Intel H55 chipset question

demarc · Jan 12, 2010, 09:40 AM

Hello,

Don't know if this is the correct sub forum, if it's not please move it to the correct one Thanks!!

I see H55 boards from EVGA and Asrock sporting 2 pci-e x 16 slot. from what i read the core i3 and i5 clarkdale cpu only supports 1 x 16 pci-e lanes that you could not break into two. Asrock labels their boards as crossfire ready. if the cpu can't support 2 x 8 and only 1 x 16 lanes how come the boards have 2 pci-e lanes and it's labeled as crossfire ready?

Thanks!

***Veridian3*** · Jan 12, 2010, 11:25 AM

On the ASRock board it would run crossfire but the second slot would be in 4x mode (even though its a longer slot). I assume the EVGA one will be the same but its hard to tell from their website.

Judas · Jan 13, 2010, 03:35 PM

some of the H55 and H57 boards i've seen some with even 3 pci-ex slots,

The only difference i see between the H55 and H57 is the H57 typically is advertised with the Sata 3.0 6gbps and USB 3.0 ports provided by 3rd party chipsets.

Now among them, just like V3 stated, typically the other slots are going to see a significant reduction in actual working mode, or all of them

I beleive the one i say was with 3 pci-ex x16's and primary remained 16x then would drop and devide among the other.

Total lanes is what? 20?

Optix · Jan 14, 2010, 02:40 AM

Yep, 20 total lanes. 16 on the PCI-E controller on the chip and 4 from the board.

What I find funny is the Asus H55 Pro board is retailing for higher than the P55 Pro board and almost as much as the Evo board. Talk about your skewed pricing.

demarc · Jan 14, 2010, 08:44 AM

i didn't know you could have a separate pci-e controller aside from the cpu (inside the cpu) and have another one outside (on the board) and do crossfire

Optix · Jan 14, 2010, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by demarc

i didn't know you could have a separate pci-e controller aside from the cpu (inside the cpu) and have another one outside (on the board) and do crossfire

It wouldn't be much of a Crossfire solution considering the 2nd PCI-E slot runs at only x4. x8 is enough to bottleneck the faster cards out there but x4 is enough to bottleneck even 3 year old cards making it an inefficient solution.

Judas · Jan 14, 2010, 03:12 PM

actually the 8x PCI-ex 2.0 slots still seem to have plenty of bandwidth for eve na 5870 or 5970....

demarc · Jan 14, 2010, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Optix

It wouldn't be much of a Crossfire solution considering the 2nd PCI-E slot runs at only x4. x8 is enough to bottleneck the faster cards out there but x4 is enough to bottleneck even 3 year old cards making it an inefficient solution.

x4 is enough lol. i'm running 4770 on pcie v1.0 x 4 slot with 720p high settings on most current games just fine

comp_ali · Jan 14, 2010, 05:43 PM

I read somewhere that no card eat all the 16x bandwidth yet and most of them are ok with 8x.

Judas · Jan 14, 2010, 07:12 PM

Remember that 16x 2.0 is twice that of 16x 1.0

So a 8x 2.0 slot is equivelent to a 16x 1.0

and a 4x 2.0 slot is equivelent to a 8x 1.0

Considering that the only cards able to fill the 16x 1.0 bandwidth requirements are the dual GPU cards.... and even they aren't filling it full..... a 4x 2.0 slot isn't gonna hurt to much for the midrange cards.

Jan 12, 2010, 09:40 AM	#1
demarc HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Philippines Posts: 110 Rep Power: 22 System Specs	Intel H55 chipset question Hello, Don't know if this is the correct sub forum, if it's not please move it to the correct one Thanks!! I see H55 boards from EVGA and Asrock sporting 2 pci-e x 16 slot. from what i read the core i3 and i5 clarkdale cpu only supports 1 x 16 pci-e lanes that you could not break into two. Asrock labels their boards as crossfire ready. if the cpu can't support 2 x 8 and only 1 x 16 lanes how come the boards have 2 pci-e lanes and it's labeled as crossfire ready? Thanks!

Jan 12, 2010, 11:25 AM	#2
*Veridian3* Administrator Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Cloaked Posts: 5,027 Rep Power: 181	Re: Intel H55 chipset question On the ASRock board it would run crossfire but the second slot would be in 4x mode (even though its a longer slot). I assume the EVGA one will be the same but its hard to tell from their website.

Jan 14, 2010, 08:44 AM	Thread Starter #5
demarc HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Philippines Posts: 110 Rep Power: 22 System Specs	Re: Intel H55 chipset question i didn't know you could have a separate pci-e controller aside from the cpu (inside the cpu) and have another one outside (on the board) and do crossfire

Jan 14, 2010, 05:43 PM	#9
comp_ali Sniper Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Egypt Posts: 10,469 Rep Power: 339 System Specs	Re: Intel H55 chipset question I read somewhere that no card eat all the 16x bandwidth yet and most of them are ok with 8x.