{"video_id":"vfXALgE7mVM","title":"Final PCIe Bandwith Comparison Test - Real Word Performance Benchmarks Linus Tech Tips","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2011-05-08T14:53:29Z","duration_s":234,"segments":[{"start_s":0.08,"end_s":6.879,"text":"all right i'm going to take another crack at my PCIe 16x versus 8x versus 4x","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":5.359,"end_s":10.4,"text":"testing this time i'm going to use a couple of games that i've benchmarked","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":8.559,"end_s":15.519,"text":"quite a bit in the past we're going to go with battlefield bad company 2 as","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":12.32,"end_s":18.32,"text":"well as metro 2033 since i had people","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":15.519,"end_s":24.08,"text":"asking for not a purely synthetic test so i'm going to use the 69 90 again","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":20.88,"end_s":26.08,"text":"single card gonna run at 16x 8x and 4x","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":24.08,"end_s":32.719,"text":"PCIe bandwidth and see what kind of performance differences we see at 1080p","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":29.439,"end_s":34.8,"text":"running in these games","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":32.719,"end_s":40.0,"text":"so this was interesting uh not only did i test battlefield bad company 2 and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":37.12,"end_s":44.64,"text":"metro 2033 actually i've got my fraps one of my fraps results up here","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":42.64,"end_s":50.719,"text":"right now oh apparently i have a lot of them up here right now okay so i also","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":47.12,"end_s":52.559,"text":"added crisis 2 to the testing","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":50.719,"end_s":57.28,"text":"methodology so here you go here are my results in a very tiny little graph that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":55.28,"end_s":62.399,"text":"i have made on a piece of paper along with a list of stuff that i had to do","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":59.76,"end_s":66.64,"text":"the other day okay so here we are oh please focus come on you'll be kidding","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":64.799,"end_s":69.76,"text":"me focus","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":67.92,"end_s":73.84,"text":"focus there we go yeah yeah","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":71.76,"end_s":77.84,"text":"okay so crisis two from 16x to 8x we're looking at pretty","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":75.76,"end_s":84.0,"text":"much within margin of error but then as soon as we drop down to 4x PCIe","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":80.479,"end_s":85.759,"text":"bandwidth we lose about six to well six","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":84.0,"end_s":90.4,"text":"to eight FPS so that's going to be about 10 so we do see a tangible real world","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":88.64,"end_s":95.759,"text":"performance decrease on a very high performance card in crisis 2 going down","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":93.36,"end_s":98.56,"text":"to 4x that'll feel bad company 2 once again we see kind of within the margin","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":97.439,"end_s":102.72,"text":"of error and then as soon as we go down to 4x we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":100.64,"end_s":107.439,"text":"see a very dramatic decrease in performance about 30","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":104.72,"end_s":114.479,"text":"so metro 2033 same story this is margin of error right here and then moving down","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":110.159,"end_s":117.6,"text":"to 4x we see a yeah 12-ish percent","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":114.479,"end_s":119.439,"text":"performance drop so basically this goes","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":117.6,"end_s":124.24,"text":"against the findings that i found before and i believe i know the reason so","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":121.52,"end_s":130.8,"text":"running the extreme preset on 3d mark 11 basically meant that the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":128.0,"end_s":136.64,"text":"processors on the Radeon 6990 were completely taxed","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":134.08,"end_s":140.879,"text":"so we were creating a processor bottleneck which meant that there didn't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":139.04,"end_s":145.36,"text":"have to be as much communication between the card and the rest of the system","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":142.4,"end_s":149.84,"text":"because we weren't able to actually we were we were limited by how much","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":147.68,"end_s":153.28,"text":"rendering these cores could do rather than by how quickly the card could","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":151.36,"end_s":160.56,"text":"communicate with the system so running at 1080p with some modern games we were","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":157.28,"end_s":163.36,"text":"able to create a scenario whereby the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":160.56,"end_s":167.68,"text":"card was not actually the bottleneck in the performance of