ATI released PCIe2 cards
WE JUST LEARNED an interesting tidbit about low and mid-range ATI cards, they are all PCIe2. Yes, all cards based on the 610 and 630 chips, that would be the X2400 and X2600 parts, will do PCIe2 now.
The catch? You need a mobo that does PCIe2, and those are in short supply. With X38 boards trickling out, and RD780/790 soon to follow, this will change pretty quickly, but the cards have been with us since may.
Before you say that doubling the bandwidth won't help, let me tell you that it will. Tests shown to me on prototype PCIe2 mobos had vast increases in scores during bandwidth heavy tests, notably some of the vertex tests on 3DMark06. Others showed all of zero improvement, but overall, on the two chip families, you should get a decent kick, maybe 10 per cent speedup, more in Crossfire.
One really interesting thing is that, in going from the 2.5Gbps/channel of PCIe to the five of PCIe2, you go from an aggregate 40Gbps to 80. This is more bandwidth to main memory than about half of the X2400 lineup. This means that the no-memory $39 OEM special cards are potentially just as fast if not faster than their memory-laden and more expensive counterparts.
With cheap PCIe2 cards now, and PCIe2 mobos about to flood the market, it is not a surprise that ATI is basically cleaning up on OEM orders. Watch what happens in late Q4 and into Q1, and don't say we didn't warn you. µ
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So you mean to say PCIe 2 is not compatible with PCIe 1 or 1.1 ?? I don't think so.
Did you read the article? Please do so again before making idiotic comments... The article reads, that in order to get the PCIE 2 benefit, you must be using a PCIE 2 compatible motherboard. Obviously the OP was not insinuating that the cards that ATI / AMD have been shipping are not compatible with PCIE1 interface. I dont remember reading that line anywhere in the article.
@jigar: I think 'You need a mobo that does PCIe2' just means you won't see the advantage without one.
That's not what's being said at all. The PCIe2 cards are compatible with the PCIe1/1.1 mobo's but run slows. It's like running DDR21066 memory in a board that only supports DDR2800, it'll still work; it's just slower.
I think the problem here is Charlie. Obviously he did not bother to teach some readers English and made the mistake of allowing them to come to their own conclusions with a weak grasp of this strange and wonderous language. The problem here is the mix of both numbers and language. In case this was somehow unclear... no mention of PCIe compatibility was made. But he did point out the PCIe has 2.5Gbps meaning 16 channels (x16 slot) is 40. And then instead of staying with a numerical reference Charlie opted for a worded reference of "five" (poor grammar Charlie!) and that basically confuses people because it could possibly be seen as five times the bandiwth. But in reality its just PCIe 5Gbps bandwith. Thus he points out "you go from an aggregate 40Gbps to 80" because its not five times, its just 5Gbps per channel on 16 channels meaning 80. Now in theory this might (and probably will) solve whatever bandwith intensive issues cards have. Potentially allowing cheaper parts to do "not so cheap parts" performance. I hope that we have concluded the explanation. It has been too long anyhow. P.S. I suppose I will point out the joke, "Up to six months ago" which I thought was very funny.
Are current ATI 2600 & 2400 cards native PCI-E 2 cards or are they not native PCI-E 2 cards?
I did see what appeared as an "Interview with AMD's Sasa Marinkovic" on the teamati. Sasa was quoted as saying that he cannont comment on any unreleased features. Until I see the specs for the cards listed as being PCI-E 2 compliant, I'll hold off on a purchase. What a bombshell to the competition though it true. Can you imagine the reaction when ATI says... Oh, by the way, our 2600 and 2400 cards have been PCI-E 2 from the start? It seems entirely possible since the PCI-E 2 specs have been available since January of '07.
You can be PCIe 2.0 compliant without supporting the 5.0GT/s speed.
so your telling me that my 2600xt is PCI-EX 2.0, nice adds more value to it. If that the case my DFI lanparty nf4 work ok with it no problem to date
Trouble is Higher Cards ARE Supposed to be about 2-4 TIMES Better. Recalling some DFI Mainboards with Extra Memory AS CONTROLLER, Still not enough. Old Pentiums HAD Stuff like that, too. Plenty. So How About 8 or 12 RAID sockets 4 independ of other 8 plus media seperate sataII. w/ three being BIG, Three of everything, extra memory ,dual channel -HEY 3 Channel, Plenty o' CROSSFIRE X: "Tke DFI Challenge & get that stuff all doing ULTTIMATE.tHEN 2400/2600 MAY OR MAY NOT DO PCIE, IT JUST FIGURES IT WOULD WITH SO MANY CONTROLS IN BIOS, YET TOPPER IS SCREAMING 2 PROCESSOR LOOKING AT 3D'6 64,000. Signed:THOMASXSTEWART
The maximum bandwidth of 16 lanes under 2.0 is 16GB/s (that's bi-directional). The effective rate is 8GB/s (video cards are basically one-way). Read the press release (since the spec is only available to PCI SIG members) - http://www.pcisig.com/news_room/PCIe2_0_Spec_Release_FINAL2.pdf