#59 - Question/Answer: PCI-E 1, 1.1, 2 & 2.1 Compatibility

[bfullstar]

rodeny why are there no amd motherboards with pcie 2.1?

[skawalker35]

I have a GTX 460 (PCIe 2.0) in a PCIe 1.0 slot. I get lag and poor picture quality when outputting from my video card's HDMI to my LCD TV's HDMI. Is this because of the 1.0 slot? I have checked and messed with all kinds of settings. I talked to another guy at Frys and he said that is likely the reason. Just wanted to get one more take on it before upgrading!

[GotaPoint]

hi Rodney i have an Asus A8N-E and i wanna upgrade from a ati x600 pro to a xfx 6770 pci 2.1 will i be able to use this video card on my motherboard i know your video says yes but i wanna be for sure if i am able to or not cause i read other places that even upgrading to a hd4000 series the video would not display how come

[TheGenesisfreak]

OMG this helps so much thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!!!!­!!!

[Bahena2]

So can I Put a PCI Express 2.0 GTX 550(x16) into my Leonite2 Motherboard?

My Motherboard Has a PCI Express x16 slot but its not 2.0.

Will it still work?

[ThePakenshet]

@Bahena2 yes !

[SpeedFreakMRDJ]

i was wonder do the ddrams have to match the rams of my mobo system. like 4 gb ddr system could i use a ddr5 video card?

[SomeDudes455]

Sooo...an AMD HD 6990 (2.1) will work fine in a 2.0 motherboard ?

[ThePakenshet]

@SomeDudes455 yes !

[burgerking791]

what happens if u put a pci-e 2.1 into a pci-e 2.0 mother board

[ThePakenshet]

@burgerking791 pci-e 2.1 is backward compatible with pci-e 2.0 and 1.0 which means its okay as long as it is a PCI Express X16 Slot!

[barrio773]

now i can get a 5670 and play the sims 3 

[KoPkiLlaQu3eNsZ]

okay so if i buy a 2.1 and my motherboard says 2.0 then it will work?

i have a Gigabyte ga-870a usb3 i already have a radeon hd 6770 mounted and i wanna add another 6770 on my other pcie slot and the graphic card that i wanna get is 2.1 pcie and my motherboard is 2.0..will the graphic card work properly?

[yragg96]

can a ddr2 graphics card fit in ddr3 pci-e motherboard? pls reply. :)

[icardozo23]

pci-e 2.0 backwards compatible pci-e 1.0... the difference is speed

[TheAirPlanePilot11]

hey which one is better a Intel Core 2 Q6600 Quad-Core @ 2.4GHz

or a intel core i3 550m 3.20ghz i know this quation is off topic but i was just wondering.

[reticulumtrance]

Ok does a pcie 2.1 card work in a 1.0 or 1.1 pci slot?

[ronniereiff]

Thanks this was very helpful and time saving.

[MrVin360]

will a pci express 2.1 graphics card work in a pci express x16 2.0 slot anybody please answer as i am going to purchase my graphics card soon

[Amsyprologic]

i have the amd radeon hd 6770,the card is pci-x 2.1 and my mother board hase pci-x 1.0. I did not have any problemes.

my motherboard is a Foxconn 945p7ad (core series)

[sebastianpwns]

can i put a 2.1 card in a 1.0 slot

[how367]

I have A dell poweredge sc1420 runs two exon @ 3.2 with two install & both are dual core,pci express does not work on this system yet the specs say they do any help? or do I out right have a bad build slot, the cards do not fit.

[sasori231]

will sapphire HD5850 xtreme pci-express 2.0 compatible with pci-express x16 slot.

[rx7here]

thanks for your answer!

[TheKrackDown]

wait so all 2.1 video cards are compatible with a 2.0 motherboard and still work efficiently ?

[ProphetChaser]

Sapphire says that their Radeon 5770 is not compatible with an ASUS A8AE-LE

(HP/Compaq name: AmberineM-GL6E / 5188-2526) MOBO. They say this because the 5770 video card is looking for a PCIE 2.1 slot.  Are they correct?

Great site for tech info....keep up the good work.

