Asrock - AM2NF6G-VSTA does it have a 16X PCI-E slot or not? Please help.

  • Thread starter Thread starter David D
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David D

I have seen contradicting information on this topic - my local
computer store in Canada says it has a 16X - but on Newegg.com, they
list it as NONE for 16X.
I have a PCI-E video card that requires 16X and I want to make it
works before I go and try this out and then realize I can't take the
motherboard back. So please let me know if the Asrock - AM2NF6G-VSTA
do indeed have a 16X slot or not -
AND if it doesn't, will the 7100 GS gforce card still work with it?

Thanks in advance
 
David said:
I have seen contradicting information on this topic - my local
computer store in Canada says it has a 16X - but on Newegg.com, they
list it as NONE for 16X.
I have a PCI-E video card that requires 16X and I want to make it
works before I go and try this out and then realize I can't take the
motherboard back. So please let me know if the Asrock - AM2NF6G-VSTA
do indeed have a 16X slot or not -
AND if it doesn't, will the 7100 GS gforce card still work with it?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

This is the picture on Newegg. The "slot" is big enough for x16.

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/13-157-099-05.jpg

And the specs are listed on NCIX. But the "x16" number is not shown.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=19925&vpn=AM2NF6G-VSTA&manufacture=ASRock

This is the manual from Asrock, and I'm beginning to smell a rat.

http://download.asrock.com/manual/AM2NF6G-VSTA.pdf

I have a suspicion that the PCI Express "graphics slot" doesn't
have all 16 lanes wired up. The slot could be x8, because the
manual has some of that "I'm not guilty, your honor" type
lawyer language in it. It says:

"PCIE1 (PCI Express Graphics slot) supports most of the ATI and NVIDIA
graphics cards except some old version ATI graphics cards, such as
ATI X300, X550, X700, and X800 series graphics cards."

OK, and here is the spec. If you look under the column for 6100-405
chipset, the PCI Express video card slot is x8. No big deal, but
at least they could say that.

http://www.nvidia.com/page/gpu_mobo_tech_specs.html

Paul
 
So the Nvidia 7100GS should work no problem? The reason I am asking
is that there was another motherboard with a comparable price tag that
indeed did list 16X. I am doing some video work on it, but if the 8X
isn't going to make a difference with the PCI-E 7100GS, then I won't
worry about it, but if I am going to take a hit with the card, I would
rather swap the motherboards...can't tomorrow, being sunday and all
unfortunately...
 
This is the picture on Newegg. The "slot" is big enough for x16.

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/13-157-099-05.jpg

And the specs are listed on NCIX. But the "x16" number is not shown.

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=19925&vpn=AM2NF6G-VSTA&manufacture=ASRock

This is the manual from Asrock, and I'm beginning to smell a rat.

http://download.asrock.com/manual/AM2NF6G-VSTA.pdf

I have a suspicion that the PCI Express "graphics slot" doesn't
have all 16 lanes wired up. The slot could be x8, because the
manual has some of that "I'm not guilty, your honor" type
lawyer language in it. It says:

"PCIE1 (PCI Express Graphics slot) supports most of the ATI and NVIDIA
graphics cards except some old version ATI graphics cards, such as
ATI X300, X550, X700, and X800 series graphics cards."

OK, and here is the spec. If you look under the column for 6100-405
chipset, the PCI Express video card slot is x8. No big deal, but
at least they could say that.

http://www.nvidia.com/page/gpu_mobo_tech_specs.html

Paul
Click to expand...

Seems the older 6100/6150 motherboards were two chip chipsets. This
new one looks like it's all in one chip. I wonder if the other 8x
is being used for the on board graphics. Don't know that much about
that stuff myself.

The only video cards that would notice the problem would be the top
of the line nvidia 8800 stuff. And it wouldn't be that much of a
hit. Tom's hardware site did a couple of reviews that indicate we
haven't seen yet the top end of what these cards can do due to all
the cpu/chipset hardware bottlenecks. Of course now you'd want to
wait for the replacement version that will do all the H-264 decoding
on the graphics chip a la the new 8600 chips.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2977

Down the line in a couple of years, the 8x only slot will be
undesirable, but hey, that's planned obsolescence for ya.
 
