PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 - Everything you Need to Know As Fast As Possible

PCIe compatibility and performance generates a LOT of confusion. In about 2 minutes we'll tell you everything you need to know!.
FORUM LINK: linustechtips.c...

[@SqawlinDog]

8 year old video and I'm still using it to learn. Thanks Linus Media Group.

[@mhanlay2391]

yep

[@dumplingsuwu6691]

Yeah it's fun n weird 😂

[@BiggestMessiFan12334]

No thank you

[@futoman]

10 yaers for me now

[@Henson_76]

I'm here at 2024 😂 🎉 trying to learn for my first PC build 🥇

[@eduardorojas881]

10 year old video and I'm still using it to learn. Thanks Linus from the past!!

[@mevans4953]

10 years ago wow

[@NerdNimation1]

11 now

[@fridaycaliforniaa236]

11 now ^^ Looks like YT likes to submit old videos sometimes ^^

[@feynstein1004]

While it was a good explanation, many many things were left out. I had to watch like, 10 other videos to understand the terms. I'm leaving this explanation for other people like me: Firstly, PCI stands for Peripheral Component Interconnect A peripheral is anything that isn't part of the core computing process i.e. secondary (eg keyboard, mouse, GPU, LAN). PCI is thus an interface for these accessories to connect to the motherboard. While PCI was first introduced in 1992, because its speed is inherently limited (because of how the technology works), it was replaced by the PCI express (abbr PCIe) in 2004. Basically, PCIe >>>>> PCI. Now for the numbers. There are 5 types of PCIe slots/cards. They are: 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x and 16x. The numbers on these correspond to the number of lanes on the slot/card. What's a lane? A lane, like that for vehicles, is a path for data to travel. So a 1x card/slot has just one lane while a 2x has 2, a 4x has 4 and so on. And as you can imagine, doubling the number of lanes doubles the data transfer speed. Which brings us to generations As of writing this comment, there are 4 generations of PCIe: 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0. For our purposes, the only difference between the generations is that the data transfer rate in each lane doubles with each successive generation. In PCIe 1.0, each lane supports upto 250 MB/s -> So if you had a PCIe 1.0 4x card/slot, the data transfer rate would be 4*250 MB/s = 1 GB/s In PCIe 2.0, each lane supports upto 500 MB/s -> So if you had a PCIe 2.0 4x card/slot, the data transfer rate would be 4*500 MB/s = 2 GB/s In PCIe 3.0, each lane supports upto 1 GB/s In PCIe 4.0, each lane supports upto 2 GB/s Hope this helps :)

[@vmonsieur]

Feynstein 100 wow thank you for that. It helps a noobie like me alot!

[@shuffy7243]

Thanks for this comprehensive explanation! Helped a lot :)

[@romualdomariano1457]

So, when we talk about PCI Express, I really didn't get what that expansion slot is. Do you slot in the expansion slot in order for some peripheral devices work and Jack it into? Does video card named PCI Express too? I'm confused 😓😫

[@jenniferwood4916]

You are a life saver, thanks for this it definitely makes this video more clear

[@suspiciousafternoon]

Excellent

[@_CapRecon_]

how he did not drop the motherboard is beyond me.

[@Chaosoniclov]

0:46 Luke's Reflection. :DDDD

[@djkingspindoc]

I'm the only Chaos . How'd you pull that off?

[@MichaelReznoR]

​@@djkingspindoc This is only a "nickname". The real username of your channel is coded as "UCOVV0HXGxPzOrYAa7NwgFAg" and his real username of his channel is "UC5Ui6-EuZ6kdw-uE9qU8LnQ". That's why they are unique on youtube.

[@omokok1877]

@@MichaelReznoR you missed the joke.

[@MrC77]

That Slick.

[@XRFusion]

Michael ReznoR wooosh

[@obitoe3766]

Plugged my potato into the pci slot. Running crysis 3 on max settings hitting 144 fps

[@tristannolan1]

is that a sweet potato? whats the temps like?

