Question. Would the GTX 460 get bottlenecked if it was plugged into a 8x pcie? I need to know if I must spend 30 bucks extra to get an SLI mobo that supports two 16x at the same time or just two 8x.

i think it might, check on nvidia.com, they helped me with a similar problem a while back

I'm not an expert, but I read a while ago that if you use an x8 in SLI it doesn't bottleneck because the comunication between cards it's almos only in the SLI Bridge

is the GTX 460 the most advanced card to date? I get confused by these things

GTx 460 is the newest Card from Nvidia, it's slower than the GTx 480 and 470, but faster than the gtx 465. It has 2 versions the 768mb and the 1gb.
It is in my opinion the best Fermi Card, you don't need a colossal PSU, it's better cooled and doesn't produce the same ammount of heat as my oven

[quote]I'm not an expert, but I read a while ago that if you use an x8 in SLI it doesn't bottleneck because the comunication between cards it's almos only in the SLI Bridge[/quote]
The only function the SLI bridge has is to keep the cards in sync. There's minimal data passed through the bridge. All of the GPU processing data is still passed through the PCI bus.

If it's PCI-E 2.0 8x, you might be ok though there's still a fairly high chance it may bottleneck on that much bandwidth. If it's PCI-E 1.1 8x, don't even attempt it.

I would just get the better motherboard. If you do that, your computer will be much more future proof. Im not sure about 8x SLI, but i would just spend the $30 extra for true SLI.

/sigh, funny how nobody knows basic stuff like this.

the answer is no, putting you GPU in the pci-e 2.0 8X slot will not limit the GPU nor will you notice any difference when running sli.

benchmarks show only a 3~5 % performance increase from 8X to 16X.

[quote]/sigh, funny how nobody knows basic stuff like this.

the answer is no, putting you GPU in the pci-e 2.0 8X slot will not limit the GPU nor will you notice any difference when running sli.

benchmarks show only a 3~5 % performance increase from 8X to 16X.[/quote]

So if it wasn't limited by 8x then how the hell would there be an increase in performance on a 16x slot? Funny how common sense can be throw out the window.

[quote]/sigh, funny how nobody knows basic stuff like this.

the answer is no, putting you GPU in the pci-e 2.0 8X slot will not limit the GPU nor will you notice any difference when running sli.

benchmarks show only a 3~5 % performance increase from 8X to 16X.[/quote]
It depends on the GPU, the game, the settings, etc. I've benched a 4870X2 on 8x PCI-E 2.0 and it was severely bottlenecked, though i only took the time to bench it in 3DMark (06+V), it was done at both high and low resolutions and both resulted negatively, accordingly.

Oh, here it is: http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=757266

i wouldnt say it would be massive but it would effect it, its a slower speed so common sense prevails

Flamers

It's not a slower speed, it's a lesser bandwidth.

PCI-e 2.0 8x = 8 lanes of 500MB/s data = http://www.mycrysis.com/forums/4GB/s
PCI-e 1.1 16x = 16 lanes of 250MB/s data = http://www.mycrysis.com/forums/4GB/s

If for 30 bucks more you get 2 16x links then do it. If you do stick with the 8x/8x you probably won't notice much of a difference

I'mma gonna go with the x16

no dfference at all man,even a 480 at x8 loses only 1-3% MAX
460 could prob ron on 2.0 x4 and see no difference