Hey. My name is Mangekyo and I'm fairly new to the community. I thought I start with some activity on the forums, so here's something I wanted to know for a while.

I'm planning on upgrading my CPU in a bit. I'm stuck between waiting for Ivybridge with PCI 3.0 support or getting Sandybridge right now. I've heard PCI 3.0 is 32x, but is it only compatible with PCI 3.0 GPUs? I have a 6950 right now and if I get no improvement I might just get sandybridge instead. D:

Uh.... meow? :3

go for sandybridge - similar performance but cheaper
and between pci 3.0 and 2.0 believe me u won't see a difference

If you do choose to go with Ivy Bridge, the PCI 3.0 is backwards compatible with 2.0 GPUs, but I would still stick with Sandy Bridge, since once Ivy Bridge officially releases all the prices on Sandy Bridge CPUs will probably go down

And while you wait for 3.0 and probably when you get it, there will be something else coming out. Sandy bridge and PCI2 should last you until your next upgrade.

Actually they're saying that its slated release is June 2012. So if you can wait 3 months then wait. 3.0 performance is suppose to be doubled what PCI 2 is. and 3 is backwards compatible with 2. just as 2 was to 1.

If you've got the time and money, then wait but, it'll cost you!

Here's what PCISIG says.

Hmmm.. Might just wait until Ivybridge comes out and there's a price drop on sandybridge. I might put that money toward another 6950 ..