[@MERCENARYTAO1]

4k res?

[@baconofthedarkside]

Can you wrap it in bacon??? It will make it at least 10x faster you know.

[@zayg6626]

BaconOfTheDarkSide Bacon makes everything better.

[@artyfly100]

meh my apple barely does 40 fps on medium :(

[@RomieJayEqueGIpsyche]

so lesson learned. always go for the latest MOBO, but error 404: money not found.

[@brandonHines76]

not really the pci-e gens boost in speed are pointless, its like a 1% gain and in some cases for pci x16 2.0 will run faster. not to mention you have to force enable nvidia cards to run 3.0.

[@SheepFricker]

Loll

[@adityarajkhowalama]

That's the story of most out lives

[@thatguyalex2835]

@@brandonHines76 How is this speed measured (GB/s, GHz, or FLOPs)? I don't build PCs, but I am fascinated in this technology, since some of my friends have built a PC, or have siblings who build PCs. FLOPs are a useless measurement, but I love them nonetheless. The world's fastest supercomputer from 1998-2003 has the same flops as modern high end GPU (1.0 to 10 TeraFLOPS)

[@Anthony.462]

Thanks linus.. cleared up alot of things for me

[@GreyhatInfiltrator]

+Anthony H Agreed, I've always been confused with the PCI express slots. This video certainly helped me, understand it better. Thanks Linus.

[@mvk9999]

I love to rewatch his old videos. I first subscribed to him when he had 10 videos and now he has 200+. Fascinating how time flies and quality changes.

[@nqtural1322]

If only you knew... 6 years later and we're approaching 4 million...

[@Moehasn02]

0:47 lmfaoo Luke?

[@yaltschuler]

LOL

[@Alexpc1276]

kek, thats luke at 0:47

[@khaled.aldajani]

HAHAHAHAHAHAH

[@Mosito00]

OMFG HAHAHAHHAHAHA

[@selim63389]

XD LTT MUST THAT MAKE OSTEN!

[@liangfire88]

Thanks. This really helps a lot, and saying it as fast as possible helps too! It's really boring to to have to shift through so many online websites that are saturated with all kinds of information, with no visual aid, yet this substitutes all of that, and makes it quick and informative! Please keep doing more videos

[@Ryukachoo]

1:12 WHAT THE SLOTS ARE ADAPTABLE I HAD NO IDEA THANK YOU LINUS

[@benschlesinger1754]

Do u know if a wifi card will work in the gpu slot?

[@zeroth404]

This was a fantastic and thorough explanation. Answered a ton of questions I had! Short, concise, no blabber, just straight to the point.

[@margimargs]

Excellent explanation! I would have spent so much time going over and over my study material just to wrap my brain around this. This helped so much!

[@wyzemann]

Great topic, once again Linus has made sense of something so ubiquitous, yet always mystifying. You certainly deserve the title of KING OF KZbin TECH!

[@VicodinElmo]

I can see Luke's face in the reflection of the sound card. Looks pretty evil.

[@dtrelzmusic]

wow, I'm here in 2019 and I'm like woah

[@sannidhyabalkote9536]

Now that pcie express 4.0 KZbin recommends this

[@dougstiers6154]

That's all I needed to know in one simple video. I don't build very often but when I do this has always been somewhat confusing for me. You hit this one out of the park. Thank you.

[@vapenation7061]

Thanks for watching Techquickie. Click the subscribe button, then enable notifications with the bell icon, so you won't miss any further videos!

[@TwistedApex]

Thanks bro

[@Imbacore01]

They're upwards compatible! 0_0 I learned something new today! Liked!

[@DrNooberious]

+Imbacore If it didn't, I would be in some serious crap. xD

[@Imbacore01]

Dr Nooberious Haha! Thanks for the confirmation. My mobo has run out of PCI x1 slots so I previously thought I couldn't install a sound card. :D

[@DrNooberious]

lol

[@Jakeski87]

Awesome. I wasn't aware I could use the smaller ones in a pinch.