[DrOrtmeyer]

@Ir0nR0ses I HAVE EXACTLY THE SAME QUESTION if i put a 6870 in a 2.0 slot will it work or what ???

do i have to upgrade the bios...

or throw out my whole mobo and start buying DDR3 ram while im at it :::((((((

[MrTURBOJOHN]

@DrOrtmeyer Its interesting, I have the same question

[DrOrtmeyer]

@MrTURBOJOHN MY 6870 WORKS ON A GIGABYTE EG41MF - US2H!!! no changes made worked fine

[jmathew2011]

can i put a 1.1 card in a 1.0 slot?

[an2get]

how do i determine my mobo with pci-e slots if its is pci-e 1 or 1.1 or 2.0? do they have difference in color? or in looks? or what? how do they differ and how can i identify?

pls answer... thanks !!

[GTBenergy]

would 2,1 work in 1.0, im talking about sapphire 5830 extreme (from overclockers) into M4N68T M LE V2 along with probs 4gig ripjaws or ocz 2/4 gig at 1333 ddr3, and phenom II x2 550(probs unlock to quad and oc to 3.6) will it work?

[Amsyprologic]

@GTBenergy  yes 2.1 will work on 1.0 its tested by me.

[GTBenergy]

@Amsyprologic your just 3 months and 30 days late :] but thanks anyway

[volpsp]

will a PCI express 2.1 card work in a 2.0 slot?

[mzkups]

@volpsp i want to ask this too...

[ThePeukalo]

no you cant. i tried, did not work. at all.. maybe updating bios would work, make the bios recognise the card, but so far no luck..

[Phalanx96]

i still wonder, can you put 2.1 video card into 2.0 motherboard?

[MonakoBoy]

Yeah but i was vondering if you could put a PCIe 2.1 in a 1.0 slot

[ChiiN0XL]

@MonakoBoy Did you ever find out if it was?

[MonakoBoy]

@ChiiN0XL I dont know. I got a new MoBo so now i dont rly care :) but il look in to it later

[DrRekoob]

@MonakoBoy no cos it wouldnt fit



[jenova993]

@MonakoBoy It is possible for some PCIe 2.1 cards (usually low-power ones) to work on a 1.0 slot. The main problem for those that don't work is probably because the motherboard simply cannot detect the 2.1 card. For most mobos, a simple BIOS update can fix this issue, but some older models that have not received an update in years will ultimately be unable detect PCIe 2.1 cards. Thus if anyone is considering upgrading to a 2.1 card into a 1.0 slot, check for BIOS updates for your mobo.

[FAVIdeoRecords]

AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! THNX ALOTTTTTTTTTTTTT

[lamppshade09]

What degrees are those in the background?

[aznric3boi91]

@lamppshade09 Phd in whoopin your ass

[hamzamasto]

I thinking of Buying a NVIDIA GEforce 8800 Gt ..

My board is 1.0 PCI Ex

Will it work

[lordabomity]

I'm buying an XFX Radeon HD 5670, 1GB gddr5 that is pci-e 2.1, but my mobo has a pci-e 1.0 or 1.1. Will the card function at full speed or will the quality be less than comfy??? Please answer!

[TheAirPlanePilot11]

@lordabomity listen to the video closely 

[lordabomity]

@TheAirPlanePilot11 Oh yeah thx, can't believe I missed that.

[hempheadfor20]

@lordabomity

It will run at 1.0 speed.

All PCIE cards will work in any PCIE slot regardless of the 1.0, 2.0, 2.1 distinction. Every card is limited to the speed of the slot that you put the card in.

[GamerYall]

so im getting a xfx hd 5450 , its a pci e 2.0 and i have a pci e 1 slot. what im understanding is that it will run but not to highest standard? and also will i still be able to use 2 screens (this card does have eyefinity software)?

[iamextremelyawesome]

SIR! I have a MS-7350 motherboard with PCI x16 1.0a. I was wondering if it is compatible with PCI 2.0 or 2.1.. . . . Thank you for your time, sir!!!

[iamextremelyawesome]

@iamextremelyawesome I just discovered I have a 2.0 video card so OK cool, however, would I be able to upgrade to a 2.1 with my MS-7350? oh man dude i gotta poop. brb.

