I'm installing a new EVGA GF9800 512MB GTX VideoCard.

The card has two plugs on the top at the back of the VC for power.

Do I need to plug power into each of those plugs?

The box came with two plugs with double hookups to powersupply 4 plug legacy power. If it is necessary to have power to each of those plugs on the VC I can do it, but if I don't need to... well I'd prefer not. I do have some issues with my power supply cables being loaded down with 5 fans, HDDs, etc.

The box says the VC works with PCI-E 1.0/2.0. My Mobo has a PCI-E 1.0 slot. I was thinking maybe the 2.0 requires the double power connection.

The box says the Two 6 pin supplementary power connectors, which is further confusing. If the power is supplementary is it even needed.

I realize two power plugs it would make sense to use both, but it also has two DVI connectors, a 3 plug pigtail and I'll only use one of the DVI connections.

If you really got PCI-E revision 1.0(a) you got a problem because PCI-E v2.0 is not backwards compatible with a 1.0, only with 1.1, card wont work or it will run at much lower performance.

If you tell me what Motherboard you got i can try to see if its really a 1.0 or a 1.1 PCI-E version.

But if your sure that itzs PCI-E 1.0 i recomend taking the card back.

PCI-E 2.0 cards are: 8800GS, 8800GT, 8800GTS 512MB, all GeForce 9 series, and Radeon 3000 series, so unless you know you got PCI-E 1.1 or 2.0 on your Mobo you should not get any of those cards and go for a older model.

8800GTS 650MB, 8800GTX and 8800Ultra are good alternatives if you got PCI-E 1.0

And yes, you do need to hook the extra powercable up to the videocard, also keep in mind that these high-end cards need a verry powerfull powersuply.

I have ABIT IP-35 Pro Mobo

the PCI-E 2.0 cards should work fine with that mobo if i remember right

THANKS

quote:

Originally posted by NDS_Camp.:
If you really got PCI-E revision 1.0(a) you got a problem because PCI-E v2.0 is not backwards compatible with a 1.0, only with 1.1, card wont work or it will run at much lower performance.

I hate to say this but please stop spreading that lie. I know several people with pci-e 2.0 card in pci-e 1.0 slots and they have no problems. Maybe people are having problems on your crysis forums but crysis is coded like a lump of dog turd so I'm not surprised. Please stop telling people they have a problem when they do not.

http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/t288646.html
http://forums.gametrailers.com/showthread.php?t=263479
http://www.gamespot.com/pages/forums/show_msgs.php?topic_id=26111867
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/aspnet/31811381/can...se-pcie-20-on-a.aspx
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread.php?t=44982

It seems that there is some truth to what Camp mentions according to the last link above. But it is only in dealing with one particular motherboard & one particular chipset. So a very minute issue compared the vast majority.

With that said, I will ask you Mr. Camp to refrain from such flat out blanket statements. In your post you make it sound like PCI-E v2.0 is not backwards compatible with a 1.0, only with 1.1, card wont work or it will run at much lower performance. And in reading that statement alone makes it sound like that covers "all" PCI-E v2.0 mobos & v1.0 cards. And that sir is not correct.

We try hard not to divy out misinformation. M8s come here to ask questions\advice which often times requates into what computer components to purchase for their personal needs. And that is directly related to how much money they are going to spend. I just hate the thought that a bit of misinformation from this forum may cause a m8 to spend more $$$ than they would have spent if the information they asked for and received was correct. So please be more careful and knowledgeable before making any further blanket statements on any other subject in the future sir. Thanks m8!

Thanks guys, you are correct. When I do a new build I always consult with help forums. It is too expensive to screw up on the components.

I have an ASROCK mobo that I used to help me tranistion from AGP to PCI-E,because it has both slots. What mistake. The mobo worked fine, but it doesn't overclock or allow much latitude for getting full potential from components.

So now, I have a 939 mobo with a 3700+ AMD with 2 gigs of ram I'm replacing. It just isn't worth it at this point to try to buy a 939 mobo and bring it to a higher level. So I'm just building a new system... trying to get it right the first time.

Thanks to ALL for the diligence and caring for those of us who know too little.

Checked Quazis links and to save others from having to dig I'll post the quote that states which board has this problem:

quote:

It turns out that Asus Blitz mainboards based on Intel P35 chipset and using a special CrossLinx chip to support “PCI Express x8 + PCI Express x8” configurations have limited compatibility with graphics cards supporting PCI Express 2.0 bus. In particular, the primary PCIEX16_1 slot complies with the PCI Express 1.1 standard that is why it supports PCI Express 2.0 graphics cards. The secondary PCIEX16_2 slot meets only PCI Express 1.0/1.0a requirements that is why if there is a PCI Express 2.0 graphics card installed in it, the system may not be able to recognize this graphics card as well as the graphics card installed into the primary PCIEX16_1 slot.

In other words, the Asus Blitz mainboard owners should install PCI Express 2.0 graphics cards only into the primary PCI Express x16 slot marked as PCIEX16_1. So, these mainboard cannot have the future PCI Express 2.0 graphics cards working in CrossFire or SLI mode

If anyone else comes across another mobo that has this issue please post the info for us.

Nforce 680 SLI mobos got the same isue, one slot is 1.1, the second or thirth one can be 1.0 on some motherboards.

Nforce 570/590 based mobo's can be 1.0 or 1.1

Intel P35/X35 series are normaly all 1.1 but like posated above again it can be 1 slot 1.1 and the other 1.0

The Intel DP35DP is just 1.0


@ Urufu_Shinjiro

I didnt say a PCI-E 2.0 card wont ever work on a PCI-E 1.0 slot, but most of them wont, or atleast wont run normal with it.

