EVGA

Can a Titan Z/295x2 saturate a PCI-E 2.0 x8 or even x4 bandwidth?

Author
Post
Essentials Only Full Version
movieman
FTW Member
  • Total Posts : 1114
  • Reward points : 0
  • Joined: 2005/11/14 18:06:46
  • Status: offline
  • Ribbons : 5
2014/09/02 10:38:05 (permalink)
Can a Titan Z saturate a PCI-E 2.0 x8 or x4 bandwidth?
 
I looked at numerous reviews and posts, but all I could find was that a regular Titan cannot saturate a pci-e 2.0 x8.
 
I am just curious. I like my current rig and was wanting to know how future proof it is. I have a sound card in slot #3, so:
 
slot 1(gpu)
slot 3(sound)
slot 5(gpu)
 
are taken up, which means I have to run my cards at pci-e 2.0 x8 x8 x8.

NZXT B550   AMD 5950X
EVGA 3080Ti Hydrocopper
WD Black 2TB NVME
Corsair 64GB (4 x 16GB)
Alienware AW3418DW 34" UW
Corsair HX 850          Corsair 5000X(white)
Windows 10               HEATWARE
#1

9 Replies Related Threads
    ty_ger07
    Insert Custom Title Here
    • Total Posts : 21174
    • Reward points : 0
    • Joined: 2008/04/10 23:48:15
    • Location: traveler
    • Status: offline
    • Ribbons : 270
    Re: Can a Titan Z/295x2 saturate a PCI-E 2.0 x8 or even x4 bandwidth? 2014/09/02 10:59:07 (permalink)
    I would suggest that testing your PCI-E bandwidth yourself under various circumstances (with more or less cards installed) is a good place for you to start.
    http://forums.evga.com/PCIE-concurrent-bandwidth-test-cuda-m253215.aspx
     
    #2
    HeavyHemi
    Insert Custom Title Here
    • Total Posts : 15665
    • Reward points : 0
    • Joined: 2008/11/28 20:31:42
    • Location: Western Washington
    • Status: offline
    • Ribbons : 135
    Re: Can a Titan Z/295x2 saturate a PCI-E 2.0 x8 or even x4 bandwidth? 2014/09/02 12:08:49 (permalink)
    movieman
    Can a Titan Z saturate a PCI-E 2.0 x8 or x4 bandwidth?
     
    I looked at numerous reviews and posts, but all I could find was that a regular Titan cannot saturate a pci-e 2.0 x8.
     
    I am just curious. I like my current rig and was wanting to know how future proof it is. I have a sound card in slot #3, so:
     
    slot 1(gpu)
    slot 3(sound)
    slot 5(gpu)
     
    are taken up, which means I have to run my cards at pci-e 2.0 x8 x8 x8.


    Actually, you're running them at x16/x8/x8..From your manual: 
    When using 1 Graphic Card in PCI-E: Slot 1, a speed of x16 will be used.
    When using 2 Graphic Cards in PCI-E Slots: 1 and 3, a speed of x16/x16
    will be used. When running 3 Graphic Cards in PCI-E Slots: 1, 3, and 5 a
    speed of x16/x8/x8 will be used.

    EVGA X99 FTWK / i7 6850K @ 4.5ghz / RTX 3080Ti FTW Ultra / 32GB Corsair LPX 3600mhz / Samsung 850Pro 256GB / Be Quiet BN516 Straight Power 12-1000w 80 Plus Platinum / Window 10 Pro
     
    #3
    movieman
    FTW Member
    • Total Posts : 1114
    • Reward points : 0
    • Joined: 2005/11/14 18:06:46
    • Status: offline
    • Ribbons : 5
    Re: Can a Titan Z/295x2 saturate a PCI-E 2.0 x8 or even x4 bandwidth? 2014/09/02 12:11:55 (permalink)
    If I wanted to run quad sli with 2 Titan Z's. I would still have a Titan Z in a 8x pci-e slot though.

    NZXT B550   AMD 5950X
    EVGA 3080Ti Hydrocopper
    WD Black 2TB NVME
    Corsair 64GB (4 x 16GB)
    Alienware AW3418DW 34" UW
    Corsair HX 850          Corsair 5000X(white)
    Windows 10               HEATWARE
    #4
    void_ptr
    New Member
    • Total Posts : 100
    • Reward points : 0
    • Joined: 2014/03/01 12:59:51
    • Status: offline
    • Ribbons : 0
    Re: Can a Titan Z/295x2 saturate a PCI-E 2.0 x8 or even x4 bandwidth? 2014/09/02 13:09:15 (permalink)
    Should be fine - keep in mind Titan Z has a PLX chip inside so each GK110 gets up to full bandwidth of the slot the card is plugged into. So technically it should be no different from running 4-way SLI with Titan Blacks in 8x/8x/8x/8x configuration on a motherboard with PLX - something that works rather nicely. To be clear, scalability of 4-way SLI isn't great, but that's a separate question, and PCIe bandwidth is not an issue in such setup.
    #5
    ty_ger07
    Insert Custom Title Here
    • Total Posts : 21174
    • Reward points : 0
    • Joined: 2008/04/10 23:48:15
    • Location: traveler
    • Status: offline
    • Ribbons : 270
    Re: Can a Titan Z/295x2 saturate a PCI-E 2.0 x8 or even x4 bandwidth? 2014/09/02 14:03:52 (permalink)
    To be fair, the CPU only has a finite number of lanes. The PLX chip on the motherboard doesn't increase the number of physical lanes, it shares the lanes. So, when all devices are under heavy usage, the physical lanes become saturated and the PLX chip does not help in this situation. The PLX chip only helps up to the point that the CPU's lanes are saturated.
    #6
    movieman
    FTW Member
    • Total Posts : 1114
    • Reward points : 0
    • Joined: 2005/11/14 18:06:46
    • Status: offline
    • Ribbons : 5
    Re: Can a Titan Z/295x2 saturate a PCI-E 2.0 x8 or even x4 bandwidth? 2014/09/02 14:05:25 (permalink)
    has there ever been a review/situation/post where someone actually saturated any pci express slot?