[5567729]

hello will an ATI 5770 work with an PCI X 16 V1.1?

[nfarnham2008]

My question is, I have seen a few cards, XFX 5670 1 gig version , and on new egg it had PCIe 2.0 but on the manufacture site it said 2.1....Is PCI-e 2.1 workable with PCIe x16, it doesn't say 2.1 or 2.0 or anything ,I looked it up on the HP site, it is an a6203w desktop with a M2N68-LA Narra2 Mobo

[VebSoulJa]

argh i bought a hd 5750 that is 2.1 thinking it would be compatible with my 1.0 motherboard but it wasn't...

[hamtorpey]

@VebSoulJa EXACTLY the same thing happened to me.  Judging by this video I'm guessing it's not to do with the PCI Express version? But I'm still nervous about buying another one.

[HeLeX63]

I'm Confused. I have an Abit IP43 Motherboard and on the box packaging it states and I quote: "New Generation PCI-E X16 (Express 2.0)" But the thing is, is that I downloaded Tech Power Up and it currently states that my ATI 4670 HD is on a PCI-Express x16 v1.1. Does this mean my PCI-E slot is not an actual PCI-E 2.0 slot and can't run the new 5800 series at all...?

[234jari234]

Does a PCIe 2.1 video card like the ATI 5770 fits in a PCIe 2.0 slot?

[oTheDudeOo]

hello, i have a 1.0 motherboard and m=want to get a ati 4870 video card. will it work with it?

[zihaogood]

hey guys can you help me? i am using a hd 5750 which is a pci 2.0 card, but my motherboard is 1.0a , it works, but am i getting lesser performance then i should get in pci e 2.0?

[crativ3]

how does the HIS Radeon HD 5750 1GB do thru' tessellation? and performance in newer games (im not talking about crysis, every1 knows that game lags even on a REALLY power full card)

but the HIS Radeon HD 5750 1GB thu' DirectX 11 games? FPS?

[Thanh3596]

I was going to upgrade from a 4350 (2.0) to 5670 (2.1) Now I know what is is all about, Thank you very much

[degaboss]

@Thanh3596 what do u know??? i will buy a 2.0pci motherboard and a 5670 2.1 pci, what happens there, it gets the 2.0 speed ????

[Attack3Gamer]

Will a PCI-Express 2.0 (or 2.0 x16) work with a PCI-Express x16 motherboard?

[kalambalikis]

Bought a PCI-E 2.0 motherboard. Want to buy PCI-E 2.1 graphics card. Are they compatible?

[ThaDK00]

you get much higher FPS if you put an 2.0 in an 2.0 instead of putting an 2.0 in a 1.0? does it matter much bcuz i got PCI-E 1 slot, will i still get around the same FPS as someone who got a 2.0 slot?

[EsadMujezinovic]

thx

[Aspire198]

I'am thing about buying a motherboard with a pci-e 2.0 slot but my proposed graphics card is pci-e 2.1, will they be compatible?

[FIREDSKULL94]

@Aspire198 yes i have the same question plz somebody answer!!!

[p3rvertedn1nja]

what happens if i put in a PCIE 1.1 video card to a PCIE 1.0 slot will i get the same performance as putting a 2.1 card to a 2.0 slots???

[TheGoldenBlackTiger]

my new sound card SB0550 has a pci thing but it looks like this (IIII  IIIIIIIIIII IIII) now i think that a normal pci should look like this (IIII IIIIIIIIIII) can you put mine into the normal pci slot?

[JDankens]

WHAT INSTANCES WILL AFFECT 1.0a??? ARRG. The internet is making this so confusing.

[hpslr722]

nowadays you have no choice other than the pci e 2.0 mobo in next june the pci e 3.0 will be launched so yes you can put it in a 2.0 slot

[21angelgood]

hi can i make pci express 2.1 in 2.0

[hpslr722]

yes you can even put it in a x 16

[oxidesdemon]

YYuMax = 1-3 %

[YYuMax]

And if I put a pci 2.0 video card in a pci 1.1 slot how much performance loss will there be, like a HD4850 (want to buy one) ??