[@BlondeNordic]

Linus always has really good tips and considering that my tension span is like 0 sometimes I can still watch the vids all the way through because they are NOT boring :D

[@ludusG]

10 years later and now I feel informed, thank you linus 👌❤️

[@elmahdiouboubker3031]

Man what ever you need ... Linus will always have you covered with a vid

[@juubes5557]

Yes! I found another video from A FAP series! Well... That sounded better in my head...

[@ConceptWiseAsiaCWATV]

Watching in 2019. Who needs a college course when you got Linus. :-)

[@chaincyclist2736]

Now that I have medicine for my ADHD this was actually much easier to understand than the first time I watched it without Adderall.

[@josephmaxwell7826]

Wow, don't usually comment on these. That was a super brief explanation that I totally understood without tuning all the way in. Thanks.

[@terabytekiller528]

bet you didnt think that 7 yrs after this video posted.. i could still use it as a link to send, to have you explain something.. i didnt want to take the time to type out and explain myself, lol, Thanks Past Linus... your really on the ball buddy:)

[@ZAR556]

Thanks to AMD PCIE 4.0 is here

[@jolanpiep]

OMFG I hear so many of the same questions: Can I run second gen in third? Can I run third gen in second? YES YOU FREAKING CAN! IT IS SAID IN THE VIDEO! Only your bandwidth will be restricted to the lower of the two.

[@garymcwilliams2001]

Thank god I was quite confused I got a new graphics card coming tomorrow but its3.0 and my motherboard has 2.0 so thanks

[@rfldss89]

jolanpiep yeah and for most graphics cards doesn't make a difference.

[@princepotato9138]

I LOVE U

[@agoodsheperd880]

PRINCE POTATO How about gen 1 card in a gen 3 slot? Will the gen 3 slot downclock to gen1 speeds?

[@nathanielisrael2490]

@@agoodsheperd880 yes

[@Ud4Y999]

Am planning to buy a EVGA GTX 750Ti Sc (PCIe v3.0 x 16) but my mobo have a PCIe v2.0 x 16 slot. My question is will it work? Performance losses?

[@timothyjn100]

Ud4Y it will probably work try and google it

[@tmaxmaxphotography3325]

It will work but... performance loss. Maybe not very much. On a test with GTX 1080, there was a difference of maximum 5-10 FPS. Make sure the PCI 2.0 is x16, otherwse it will not work.

[@trent6426]

11 year old video and I'm still using it to learn. Thanks Past Linus!

[@sombagonkaron]

@linustechtips keep up these videos because they really help us out alot. Even though I have built over 10 custom pc's there are still things I dont know and these quickies are awesome.

[@mokmokfish2910]

7 years be flying by like:

[@mitsakoskun]

plus you need a cpu that support's PCIe 3.0 (i think you forgot that) *CPU That support PCIe 3.0 are all the cpu after the 2nd gen of intel's cpu ( no idea about amd)

[@gamerdude1023]

mitsakos-kun Last i knew, current CPU's by AMD still do not have support for PCI 3.0, even though they make a PCI 3.0 GPU, the new AM4 CPU's (with DDR4 support as well) will have PCI 3.0 support

[@mitsakoskun]

Dale Nichols Nice job amd making your cpus have pci 3.0 while intel making there new skylake having pci 4.0 support

[@gamerdude1023]

well there is one, www.asus.com/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH_990FXGEN3_R20/ so far the only AMD motherboard with support for PCI-e 3.0, there is support on the CPU, just motherboard manufacturers don't make AMD ones with 3.0 on it, only high priced ones

[@_KnZed_]

his body movements is freaking me out.

[@LiminalLo-fi]

look he is sooo young!!!! never used more than one pci express now expanding to pcie ssd this video was a great bit of info I have never needed until now!!!

