(12-25-2014, 05:01 PM)kandrathe Wrote: My biggest concern was whether the PCIe 3.0 card would perform well in a 2.1 socket. But, there are no issues.
FYI, the 3.0e vid cards came out *before* the motherboards even had that feature available. I had the same questions and found out 3.0e vid cards are indeed compatible with 2.0e slots, but not non-express versions. The difference between a 3.0 and 2.0 vid card is basically doubling of the bandwidth, i.e. faster rendering: PCI-Ex. I couldn't say what the benchmark differences are, but unless you're a masochist for pricey equipment, I doubt the difference would even be noticeable on a current gen setup and I'm plenty happy with my 2.0-PCI-Ex slot.
"The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self." -Albert Einsetin