Maximum PC

my Mobo has a PCIE x16 and x1 slot. I was wondering if a modern vid card would work in the x16 or am i limited only to ones that specifically say x16 with tend to max out at 512 ram

Also what good is the x1?

with out knowing your mobo, and what else you have plugged in, it is difficult to give a firm answer. However unless I have missed something, all modern (last 2 years at least) video cards are designed to utilize 16 lanes (x16 refers to the lanes used or available) if the lanes are available. You must check your mobo manual to be sure what is avail and how the lanes are allocated as each slot is filled. As a general rule with nothing else installed (though some mobo's will use some lanes to implement USB3/SATA3) your video card will get and utilize 16 lanes.

If you are on an 1156 platform your video card may only be allocated 8 lanes if you use USB3/SATA3 or plug in a sound card. This is still ok with current games and should only result in about a 5% loss in performance, if that. Actually your video card will function with only 4 lanes allocated to it , I believe, though not well. Again consult your mobo manual and or the sys mfr to make sure exactly what you can and cannot do.

I don't understand what you mean by (your English is not to clear here) "or am i limited only to ones that specifically say x16 with tend to max out at 512 ram". There is no limit to the amount of ram a card has. Except for specific card design limits by the mfr. card memory is not limited by the PCIe buss.

PCI slots are strictly legacy slots and in fact are not much longer for this world. Everything will soon be strictly PCIe (PCI express).

Some cheaper sound cards and there are some USB3 adapter cards that run in a x1 slot. Though you should really be using at least a x4 card for USB3/SATA3 adapters as either will can be bottle necked by a x1 slot.

Edit: In next to last paragraph, changed the 1st word from PCIe to just PCI. PCIe is the current standard. Sorry for the confusion.

it's a Gigabyte Ga-ma78lm-s2 a socket am2 mobo
When i did a search for video cards on new egg it only listed a handful that were specifically PCIE x16 but isn't PCIE the standard now?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

Well, If your linking to the correct mobo, Then according to this Newegg only has 405 video cards listed as PCIe 2.0 x16.

http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=48&name=Desktop-Graphics-Video-Cards

Also it is my understanding that PCIe 2.1 cards are backward compatible with 2.0 slots so that is another 109 cards. However don't take my word for it do a search on Wikipedia for the 2 standards and read up on them.

maybe it hd to be the fact i was looking for one with svideo cause when i do a search for dx10 with video it only returns 4 results all maxing at 512 ram.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... rchInDesc=

Seems odd that there arent any svid cards over 512 MB....

And WHY is a 2400 pro at $120.

Do you NEED svideo?




Ted

We are setting up a sort of mini editing studio so we need 2 computer montors (so we can see before and after screens side by side) and a TV (to see how it will output on a television) inputs

maybe the 240 is only 120 cause it has wast 128 mb ram?

You will need a card from the radeon 5k. Series, likely a 5750. The 5k series is the only gpu's with 3 monitor capibility. the tv must have hdmi, and one of the monitors must be displayport or you need an active adapter





Ted

Please note that I edited my 1st reply.

Why do you need S video? Is it an older TV that does not have DVI/VGA/HDMI input ports? If you get a modern video card like Tedster mentioned couldn't you look for an adapter cable. I think they make DVI break out cables. That is it goes from the DVI out on the video card to the 3 RCA video component cables. Such as this one.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D15782071&field-keywords=DVI+to+RCA+component+video+cable&x=0&y=0

we haven't gotten the monitor yet we are planing, the thing is the entire reason for th 3 is to see how the show looks on a tv so i'm prety sure it would have to be a older one since most lcd tvs are pretty much the same as pc monitors.

Not necessarily true. We just recently got a cheap assed 37 inch 1080p VIZIO TV that has more input options on it than you can shake a stick at. You may want to take a spin through Target or Walmart or even Best Buy and see what is really out there. In fact from what I have seen there are damned few "monitors" that have even close to the number of input options on many of the TVs's out there today. I Think Gateway used to have one and some of Dell's high dollar monitors have more than average input options.

The point is (and I think Tedster was getting at) is why even consider an outdated card. go with a current ATI (I mean AMD) 5xxx series card and get the cables you need. I believe you can now even waive the need for a Display Port monitor by using the proper adapter cable. that should help keep costs down even though the adapter cable can be a bit pricey.

thats exactly what i was looking for, i have vga to dvi adapters so the 2 pc monitors were easy but i still needed a 3rd port, and from my limited tv into PC experience i figured id need Svideo. So i was looking for the best dx10 card that had 3 ports, one svideo. And aparenty all thats available is crap 512 mb cards.

Did you look at what ports are on the ATI video cards? Do so then review what we have been saying about the cables.

I did, but that was when i thought i needed svideo so it only brought up 4 results, i'll probably look at monitors first see whats best for that job, what ports it has, then look at what converter id need for a more robust card instead of a direct route.

Also, the 5xxx amd's are the ONLY cards that can run 3 monitors simultaniously. Just use an hdmi tv, get a displayport to vga (which has to be active, the type I suggested always are.), and run the 3rd monitor off a dvi to vga.





Ted

Well this looks pretty easy actually. Here's 2 video cards, each will run 3 monitors. Run one monitor off one of the 2 DVI ports, run the second monitor off the Display Port port using an active adapter like tedster said. Run your TV off either the HDMI port or the 2nd DVI port (which as we have seen above can be adapted to any output). You would be hard pressed to find a new TV without a VGA, DVI, HDMI, or even the RCA component inputs, or even all of the above. Cables are readily avail.

XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX: $145 (for a mere $10 difference I would definitely go with this card)
XFX HD-575X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card: $135

I'm not real sure what the big press is for a "TV" for the 3rd monitor. It would seem to me that 1920x1080p is going to be the same visually since they are the same resolution. Unless you are going to buy an outdated TV with an outdated resolution. The side by side for before and after comparisons. Unless you just want 3 monitors; 720p, 1080p or whatever is a standard resolution. It will look the same whether a monitor or TV. If there was a difference, you would have to have a TV with the same res as your monitors to make any true comparisons. That is unless you are talking some ginormous TV screen like 52 or more inches then you are dealing with dot pitch size/viewing distance problems (grainy picture when to close). No amount of editing can make that go away.

having worked with a avid deck in the past usually you have something like 2 30 inch monitors doing the side by side and a smaller 13 inch tv to see how the color corrects will come up on the over viewers tv.

doubt we will get 2 30 inche monitors but the concept is the same.

Been looking online and only found a couple monitors for the TV out preview

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-PVM-20N6U-20-M ... 202wt_1139

Not seeing what what you saw Tugboat, only RGB and Svideo. Where are you fining monitors with multiple outputs?

I was talking monitors with multiple "inputs". Which is what your looking for. Your video card does the outputting. You need a monitor that you can connect your card to. That means you need one that can take what ever adapter cable you can find for your card.

Yes and the 2 i provided only have s video and rgb