[@rosshalz]

First marques.. Now Linus. Can't wait for all the tech tubers old videos to popup in my recommend

[@themormonologist3425]

Is it just me or does Linus look really stoned in this video?

[@xXConsmariosXx]

he turned back and saw the white background

[@HBMHD]

I have a noob question, hoping anyone here knows for sure, I have a ASUS M5A97 motherboard, and an old Radeon HD 6850 GPU, if I want to upgrade the GPU, having a R9 290 or a GTX 980 in mind (whichever would fit better with my AMD FX-8350 processor), will I have to change the motherboard as well? Or I'll be good to go? I understand there's R9 290 that are PCI-e 2.0 (or all they work on PCI-e 2.0?), but I want to be sure 'cause noob.

[@71ruinsigil]

If you want the expected performance of the R9 280 or GTX 980, you have to get a new motherboard that supports PCIe 3.0 x16 slots. Running on a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot is ok, but like in the video, performance is dropped by half.

[@HBMHD]

71ruinsigil Yeah, that was what I was afraid of... They say built desktop PCs are not as expensive as everyone thinks, but goddamn it still is...

[@HBMHD]

Rolf Jene I don't see the need to use those words, but alright. GPUs age often, you don't need a GTX 980 to play games in Ultra? You may be surprised in the next months then, VXGI is and will be only available in the newest gen's GPUs (and is something everyone should really check out), also, comparing benchmarking results is the definitive way to prove which GPU is stronger and when, have you seen the results for all these GPUs? DirectX11 works like crap in the 7xx series compared to the 9xx, same thing with Radeon's older GPUs compared to R9 2xx series (it's obvious, isn't? They're newer). Do you think developers will keep this DIrectX9 and DirectX10 support in the next years? Any older GPU will age very quickly in the next months so I'm thinking mostly about the near future gaming because wasting money in the awakening of a new generation in gaming on an older GPU seems stupid to me.

[@HBMHD]

GiggleHz Yeah I actually saw a purtuguese (or br?) vdeo that showed the performance on both, PCIe 2.0 is like 1-3 fps slower in 3D Mark, not too much, but I'm still worried that that would change in future games; though, I won't buy a new mobo, that's for sure, I'll go with PCIe 2.0 for now :3

[@Rudenbehr]

none cuz the amd will bottle neck them all.

[@FloofyTanker]

Are you Linus Tech Tips? You sound like him and look like him.

[@oh3831]

Yes this is their channel

[@FloofyTanker]

Orange Hachet Thank you for the reply! Appreciated it!

[@oh3831]

Justin Lee Sabio no problem

[@JoshuaNicoll]

ha, although Linux and Mac both share the unix family line, it's kinda true.

[@jimmydang2767]

Spent my morning reading confusing articles to understand it and stumbled by this video that did it for me in 3 mins.

[@MintW7]

I'm watching this in 2021 and It's still helpful

[@77794471]

Wait what would happen if you put a pcie 3.0 gpu in a pcie 2.0 slot?

[@TOXICTRAV117Travis]

It would destroy it

[@Narolfs]

It shouldn't "destroy" the PCIe 3.0 GPU but rather performance just wouldn't be at maximum capacity. This situation is called "bottle-necking" if I'm not mistaken. If I'm understanding everything correctly, less bandwidth will be going to your graphics card because the 2.0 slot the previous generation or just isn't as current as the GPU.

[@TOXICTRAV117Travis]

Yeah I was only kidding

[@77794471]

Narolfs from a read its very slight, so i should be good thanks.

[@LimitedWard]

From what I've read, it actually wouldn't affect the performance that much (if at all). There is very little (if any) discernible difference between modern GPUs running in x16 vs x8 slots in gen 3, and an x8 gen 3 slot is equivalent in bandwidth to a x16 gen 2 slot. Thus you can conclude that a modern GPU would not be affected if you used an x16 gen 2 PCIe slot.