[hpslr722]

a bit less than double

[YYuMax]

Damn , I bought it already . I can play Crysis on HIGH 2xAA at 1280x1024 no prob at ~ 35 fps. Are you basing this on the fact that the PCI 2.0 is twice as fast as the 1.1, from what I know the HD 4850 wouldn't benefit that much from the 2.0 slot, you would barely notice an improvement.

[disbuylshite]

@AGANLIJA95 FFS RTFM

[Andy0Ibanez]

sorry, i'm an idiot.

can i put a pci-2.1 in a pci-e? will it work?

[FaulknerCk2]

lol

[tmoatess]

so i can put a pci-e 2.0 in an pci-e 1.0 and it will be ok?

[TheMRamstaff]

YES:d

[alexcicala]

OMG OMG OMG YOU ARE A LEGEND THANKYOU. Now I can get my 4890 for my pci x16

[Zen3y3]

I have two PCIE 1.0's in crossfire on a PCIE 2.0 mobo. I guess they are still @ x16x16 then right?

I wonder if there is any sort of performance loss from the crossfire and the older cards being in newer slots.

[HatroVille]

How about putting a PCI Express x16 card on a PCI express 2.0 or 1...

Compatable?

[crackowacko87]

I have a question...what if I put a GRAPHICS CARD nVidia Geforce 9400GT operating on a PCI express 2.0 into a PCI express 1.0 motherboard? Will it work??? Pls advice by sending me a message on my profile...THANK YOU!!!!

[dgenx210]

The GFX card will work but only on PCIe 1.0 speed but other than that it will work ;)

[q8peace]

my motherboard is

BIOSTAR P4M900-M7 FE it has a pcie 16x v1.0

and i am using nvidia msi 9500gt 1gb pcie 2.0

and its work great believe me

[FaulknerCk2]

me too I have the same graphic card but believe me you can get more fps from games if you have a PCI-E 2x16X supported motherboard.

[jellyboy3]

i have at GTX 260

Is there any difference beteen a pcie1.0 motherboard or a pcie 2.0 motherboard?

[ccollins614]

does this actually slow down a game enough to notice?????????????????/

[wmw0702]

how can i post a question to 3GM? can anyone please help?!

[noobatvids]

3DGAMEMAN, I believe they are all compatible, but some cards, however, are not FULLY compatible. For example, I believe the 4870X2 to be only fully compatible with 2.0, as people with 1.0/1.1 are getting issues with performance and suspecting only one gpu on the card is operable. I have the same problem, which is why when I receive my P5Q-Pro I hope to se both GPUs fully functioning and scoring 20+k in 3DMark06..

It's mentioned that cards with PCI-e2.0 may not fully funcion with 1.0 .. wiki.

[nxji]

There re no cards on the market the fully use 2.0 to it's full,your may at most going to see a 3-8 fps gain when using 2.0

[CravenLeVay]

I building a computer with a Msi k9a2 Platinum Motherboard 790fx. I plan on running a 2.5 G Phenom Processor along side a ATI Radeon HD 4870 Series gddr5. What do you think about the Motherboard and my perceived setup.

[Buthead43]

Do yourself a favor and don't chince out on your mobo. This is the most important part of a gaming system. MSI is junk like most out there. I recommended ASUS myself, Even a cheap asus board is better than MSI. Don't make the mistake I did and go Intel either. Bought the Intel DX38BT. Not a very stable board. Hope I have been some help.

[koenjac]

just what i needed

[Bestwayaroundit]

for 1.0 PCI-E all I did was restart or reset the BIOS took the battery out waited 1 min solve my problems.but did had to reload windows or vista to install the right SATA driver or chipset driver befor I loaded the video driver. if you don't want to delete or reload windows make sure you uninstall any video driver befor upgradeing a 2.0 PIC-E video card.but mine was from a Blue death screen causeing from the SATA driver and older video driver that was used from an older 1.0 video card

[HLuna52180]

Excellent explanation! I always wondered about that. Now Iknow. :)

[MachineMezziah]

I'm pretty doubty about this, since recently I bought a BFG 9800GX2 supposed to be PCI-E 2.0, but when I installed it on my old PCI-E 1.0 motherboard (Intel D915PBL) nothing did happened at all, all I got were some "beeps" from the motherboard and that's all.

