Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

[Durahansolo]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Newegg.com - IOGEAR GHDMIFDVIMW6 Gold-plated HDMI (F) to DVI-D Dual Link (M) Adapter F-M is that what you need Dak? One HDMI Female into that and that male connector into the monitor, other end goes into the PS3. That was how I used to connect my PC to my Television on my video card.

BTW, if your monitor has a Male end on it...

[DakAttack]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Thanks for the input guys.

Now, I'm on to another question. The motherboard I included in the computer has two PCI-E x16 slots, but one of them is in x4 mode. Why would they do that? Wouldn't that seriously hinder another graphics card, or anything for that matter, that's placed in that slot?

[Solymir]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

It makes the cost of the motherboard lower, and there are devices that are PCIx that are not video.

[Mhurron]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Most graphics cards wont run in anything less then x16, some older SLI capable ones will run in x8 once you put them in SLI.

Of course, PCI-E is made for more then just video cards and even a PCI-E x1 is a very fast bus. Some cards just won't use 16 lanes so you don't bother the northbridge with them.

That x4 port is most likely, along with things like the PCI bus, SATA bus, USB and what not, is being handled by the southbridge. That port is intended as a generic I/O port for things like a high speed network card or a RAID controller. You will not be able to plug in the majority of graphics cards into it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southbridge_(computing)

[DakAttack]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Most graphics cards wont run in anything less then x16, some older SLI capable ones will run in x8 once you put them in SLI.

Of course, PCI-E is made for more then just video cards and even a PCI-E x1 is a very fast bus. Some cards just won't use 16 lanes so you don't bother the northbridge with them.

That x4 port is most likely, along with things like the PCI bus, SATA bus, USB and what not, is being handled by the southbridge. That port is intended as a generic I/O port for things like a high speed network card or a RAID controller. You will not be able to plug in the majority of graphics cards into it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southbridge_(computing)

Then, I don't understand the point of having a Crossfire enabled motherboard if only one PCI-E slot is capable of running a graphics card? Is using a normal PCI slot an option?

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Wow, did you buy this board with the intention of running dual cards? Did you build your own pc or is this a pre-built?

[DakAttack]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Wow, did you buy this board with the intention of running dual cards? Did you build your own pc or is this a pre-built?

Yea, I thought that one day I'd like to run dual cards. I customize it and had it built with iBuyPower.com, and I only included one GRU to begin with, and one that isn't exactly top of the line to boot.

Why would a motherboard be considered Crossfire ready if it can't run two GPUs?

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Most graphics cards wont run in anything less then x16, some older SLI capable ones will run in x8 once you put them in SLI.

Of course, PCI-E is made for more then just video cards and even a PCI-E x1 is a very fast bus. Some cards just won't use 16 lanes so you don't bother the northbridge with them.

That x4 port is most likely, along with things like the PCI bus, SATA bus, USB and what not, is being handled by the southbridge. That port is intended as a generic I/O port for things like a high speed network card or a RAID controller. You will not be able to plug in the majority of graphics cards into it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southbridge_(computing)

This is incorrect. PCI-E 16x slots running in 4x mode allow 16x, 8x, 4x, and 1x cards to run in a maximum 4x mode (a 1x card can't run in 4x). The reason this board says it is crossfire ready is because it is, but you probably would only use the crossfire for physics and not for actual graphics processing. If your looking to go dual cards via ati you should just look at a radeon 4870x2 or 4850x2. These are single card dual gpu. That way you wouldn't have to run an under powered card in the 2nd slot.

Just look here at this 5870 PCI-E scaling page, techPowerUp :: AMD Radeon HD 5870 PCI-Express Scaling Review :: Page 25 / 26 .

[cidbahamut]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

I've been idly googling ISA server stuff at work this week. It turned into Microsoft Forefront Threat Management Gateway. It gets abbreviated TMG. I've been confusing that with TGM constantly.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

So I went in today and got my truck registered in the state of Florida. $413 later, I've got a Florida plate, a Florida registration card, and they even were so kind as to change my title to Florida, and to boot, updated it from my maiden name (when I first got the truck) to my current name. Which I do not call my "married" name because I am no longer married.