[@io5362]

Young Linux found

[@amyu98]

2:53 wtff

[@RedAlert3Uprising]

Its been 5 years and its time to see his expression again😃

[@pranitp.29]

Lmao

[@gonzostwin1]

whenever I feel bad about myself I watch this video because there's no thing in this world that makes me feel happier than watching someone explain this and to do it within a video format

[@petergodbold7600]

this guy is good. He delivers just the facts... quickly... very important these days... you won't have to turn him off mid video because you can't take it anymore.. Bonus.. and thank you

[@daviesjack12]

hahahahahah pause at 2:54 or 2:53 hhahhahaha

[@thathergaming]

haha

[@MrBmxerFTW]

Most use tech video I have watched in a long time

[@nimarus3118]

So happy I saw this video. The last time I added cards to my computer was during the PCI and AGP days. I picked up a 4-port USB3.0 PCI Express card, not realizing there was 1x, 4x, ect. I thought I got the wrong kind of card, but realized it would fit in the larger slot I had available.

[@kalamity273]

Wow! That was everything I needed to know really fast!!! I was a step behind you the entire way, but by the time I formulated questions you provided an answer. Thanks!

[@loganpennington9104]

Thank you... I was like “HOW DO I KNOW IF THIS IS COMPATIBLE!?!!?!?” Practically dying of stress. And that’s why i subscribed.

[@CompsMaster]

Hi from the Soviet Russia! ;))) Some videocards with the tire PCI Express 3.0 (for example ASUS R7260X-DC2OC-1GD5) not correctly work in the slot of PCI Express 1.0 So not everything is so simple...

[@JwayT]

Yes it is, get a motherboard with a PCIE 3.0 gen slot and put it into that. For example if you have a GPU that requires a PCIE 3.0 16x slot then you put it into that slot for maximum performance, anything lower will bottleneck it.

[@stopaskingmeformynameonyou198]

WayT101 Further, if you bottleneck any card (video included) to severely it will not work at all. Hence the Russian suggesting that his PCIe3.0 not working in a PCIe1.0. That video card needs every bit of a 2GB/s bandwidth to perform as intended. Linus said it will fit "and work" at the lower speed but if the lower speed isn't enough for the card to perform even basic functions your computer will probably still recognize it's connected but not be able to do anything with it.

[@prayagraj999]

Wol Wol you play too much of call of duty games

[@IronPandaCore]

You are the best. I have needed to learn more about the computers we use to make videos and stream. :D keep doin what you're doin.

[@NishantKalra]

I am watching this video in 2022 and it is still helping me!

[@Snarglefarg]

Very helpful in getting me up to speed on a topic I haven't followed in about 8 years.

[@_oriTech_]

thx alot.... searched very long for the infos u get in this video. so thx for this! greetings from germany!

[@shawnbates1965]

I cant tell you how much your videos help me with my computer questions. Thanks

[@relaxingmeditationmusic2295]

2020 still looking good for Linus and team.

[@wdkaye]

"1x... 4x... 8x... and 16x" (*huge lightbulb moment*) Thanks, this video is very to-the-point.

[@snipermagoo]

Great. You explained it. Having spent the last 2 hours looking up related information, that was actually an achievement, because I've not seen anyone else manage it. Now I can buy stuff with peace of mind.

[@Yuksporite]

I don't like your comedy at times, but this channel is SUPER helpful thank you so much.

[@Selena-ee6ch]

this guy is the only reason im going to pass my comp tia exam

[@yougerloger6824]

that was one of the best and fastest explanations I have seen thanks a lot

[@ngebajak]

Never understood PCI-E thing, until I saw this video, appreciated a lot.

[@SolusD]

THANK YOU! I was searching all over the web trying to figure this out. You made it simple to understand, and saved me from buying a VERY inferior product!

[@JazzBarista]

That was a lot more information than I was expecting. That really was a quickie!

