Thread: PCI Express 3.0 x16

The following board has PCI Express 3.0. Newegg.com - ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel MotherboardIs it backwards compatible, so I could use a current generation video card on it? It's also pretty reasonably priced.

Originally Posted by DJ Mr. White

The following board has PCI Express 3.0. Newegg.com - ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel MotherboardIs it backwards compatible, so I could use a current generation video card on it? It's also pretty reasonably priced.

Do not buy a motherboard for one feature!!!!!!! This is a lesson learned with bitter tears, there are no PCIex 3.0 cards out yet and the big boys (ASUS/Gigabyte) have not put out motherboards with support yet, also I am not sure how they can do this since the Z68 does not have native support for it.

-H

Well, that decides that for me. I was kind of wondering why they developed the next gen of PCI-E when a PCI-E 2.0 x8 isn't even being saturated yet.

Buy it. Although it's just one feature. If you have a 2500K or 2600K. That'll be a solid board. It'll future proof you for PCI 3 and it's a solid Z68 board. Plus it's fairly cheap vs some of the other competitors offering similar features. The P67 Extreme4 was great, why not Z68.

PCI is always backwards compatible. Yes you'll be able to use PCI-E 2.0 on PCI-E 3.0 slots. Just like you can use PCI-E 2.0 cards on a PCI 1 slot. I expect 7xxx or 6xx to be using PCIE3

Unless you need a new mobo now, I would wait for a few renditions of any new chipsets/technology before buying a mobo. By the time there are cards for it, they will probably have a few evolutions of the technology, plus any other bells and whistles that might get released.


I usually try to get things that have been out for a bit so I can get reviews ... I was an early adopter once and got screwed (I got a really nice dual x16 SLI mobo in AM2 ... AM3 was out a few months later ... 5 years later and I am still DDR2). The best gear from the last quarter is always a good way to go ... lots of user reviews.

I think we might finally see an AMD platform change coming up after many years. The APU is changing things maybe...

All PCI Express versions are backwards compatible. My guess is that they have a secondary chip handling PCI Express connected to the Z68 chipset over 16x PCI Express 2.0 connection(s). No current generation chipsets support PCI Express 3.0 natively, so whatever you buy is going to be held together with duct tape and bailing wire. If you're dead set on PCI Express 3.0, wait for chipsets that natively support it. Intel launches their official support later this year with Ivy Bridge. AMD won't likely follow until next year sometime as the 900-series chipsets supporting Bulldozer are still PCIe 2.0

Originally Posted by SoySoldier

I think we might finally see an AMD platform change coming up after many years. The APU is changing things maybe...

The plan was to expand off Llano. Bulldozer is AMD's current marketing focus. However their end result would be Trinity (Hopeful at least). Trinity would be BD chip + Fusion technology.

I think it'll take us at least one more generation. So after BD+SB I think maybe even after Ivy Bridge, we'll finally see PCI-E 3 implemented. ATM we still haven't full taken advantage of PCI-E 2.0