So i think its better to say that it doesnt work on PCI-E 1.0 than having someone buy a
PCI-E 2.0 card only to find out that it doesnt work on there MoBo dont you think? especialy if they had to order it online.

There are plenty of good alternatives like the "old" 8600GTS, 8800GTS 320/640MB, GTX, Ultra, 7950GT/GX2, 7900GT cards wich will work perfectly fine on all versions.

Some more explanation to PCI-E 1.0 slots to PCI-E 2.0 cards.

Its not limited to one type of Chipset or Mobo, seen it way to many times not working, on Intel chipset based motherboards, NForce Based motherboards ,VIA based motherboards and from Asrock, Gigabite, Foxconn, and ASUS so its not limited to a brand or chipset.

Like i said, i didnt say it doesnt work at all, but in a lot of cases it wont work, or it wont work as it should.

It seems hoqw ever that if you got a Mobo that 3 years old or more the chance that a PCI-E 2.0 card will work on it is not to big.

Also note that a lot of people believe nothings wrong because they upgraded from a cheap old ATI or NVidia card to a 8800GT so to them it seems they made a huge improvement, how ever some people who upgraded from a ATI X1950XT or GeForce 7600GT found that there wasnt much gain in performance from upgrading to a 8800GT if they had a PCI-E 1.0 mobo.

Also Officialy a PCI-E 2.0 card is not compatible with a PCI-E 1.0 slot, this has nothing to do with bandwith, but it has to do with the signal/jitter, version 1.1 was created to provide a broader less restricted suport.

quote:

Originally posted by NDS_Camp.:
Some more explanation to PCI-E 1.0 slots to PCI-E 2.0 cards.

Its not limited to one type of Chipset or Mobo, seen it way to many times not working, on Intel chipset based motherboards, NForce Based motherboards ,VIA based motherboards and from Asrock, Gigabite, Foxconn, and ASUS so its not limited to a brand or chipset.

Like i said, i didnt say it doesnt work at all, but in a lot of cases it wont work, or it wont work as it should.

It seems hoqw ever that if you got a Mobo that 3 years old or more the chance that a PCI-E 2.0 card will work on it is not to big.

Also note that a lot of people believe nothings wrong because they upgraded from a cheap old ATI or NVidia card to a 8800GT so to them it seems they made a huge improvement, how ever some people who upgraded from a ATI X1950XT or GeForce 7600GT found that there wasnt much gain in performance from upgrading to a 8800GT if they had a PCI-E 1.0 mobo.

Also Officialy a PCI-E 2.0 card is not compatible with a PCI-E 1.0 slot, this has nothing to do with bandwith, but it has to do with the signal/jitter, version 1.1 was created to provide a broader less restricted suport.

There are only two places I've even heard mention of a PCI-E1.0 and 2.0 issue, thats you, and the post I quoted. It seems to me it's not that most won't work, it's the other way round most DO work. Now none of us on these boards are real experts, all we know is just based on observation on the internet, but out of all the tech boards I visit, and all the other techies on this board, your mentioning of this is the first we've heard of it. It stands to reason on that data set alone that this is a rare phenomenon.

You say "Officialy a PCI-E 2.0 card is not compatible with a PCI-E 1.0 slot", that is 100% incorrect, Officially, the PCI-E 2.0 standard is FULLY compatable with 1.0 and 1.1 in both directions. That information comes directly from the regulators of that standard.

That last part is not true, i sugest you look into it deeper what the difrence is between PCI-E 1.0 and 1.1 and why they came with PCI-E 1.1

Only heard that PCI-E 2.0 cards are backwards compatible with PCI-E 1.1 slots and PCI-E 1.1 cards are compatible with PCI-E 2.0 slots.

PCI-E 2.0 cards could work with PCI-E 1.0 slots but ive come accross it a few times to many with it not working.

Im not the only one saying this so i sugest you search better.

If your convinced what im saying is bull, fine with me, im not willing to keep discusing this over and over again with you, takes up way to much of my time.

Personaly im not willing to risk buying a PCI-E 2.0 card for a PCI-E 1.0 Mobo unless im really sure i can take the card back with out any problems if it isnt working correctly.

PCISIG PCI-E 2.0 specification does allow for complete forwards and backwards compatability with 1.1 and 1.0. You can look that up on the internet, I tried to post a link to the PCISIG .pdf of the spec but you need a login to view it.

The Wiki article on PCI-E has been updated to state that some specific PCI-E 2.0 graphics cards are not compatable with 1.0 slots but there is no source for this and is directly in contradiction with the PCISIG specification. It's starting to seem that there is SOMETHING to this PCI-E compatability issue but it is by far a blanket issue as has been made out.

So far we know that the Asus crosslink boards do not conform to the pci-e standard so have issues with 2.0, we also have some suggestion that certain 2.0 videocards do not confrom to the standard and have problems with 1.0 slots but no idea which ones and no real source for that info. This is a little confusing to say the least, but I can be clear on one thing, it most certainly incorrect to say that all 2.0 cards will not work in any 1.0 slots.

I didnt say that none of the PCI-E 2.0 cards wont work with the PCI-E 1.0 slot motherboards so than we agrea.

To put it really simple, PCI-E 1.0 is has verry tight specifications, if anything is just slightly off in signal it wont (should not) work correctly, to avoid problems with this they created the PCI-E 1.1 standard witch is a whole lot less restricted/limited specs so if a card doesnt meet its exact (1.1) standards it can still work with out any problems on a 1.1 slot.