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    Bus Interface Question M17x R2 w/ 6990m

    Discussion in 'Alienware 17 and M17x' started by Misdemeanor, Feb 9, 2013.

  1. Misdemeanor

    Misdemeanor Notebook Consultant

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    In GPU-Z the Bus Interface for my AND 6990M shows up as "PCI-E 2.0 x16 @ x8 2.0". Then when I hover over it it says the card is capable of x16 but its currently running at x8.

    Does this mean that my card is only running at x8 speed and not running at the full x16? Or is this just a motherboard limitation on the R2?

    Sent from my HTC using Tapatalk 2
     
    Misdemeanor, Feb 9, 2013
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  2. chrisjohnharden

    chrisjohnharden Notebook Geek

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    MxM as a standard is only able to support up to x8, it is a hardware limitation of the mobile PCI standard. There is almost no performance difference between x16 and x8 unless we are talking about high end desktop cards.
     
    chrisjohnharden, Feb 10, 2013
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  3. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Nonsense, many notebooks such as the 16F3 support 16x, some manufacturers save on PCB costs by routing 8x lanes instead of 16x as the performance impact especially with Gen3 is non existent with a single card (and the mobile cpus only support 8x/8x crossfire/sli).
     
    Meaker@Sager, Feb 10, 2013
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  4. Misdemeanor

    Misdemeanor Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks for the feedback chris and meaker! It's much appreciated!

    Sent from my HTC using Tapatalk 2
     
    Misdemeanor, Feb 10, 2013
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  5. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    [​IMG]

    As proof by the way :) (nevermind the overclock, i'm running at 1.087v)
     
    Meaker@Sager, Feb 10, 2013
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  6. King of Interns

    King of Interns Simply a laptop enthusiast

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    Indeed Meaker is correct. Even in older machines like my own 16x PCI 2.0 is the norm.

    [​IMG]

    Uploaded with ImageShack.us
     
    King of Interns, Feb 11, 2013
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