels), and offers support for NCQ (Native Command Queuing) hard disks. It is the first chipset that offers support for SerialATA II.

nForce 4 SLI : The most powerful and expense chipset as it is able of changing it's configuration for the PCIe slots. Has all of the other features of the Ultra chipset.

The chipset to get now is the Ultra version, unless you are looking at an SLI setup.

PCIe is a bit easier to explain. A great improvement over AGP 8x (not to mention PCI), possibly doing away with the largest bottleneck in systems since the advent of PCI in 1993. Long and short : A PCIe x-16 slot has potential for 16 'pipelines' for the corresponding card to use to the chipset. Similar to traffic lanes, the more pipelines, the faster it will be. The x-16 slot provides a total usable bandwidth of around 4GB/s in each direction, double the 2.1GB/s bandwidth of 8x AGP, not to mention compared to the static transfer rate of 133MB/s of PCI. PCIe also provides more power to the slots than AGP did (75W compare to 42W), allowing for more powerful cards. You'll notice that PCIe videocards do not require an extra power source, like some highend AGP cards did.

Hope this helps

[zskillz]

bwcc - an excellent response!

thank you so much. I had come to the same conclusion about the nForce ultra. SLI will take some time and with the 7800 just coming out and beating down on SLI 6800GT's, what's the point!

thanks again!
-Z