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

[Kevin Ross]

  On 8/18/2010 9:34 AM, Joseph Fry wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 18, 2010 at 12:26 PM, Kevin Ross <kevin at familyross.net 
> <mailto: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.
>

Thanks, I learned something today! :)

-- Kevin

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