[@johnyabraham9307]

you’ve come a long way linus 🙂

[@user_8878]

Lmao why am i watching this

[@winger84a]

Excellent, quick explanation. Very much appreciated

[@huaxzhang]

Very concise; no useless history. Very good.

[@aahr3sss928]

The camera guy's face at 0:46 :D :D perfect, thanks Techquickie!

[@uuu12343]

Linus, I just got a literal advertisement from you reviewing pulseaway..before this video, and genuinely thought it was a real advert as part of your videos lmao

[@zoezebra4013]

ahh that was super useful, I built my last PC 15 years ago, PCI and AGP was the last I used (anyone remember ISA?) and haven't touched hardware since - now I know what PCIe is in all those specs today! EDIT: but I still need to roll forward 10 years! haha

[@jtadevich]

I remember ISA. In fact, my dad was holding onto a very taaaaalll tower with ISA slots until it was tossed around by a tornado here in AZ just last year. We could finally dump the thing.

[@Chillzone420]

i just wanted to upgrade my pc. now im addicted to linus and his awesome videos

[@fidgetspinner1403]

Thanks for the great video. I can imagine the amount of work that goes into each one. Very much appreciated.

[@Drsuds]

damn, you were 10 years younger here and this is still relevant.

[@mytruckinlifeace4047]

Dude your video's are great I've learned a bunch. I had my gtx 970 running on PCIe x4 slot and I was getting very bad performance. I moved it to the x16 slot and now have very consistent frame rates.

[@ultraali453]

Just learned this. Thank you Linus and Co

[@Avocado.777]

2:54 when you go through the door and everyone's there at your surprise party

[@VermaRajinder]

I will look you up when ever I have a problem !!! Thanks !!!!

[@liranziv]

you are one of that people that I watch in half time speed as oppose to many others where I make it X2 faster. Thanks !

[@MaximMai]

A very informative and yet detailed explanation, as always.

[@SouthCaliDreams]

hi. with msi z370 gaming pro carbon, which slot i have to put gtx 1080 ?

[@SumedhaManabaranaKandy]

Hi TechQuickie, thanks for your short but imformative video about PCI. You did it well. (I really appreciate your presentation style.) 💓🙏🙏🙏 -------------------------------------------------------- Aw... I was wondering why you're looking so young today... and then I found that you had done this video 7 years ago. Time travel.. 💓✍️♦️👍

[@StevenMcFlyJunior]

You are fast as hell talking but completely detailed! Huzzah!

[@danialbrown4417]

I love linus and everything about linus, even the earrings.

[@TheJackel410]

I've been freaking out all day because I thought that the PCI on the graphics card had to match exactly with the motherboard. I recently heard on a forum that it doesn't matter, but performance will be limited. I instantly found your video, and only muttered the words I am now praising..."Linus, please save me."

[@LSAgates]

Thank you! I love coming upon the video that answers my questions!

[@blackboard212]

I like that u make these it's nice for quick info when u don't wanna go on Google hehe

[@RafaelFreitasPizza]

Awesome! Quick, clear & well-spoken ! Maybe some visual resource when u talk about generations, x16 4.0 x4 and all of those terms would help you to gather even more people aroud your channel.

[@thaik56]

So basically what I have to remember is: 1X time 1.0 = 250MB per second The rest is just a matter of multiplying. Thanks for clearing that up!

[@mattgb666]

Awesome video. Straight to the point and answered a bunch of questions I had!

[@benmustafa6839]

Thanks this has made things much clearer!

[@truthofgod1]

Thanks for the information. I plan to buy a PCIe 3.0 video card and only have a v2.0 slot, so it will work, only with slightly reduced performance which is fine until I can upgrade my motherboard.

[@shopnowak4640]

I really needed the information you presented here. Thanks!

[@JavierChaparroM]

the young and full of innocence Linus :0!

[@Techtips200]

best channel to learn computer hardware...

[@someguy2707]

This was a big help. Thanks.

[@jackychongcm]

Awesome video. Thanks. Caught up a few years worth of information in a few minutes!