Video card compatibility

Hi,
I am going to build a computer based on a Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R mobo. The
video card will be a Nvidia 9800 GTX. The mobo has a PCI-E x16 slot but the
video card needs a PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot.
What is the difference and will it work in the mobo?

Thanks.

Raymo...

Raymo wrote:
> Hi,
> I am going to build a computer based on a Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R mobo. The
> video card will be a Nvidia 9800 GTX. The mobo has a PCI-E x16 slot but the
> video card needs a PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot.
> What is the difference and will it work in the mobo?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Raymo...
>
>

PCI Express version 2 is compatible with version 1.

http://www.pcisig.com/specifications/pciexpress/base2/

To work properly, it is a matter of the hardware negotiating
the rate they want to work at. For example on SATA drives, the
drive and the controller have to agree on a rate. The same
idea happens with PCI Express.

There was one incident, where a PCI Express version 2 card (8800GT ?),
would not work on some version 1 motherboards. The fix was to flash the
firmware on the video card, so that the GPU would keep the
interface in version 1 mode all the time.

In response to that incident, ATI made the claim, that their
cards "started in version 1 mode", so there was less risk of
a problem. I presume they'd go into version 2 mode, if all
was well. (Sounds a little fishy though... That is how
marketing battles work.)

Nvidia has had time to figure it all out, so I would not expect
a problem now. You can always check around and see if it is
mentioned though.

Paul

Many thanks for the info.

Raymo...


"Paul" <nospam@needed.com> wrote in message news:g4trpr$gus$1@aioe.org...
> Raymo wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I am going to build a computer based on a Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R mobo.
>> The video card will be a Nvidia 9800 GTX. The mobo has a PCI-E x16 slot
>> but the video card needs a PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot.
>> What is the difference and will it work in the mobo?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Raymo...
>
> PCI Express version 2 is compatible with version 1.
>
> http://www.pcisig.com/specifications/pciexpress/base2/
>
> To work properly, it is a matter of the hardware negotiating
> the rate they want to work at. For example on SATA drives, the
> drive and the controller have to agree on a rate. The same
> idea happens with PCI Express.
>
> There was one incident, where a PCI Express version 2 card (8800GT ?),
> would not work on some version 1 motherboards. The fix was to flash the
> firmware on the video card, so that the GPU would keep the
> interface in version 1 mode all the time.
>
> In response to that incident, ATI made the claim, that their
> cards "started in version 1 mode", so there was less risk of
> a problem. I presume they'd go into version 2 mode, if all
> was well. (Sounds a little fishy though... That is how
> marketing battles work.)
>
> Nvidia has had time to figure it all out, so I would not expect
> a problem now. You can always check around and see if it is
> mentioned though.
>
> Paul