David said:
So the Nvidia 7100GS should work no problem? The reason I am asking
is that there was another motherboard with a comparable price tag that
indeed did list 16X. I am doing some video work on it, but if the 8X
isn't going to make a difference with the PCI-E 7100GS, then I won't
worry about it, but if I am going to take a hit with the card, I would
rather swap the motherboards...can't tomorrow, being sunday and all
unfortunately...
Click to expand...

Well, it won't blow up or anything :-)

Tomshardware did try testing some video cards, with varying numbers
of PCI Express lanes.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/11/22/sli_is_coming/page10.html

I don't know if the PCI Express spec says that cards shall handle
all possible values of power_of_2 lane width or not. (The PCI
Express spec costs money, which is why I don't have a copy.)

a card can work in, and the allowed combinations just throw
away excess lanes. There is nothing in the table that predicts
what happens when a x16 card meets a slot that is wired for x8
(mainly because the standards writers didn't consider how
manufacturers would abuse their design).

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips0456.html

If you have the video card already, and the motherboard is sitting
there, I'd give it a try and see. Most likely it would work, and
there really isn't a reason to toss out the motherboard, as it
will make no difference to the performance of the 7100GS. The
x8 wiring gives 2GB/sec transfer rates, bidirectionally (as there
are TX lanes and RX lanes, so communications are full duplex).
What you've got is roughly equivalent to AGP 8X.

Paul
 
David said:
Ok thanks. I am looking at hopefully equivalent Mobo's :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131014

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131022

When it comes down to it, I am finding it hard to spot differences in
the boards besides the price. Maybe someone else can chime in here on
that?
Click to expand...

All I can suggest, is:

1) Download the user manual from the motherboard manufacturer's web site.
That will give you an idea as to how full featured the board is.
For example, you'd want the ability to change RAM clock speed and
timing values, as a hedge against any problems making the RAM
error free. Some RAM needs a bit more Vdimm to work well.

2) Read the reviews on Newegg. Sometimes you can spot a trend that
would dissuade you from buying. For example, some boards have USB
reliability problems, others have gigabit LAN failures (Attansic
chip), and so on. You have to remember, that some of the reviewers
are noobs, and killed their boards themselves. But that will only
account for part of it.

3) If the manufacturer hosts their own forums, take a look at the
comments there.

http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx?board_id=1&model=M2NPV-VM&SLanguage=en-us

The days of finding a brand and model that are completely trouble
free, are behind us. As the price of these products has dropped,
so has the quality. And that is why I cannot really recommend any
of it without reservation.

Note that there are occasionally reports of graphics problems
with the built-in 6100/6150 type chips. I'm not sure I've seen
similar reports for other types of built-in graphics. And the
symptoms can be quite different in each case. It is strange,
but suggests that whoever Nvidia is using for chip manufacture,
doesn't have a good test strategy for the chips. I would not let
this stop me from buying a board with one of those - what it would
mean to me, is I would be doing 3D graphics tests (3DMark, games)
the first day I got it, to make sure I don't have a lemon. And
that is the way I treat most of the issues you find reported in
reviews. Do your best to concentrate your initial testing efforts,
on the things that are recognized to be issues, so you can
return the product as soon as possible if there are problems.

I noted one comment about the Asrock board, that someone tried
a 7900GS with the AM2NF6G-VSTA, and it didn't work.

"Can't get a 7900GS (gigabyte) to work in this MB. Not only do
I get no display on the PCI-E card, but installing it prevents
on-board from working too. So much for the multi-monitor section
of the manual that says it works with all cards except some
older ATI cards. This is the latest 1.7 bios too."

Good luck,
Paul
 
Ok thanks. I am looking at hopefully equivalent Mobo's :

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131014

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131022

When it comes down to it, I am finding it hard to spot differences in
the boards besides the price. Maybe someone else can chime in here on
that?
Click to expand...

If you're going to be using a video card, I don't see the advantage
of using the 6100/6150/405 chipsets which's main feature is
integrated video.

Purevideo has already introduced new features that aren't supported
on the 6100/6150 so it's not the greatest choice for cheap HDTV
anymore either. I'd go with another chipset if I'm using a video
card, and I'd prefer a 16x option rather than a single 8x or dual 8x
option.

On the other hand, I doubt 8x would hurt the video card you
currently have.
 
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