Expensive day, but it's huge to me. This was really the final step in establishing myself as a Florida resident. Money was, obviously, the major cockblock there, but now that I had (not have) it, I could finally basically set myself in stone as "I am here, and I am not going away." And it's big on another level - I have Florida license/plates/title/etc., and now my family can't bug me with "When are you moving back to Pennsylvania?"

NEVER BITCHES.

Feels good man.

[Mhurron]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

This is incorrect. PCI-E 16x slots running in 4x mode allow 16x, 8x, 4x, and 1x cards to run in a maximum 4x mode (a 1x card can't run in 4x). The reason this board says it is crossfire ready is because it is, but you probably would only use the crossfire for physics and not for actual graphics processing. If your looking to go dual cards via ati you should just look at a radeon 4870x2 or 4850x2. These are single card dual gpu. That way you wouldn't have to run an under powered card in the 2nd slot.

Just look here at this 5870 PCI-E scaling page, techPowerUp :: AMD Radeon HD 5870 PCI-Express Scaling Review :: Page 25 / 26 .

A) Not every card or motherboard will negotiate down, this is a neat feature PCI-E makes available but it is not required by the standard. The standard actually only guarantees that if you plug a card into a mismatched port, the motherboard is only required to provide a x1 lane, even if it is a x4 or x8. The cheaper the board, the more likely this is.

B) Dak didn't say the board was a crossfire board, as such any PCI-E slot that is not x16 should not be expected to be intended for a graphics bus. This is because -
B-1) High speed graphics are high speed in part because they talk directly to the northbridge
B-2) PCI-E does not have to be connected to the northbridge. PCI-E can be connected to the southbridge as a generic, although fast, I/O bus.
B-3) The motherboard may not poll it for a graphics card. This would happen primarily in the case of b-2 above.

That's nice that the ATI cards will work over just 4 lanes. Looking further it seem mismatched lanes for crossfire is normal with ATI so I guess it's not surprising their cards and boards will scale down. nVIdia forums seem to say that's pretty useless and a waste of money if you intend to drive monitors with it and you would do better getting a faster card instead. From personal experience with older nVidia SLI or PhyX, it is also a waste of money to run for the physics acceleration in games.

I have come across cards that will not run in less then x16. Sometimes when the card says 16 it means 16.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

A) Not every card or motherboard will negotiate down, this is a neat feature PCI-E makes available but it is not required by the standard. The standard actually only guarantees that if you plug a card into a mismatched port, the motherboard is only required to provide a x1 lane, even if it is a x4 or x8. The cheaper the board, the more likely this is.

I can understand the video cards, but yes it is a standard of the PCI-E bus.

"A PCIe card will fit into a slot of its physical size or larger, but may not fit into a smaller PCIe slot. Some slots use open-ended sockets to permit physically longer cards and will negotiate the best available electrical connection. The number of lanes actually connected to a slot may also be less than the number supported by the physical slot size."

PCI Express - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

B) Dak didn't say the board was a crossfire board, as such any PCI-E slot that is not x16 should not be expected to be intended for a graphics bus.

Then, I don't understand the point of having a Crossfire enabled motherboard if only one PCI-E slot is capable of running a graphics card? Is using a normal PCI slot an option?

I was assuming since he was the one that brought up crossfire that his motherboard was a crossfirex board.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

I changed the subject.

PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!!!!111!!one!!!

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

Well congrats Aks on that momentous life goal! My son has yet to register his car that he just bought....but then again its not drivable so no big deal. >< /em grumbles about a waste of $12,000

[Feba]

Re: Official bored at work / just shooting the shit / no rails to derail thread

This was really the final step in establishing myself as a Florida resident.

And to think I used to respect you.