[mythtv-users] Combined Atom FE/BE /w GT220 ?

[Joseph Fry]

On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 12:26 PM, Kevin Ross <kevin at familyross.net> wrote:

>  On 8/18/2010 9:17 AM, Raymond Wagner wrote:
>
>>  On 8/18/2010 12:06, Kevin Ross wrote:
>>
>>>  On 8/18/2010 9:03 AM, Raymond Wagner wrote:
>>>
>>>>  On 8/18/2010 11:53, Kevin Ross wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>  On 8/17/2010 7:43 PM, James Harris wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> The Zotax NM10-B-E
>>>>>>
>>>>>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813500048
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Is a DTX board [slightly wider, thats OK I can manage a case for it]
>>>>>> and lists a x16 slot BUT with a x1 lane.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I couldn't believe this when I read this.  What on Earth could the
>>>>> reason be for having a PCIe x16 slot but with only 1 lane?  How could that
>>>>> be any better than just putting 2 x1 slots on the board?  I can't imagine
>>>>> anything designed for an x16 slot would work very well in such a slot.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> They make PCIe x1 video cards, so obviously someone thinks they will
>>>> work fine for some purposes.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Right, but do those video cards fit in a PCIe x1 slot?  Or do they
>>> require an x16 slot?
>>>
>>
>> They're exactly the same as the x16 card, they just have an x1 connector
>> to fit on boards with x1 slots.  You're not going to be doing a whole lot of
>> 3D gaming, but for an extra monitor or video display (using hardware
>> decoding), they're great.
>>
>
> Right, that was my point, they have an x1 connector, not an x16 connector.
>  Why have an x16 connector on a motherboard if 15 of the 16 lanes aren't
> hooked up?  Just put another x1 connector on there.  Imagine the confusion
> that would come when someone sees the x16 connector, then goes and buys a
> nice video card, puts it in and it doesn't work, because it isn't really an
> x16 slot.
>
>

Ahh.. but it is an x16 slot.

The spec allows a slot to use fewer lanes that it is capable of.  Often in
boards with multiple x1 slots, plugging devices into those slots actually
'steals' lanes from a nearby x4, x8, or x16 slot.  On many SLI capable
mobo's, connecting two x16 cards actually causes each one to only get 8
lanes.

An x16 card will work fine in an x16 slot with only a single lane... it just
won't have the bandwidth available to it that it would otherwise have.  For
accelerating HD playback or general 2D use, it's not an issue, x1 is more
than enough to dump 1080p source to the card.  Now if you wanted to use your
GPU to augment your CPU for computationally intense work... then a wider bus
would make a huge difference.
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