    NZXT B550   AMD 5950X
    EVGA 3080Ti Hydrocopper
    WD Black 2TB NVME
    Corsair 64GB (4 x 16GB)
    Alienware AW3418DW 34" UW
    Corsair HX 850          Corsair 5000X(white)
    Windows 10               HEATWARE
    #7
    ty_ger07
    Insert Custom Title Here
    • Total Posts : 21174
    • Reward points : 0
    • Joined: 2008/04/10 23:48:15
    • Location: traveler
    • Status: offline
    • Ribbons : 270
    Re: Can a Titan Z/295x2 saturate a PCI-E 2.0 x8 or even x4 bandwidth? 2014/09/02 15:20:57 (permalink)
    movieman
    has there ever been a review/situation/post where someone actually saturated any pci express slot?



     
    http://videocardz.com/46610/amd-hawaii-r9-290-series-gpu-diagram-leaks

    Can saturate PCIe 3.0 x16 bus bandwidth

     
     
    As I said earlier, I encourage you to do your own testing as well.
     
    Here is a test of me doing one GTX 580 on a PCI-E 2.0 x16 slot.

    As you see, my one GTX 580 is using about 38% of that slot's bandwidth.
     
    If I test both of my GTX 580s at once, you see that once again, I use about 38% of those two slots rated bandwidth.

    post edited by ty_ger07 - 2014/09/02 15:29:14

    Attached Image(s)

    #8
    HeavyHemi
    Insert Custom Title Here
    • Total Posts : 15665
    • Reward points : 0
    • Joined: 2008/11/28 20:31:42
    • Location: Western Washington
    • Status: offline
    • Ribbons : 135
    Re: Can a Titan Z/295x2 saturate a PCI-E 2.0 x8 or even x4 bandwidth? 2014/09/02 16:44:57 (permalink)
    movieman
    If I wanted to run quad sli with 2 Titan Z's. I would still have a Titan Z in a 8x pci-e slot though.


    True, if you want to use a PCIe sound card as the PCIe x1 slot would be blocked by the GPU. The only way to run x16/x16 is using only the top two x16 slots which you can't do unless you run the Hydro Copper or your own custom water cooling as these are triple slot for the air cooled model.
    The bottom slot is always x8 even if you have nothing in the middle slot.

    EVGA X99 FTWK / i7 6850K @ 4.5ghz / RTX 3080Ti FTW Ultra / 32GB Corsair LPX 3600mhz / Samsung 850Pro 256GB / Be Quiet BN516 Straight Power 12-1000w 80 Plus Platinum / Window 10 Pro
     
    #9
    movieman
    FTW Member
    • Total Posts : 1114
    • Reward points : 0
    • Joined: 2005/11/14 18:06:46
    • Status: offline
    • Ribbons : 5
    Re: Can a Titan Z/295x2 saturate a PCI-E 2.0 x8 or even x4 bandwidth? 2014/09/02 17:43:29 (permalink)
    I tried to test my setup with the link you provided. I downloaded it and ran it and it went away. Then I tried to type in the command console to the output file and it did not work. :/
     
    I guess I can play around with it a little more to get it working..and then try and figure out what the max bandwidth is and then try and figure out the bandwidth for these high end cards. I can also look at your results and guesstimate from there too :)..Thank you for the pics.
     
    Here is the article I found about the Titan where they could not saturate a PCI-E 2.0 @ 8x.
    http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Impact-of-PCI-E-Speed-on-Gaming-Performance-518/
     
    I am not sure how a 295x2 can saturate a full pci 3.0 @ 16x but....I was just looking for a simple answer. If I am stuck at 2.0 @ 8x for the next couple of years I will buy accordingly. I would imagine that I would have upgraded by then, but you never know. I guess for now....according to the above article...my ceiling is a Titan. Which is not too bad.
     
     
     
     

    NZXT B550   AMD 5950X
    EVGA 3080Ti Hydrocopper
    WD Black 2TB NVME
    Corsair 64GB (4 x 16GB)
    Alienware AW3418DW 34" UW
    Corsair HX 850          Corsair 5000X(white)
    Windows 10               HEATWARE
    #10
    Jump to:
  • Back to Mobile