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PCI Express 3.0 vs. 2.0: Is There a Gaming Performance Gain?

We tested the gaming performance comparing the PCI Express 3.0 and PCI Express 2.0 connections for the video card. May it affect the actual performance? Check it out what we found!

Home » PCI Express 3.0 vs. 2.0: Is There a Gaming Performance Gain?

3DMark

Contents

  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. How We Tested
  • 3. 3DMark
  • 4. Gaming Performance
  • 5. Conclusions

3DMark is a program with a set of several 3D benchmarks. Fire Strike benchmark measures DirectX 11 performance and is targeted to high-end gaming computers. Sky Diver also measures DirectX 11 performance and is aimed at average computers. The Cloud Gate benchmark measures DirectX 10 performance. The Ice Storm measures DirectX 9 performance and is targeted to entry-level computers, so we did not include it on our comparison.

Keep in mind that we used a GeForce GTX 980 Ti video card on all tests.

We ran every benchmark three times, and each number in the graphs is the arithmetical mean between the obtained scores.

PCI Express 3.0 vs. 2.0

On Fire Strike, the performance was the same on all the configurations.

PCI Express 3.0 vs. 2.0

On Sky Diver, there was no difference between the PCI Express 3.0 x16 and PCI Express 2.0 x16 benchmarks. On the other hand, on the test using PCI Express 3.0 x4, the performance was 5.5% below the first test.

PCI Express 3.0 vs. 2.0

On the Cloud Gate benchmark, there was also no difference between PCI Express 2.0 and 3.0, but the test using PCI Express 3.0 x4 led to a 7.9% lower performance.

Continue: Gaming Performance

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For Performance

  • PCI Express 3.0 vs. 2.0: Is There a Gaming Performance Gain?
  • Does dual-channel memory make difference on integrated video performance?
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Everything you need to know

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