I have a HP Z620 workstation that is still serving all my purposes just fine. It supports PCIe 3.0 x16. I currently run a R9 Nano video card which maxes that out. I am looking at getting a used RX 6600 XT, which runs at PCIe 4.0 x8. Supposedly, this card was designed to physically only support eight lanes because eight lanes on Gen 4.0 is basically the same as sixteen lanes on Gen 3.0. Well, given that my motherboard only supports Gen 3.0, I think this means the "new to me" card would only actually support PCIe 3.0 x8 which is half of what my R9 Nano uses. What I need help with is (1) making sure I am accurate in this assessment and (2) understanding the potential ramifications from a performance perspective. For example, the "new to me" card would have double the RAM and be a lot faster (approximately twice the speed, if using Gen 4.0 x8). However, how would it potentially perform given that it would be limited to Gen 3.0 x8 instead of Gen 4.0 x8?
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Need to set expectations...
- Thread starter Ominous4
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You might want to read TPUs article on exactly that topic. Short version is that the performance of the card isn't high enough to saturate even 3.0x8 in almost all cases:
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Absolutely check out the article @DarkDreams linked, for the most part the differences in performance between 3.0 and 4.0 are effectively neglible. I used to run my 6600 XT in a PCIe 3.0 system, and it did run at PCIe 3.0 x8, as you correctly assessed. I found an old screenshot from GPU-Z that I took:
As you can see, GPU-Z lists it as "PCIe x8 4.0 @ x8 3.0". I cannot say I noticed any performance issues that I would've tallied up to a lack of PCIe bandwidth.
If anything, a more pressing concern may be whether your HP motherboard will accept a RDNA 2 card. I've had times in the past where Dell and HP prebuilts would only accept GPUs from around their own age, anything too new and they simply wouldn't recognize the device. That of course depends on the age/generation of your HP workstation.
As you can see, GPU-Z lists it as "PCIe x8 4.0 @ x8 3.0". I cannot say I noticed any performance issues that I would've tallied up to a lack of PCIe bandwidth.
If anything, a more pressing concern may be whether your HP motherboard will accept a RDNA 2 card. I've had times in the past where Dell and HP prebuilts would only accept GPUs from around their own age, anything too new and they simply wouldn't recognize the device. That of course depends on the age/generation of your HP workstation.
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As others mentioned I wouldn't worry about PCIe 4.0 card into PCIe 3.0 slot.
My mobo is PCIe 3.0 and I have RTX A2000, which is a PCie 4.0 card.....zero issues with it.
What you should really check out is: 1.) whether the PSU in your workstation can handle the new card and 2.) as @Palindrome said, whether your BIOS/ MB will accept the new card.
I don't think you will have problems with the RX6600, it's TDP is 132W and your current card is rated @175W, so you can handle the new card.
When new, this machine was sold with the following GPUs:
Professional 2D: NVIDIA NVS 300, NVIDIA NVS 310,** NVIDIA Quadro NVS 450, AMD FireProTM 2270 Entry 3D: NVIDIA Quadro 410,** NVIDIA Quadro 600, AMD FireProTM V3900, AMD FireProTM V4900 Mid-range 3D: NVIDIA Quadro 2000, AMD FireProTM V5900 High-end 3D: NVIDIA Quadro 4000, AMD FireProTM V7900, NVIDIA Quadro 5000, NVIDIA Quadro 6000, NVIDIA Tesla C2075
My mobo is PCIe 3.0 and I have RTX A2000, which is a PCie 4.0 card.....zero issues with it.
What you should really check out is: 1.) whether the PSU in your workstation can handle the new card and 2.) as @Palindrome said, whether your BIOS/ MB will accept the new card.
I don't think you will have problems with the RX6600, it's TDP is 132W and your current card is rated @175W, so you can handle the new card.
When new, this machine was sold with the following GPUs:
Professional 2D: NVIDIA NVS 300, NVIDIA NVS 310,** NVIDIA Quadro NVS 450, AMD FireProTM 2270 Entry 3D: NVIDIA Quadro 410,** NVIDIA Quadro 600, AMD FireProTM V3900, AMD FireProTM V4900 Mid-range 3D: NVIDIA Quadro 2000, AMD FireProTM V5900 High-end 3D: NVIDIA Quadro 4000, AMD FireProTM V7900, NVIDIA Quadro 5000, NVIDIA Quadro 6000, NVIDIA Tesla C2075