The video card was propely connected, both to the PCI-E slot in the MoBo and with the 6 & 8 pins power connectors from the power supply (ThermalTake Toughpower 750watt).

[Foxontherun2]

Yea they don't work in 1.1 or 1.0a unless you have a specific bios update for it. He failed to mention that.

[MachineMezziah]

Thanks a lor for the comment... I'm already looking for a BIOS update for my MoBo... if there's any :)

[monsterrun]

if you need extra power and dont whant to buy a new psu. check for gxt dvd-rom bay sized vga booster psu. yes an extra psu of either 315-350 or 400 watts fully dedicated to your vga card.

and it use a single dvd-rom bay sized.

im planning a quad pcie im already at 2 cards. and 600 wats just not enough for 4 cards. but now i got a total of 1000 wats.

400 watts vga booster cost around 80$ so its pretty much worth it when you have over 450 watts psu's.instead of damping a 225$ for a 1000 wats.

[Foxontherun2]

The 1.0 and 1.0a Are not compatible with 2.0 unless you have a proper bios update for it. Why didn't he mention that?

[BrianJensen]

because if u r watching him u know this lol clearly you have proven this.

[RickArter]

This is about the only thing in a computer now thats forwards and backwards compatible. They need to do that to RAM and develop a way to run 2 types of RAM off same slot.

[wildwolves8]

PCI-E 3.0 WILL ARRIVE BY JANUARY,I'm KIDDING.:D

[MaDBoRiCuA]

what about pci-e x16 ? can i put a card a video card thats made for pci-e 2.0 in it ?

[MXhm91]

Yes you can, my HD3850 PCIE 2.0 works on my P5K-E X16 motherboard...

[MaDBoRiCuA]

tanks and here i was struggling to get a specifically x16 card now i can get any card :)

[hord]

you ever thought about doing give aways of products you recieve to gain more comments views and subscribers by making them do certain things to get it? this could help bring in more ad revenue.

[Sha1dov]

Question: I have a kit of Crucial Ballistix Tracers 2gb 1066mhz and I just ordered a HD 4850 and there was a deal where I could get a Ballistix Tracer 800mhz kit for 20$ with it so I did it but now im wondering if they will run at 1066mhz with the same volts(2.2v) as my 1066kit..

[TOzma90]

hey rodney thanks for doing theses view's very helpful im getting ready to build my own pc and was wondering what are the best fans to place inside your computer for cooling? was going to go with the antec ones but heard they can get loud any suggestion's?

[evildwarf]

Poor me and my PCIe 1.0a motherboard.

[spencerpoyle2004]

wrong, 1.0 isnt allways compatible with 2.0. i had a k9vgm-v motherboard which has pci-e 1.0 and it wasnt compatible with my 8800gt which is pci-e 2.0.

[3DGAMEMAN]

In some instances a PCI-E 2.0 video card will not work properly in a PCI-E 1.0a slot.

[spencerpoyle2004]

sorry, forgot to say pci-e 1.0a :(

[chrismon1001]

i dunno maybe that thing where there is a bubble come out of his mouth that says Some Times a PCI-Express 2.0 sometimes is not compatible with PCI-Express 1.1 and 1.0

watch it again if u missed it

[ballsack5]

@3DGAMEMAN

this is true, i just bought a new card, and figured out it wasnt working too well because my motherboard is too old.

[MrSean571]

@3DGAMEMAN I need a honest answer if i spend alot of money on a PCI 2.0 card fr a 1.0 mortherboard is it worth it ?

[chrismon1001]

learn to read captions

[spencerpoyle2004]

what bloody captions?!

[hamzamasto]

I am also thinking of buying 8800 GT but will it work on my DEll 280 PCi E 1.0

Pls reply if any one knows proporiate

[Naruto159357]

Do they still make PCIe 1.0?

[connortimoti]

im sure u posted this before

[CreatureGam3r]

Ty roddy moddy

[djm12345678910]

great review

[HgCst0]

lucky me i can put a 9600GT without any doubt that it wont work thnx