the system in that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":165.2,"end_s":172.72,"text":"particular game so the processors were able to do more than the pci express","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":170.879,"end_s":175.599,"text":"bandwidth was capable of communicating","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":174.879,"end_s":180.959,"text":"so basically what we see here then","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":177.92,"end_s":182.72,"text":"is that as soon as PCIe 3.0 comes out","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":180.959,"end_s":186.159,"text":"we're probably looking at a scenario remember pci express is doubling in","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":184.879,"end_s":193.04,"text":"bandwidth every time we see a new iteration but we're probably looking at a scenario where any modern card will","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":189.68,"end_s":195.44,"text":"perform about like this at PCIe 3.0","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":193.04,"end_s":201.92,"text":"4x and will perform about like this at PCIe PCIe 3.08 x and then there will be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":199.76,"end_s":207.92,"text":"a hypothetical probably like incremental 0.2 FPS beyond that so for any modern","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":205.599,"end_s":214.0,"text":"card and remember this is two modern high-end gpus those are each 6970s on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":210.64,"end_s":217.2,"text":"there for any two modern high-end gpus","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":214.0,"end_s":219.12,"text":"PCIe 8x is pretty much enough and 16x is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":217.2,"end_s":223.44,"text":"definitely enough based on how little improvement we see by doubling the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":220.959,"end_s":226.4,"text":"bandwidth from a PCIe 8x slot to a 16x slot so thank you for checking out this","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":224.959,"end_s":232.36,"text":"episode of Linus tech tips don't forget to subscribe for more unboxings reviews","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":228.4,"end_s":232.36,"text":"and other computer videos","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"all right i'm going to take another crack at my PCIe 16x versus 8x versus 4x testing this time i'm going to use a couple of games that i've benchmarked quite a bit in the past we're going to go with battlefield bad company 2 as well as metro 2033 since i had people asking for not a purely synthetic test so i'm going to use the 69 90 again single card gonna run at 16x 8x and 4x PCIe bandwidth and see what kind of performance differences we see at 1080p running in these games so this was interesting uh not only did i test battlefield bad company 2 and metro 2033 actually i've got my fraps one of my fraps results up here right now oh apparently i have a lot of them up here right now okay so i also added crisis 2 to the testing methodology so here you go here are my results in a very tiny little graph that i have made on a piece of paper along with a list of stuff that i had to do the other day okay so here we are oh please focus come on you'll be kidding me focus focus there we go yeah yeah okay so crisis two from 16x to 8x we're looking at pretty much within margin of error but then as soon as we drop down to 4x PCIe bandwidth we lose about six to well six to eight FPS so that's going to be about 10 so we do see a tangible real world performance decrease on a very high performance card in crisis 2 going down to 4x that'll feel bad company 2 once again we see kind of within the margin of error and then as soon as we go down to 4x we see a very dramatic decrease in performance about 30 so metro 2033 same story this is margin of error right here and then moving down to 4x we see a yeah 12-ish percent performance drop so basically this goes against the findings that i found before and i believe i know the reason so running the extreme preset on 3d mark 11 basically meant that the processors on the Radeon 6990 were completely taxed so we were creating a processor bottleneck which meant that there didn't have to be as much communication between the card and the rest of the system because we weren't able to actually we were we were limited by how much rendering these cores could do rather than by how quickly the card could communicate with the system so running at 1080p with some modern games we were able to create a scenario whereby the card was not actually the bottleneck in the performance of the system in that particular game so the processors were able to do more than the pci express bandwidth was capable of communicating so basically what we see here then is that as soon as PCIe 3.0 comes out we're probably looking at a scenario remember pci express is doubling in bandwidth every time we see a new iteration but we're probably looking at a scenario where any modern card will perform about like this at PCIe 3.0 4x and will perform about like this at PCIe PCIe 3.08 x and then there will be a hypothetical probably like incremental 0.2 FPS beyond that so for any modern card and remember this is two modern high-end gpus those are each 6970s on there for any two modern high-end gpus PCIe 8x is pretty much enough and 16x is definitely enough based on how little improvement we see by doubling the bandwidth from a PCIe 8x slot to a 16x slot so thank you for checking out this episode of Linus tech tips don't forget to subscribe for more unboxings reviews and other computer videos"}