'Real World' Performance difference between X8 and X16 PCIe

[indyjones]

Hi All,

Now on my HTPC I have a gigabyte (P45) mainboard with two physical PCIe x16 slots, the thing is one is electronically limited to x8. Now due to the hardware I have to go in there and the case layout it would make sense for the GFX card to go into the bottom slot (its a 9600GT). The question is how much real performance difference will I see? The machine is not used for gaming the most challenging thing for it is decoding video (up to bluray).

Many Thanks

 

[LordOfLA]

x16 electrical is only of benefit to games where huge amounts of data are moving around. for windows/blu-ray x8 electrical is fine.

 

[indyjones]

Thank you