Datapath VisionRGB Capture Cards

[nmalinoski]

There didn't seem to already be a unified thread for the Datapath Vision RGB E1/E1s/E2s, so here we go.

To start, I've been planning some new internals for my main desktop, and it seems most of the current AM4 B550/X570 motherboards (at least the ones that don't cost $250~$400) are limited to two x16 PCI-e slots (Seems to be mostly x16/x4 rather than the x8/x8 you could get with X470) with perhaps a smattering of PCI-e x1 slots (Open-ended x1 seems to be the trend now). I'm expecting my GPU, my VisionRGB E1s, a 10G NIC, and a sound card (TOSLINK input).

If the GPU takes the primary x16 slot with 16 or 8 lanes (depending on the motherboard) and the 10G NIC gets the second x16 slot with 4 lanes (As far as I can tell, no PCI-e 4.0 x1 10G NICs yet), and the sound card is x1 anyway. That would leave the x4 E1s with just an open-ended x1 slot.

I did some digging earlier: according to HWiNFO, the E1s is a PCI-X device mated to a PCI-e to PCI-X bridge. The PCI-X part reportedly runs at 266MHz, although the bridge reports that part running at 133MHz; and the PCI-e side of the bridge is PCI-e 1.1, with a max width of x4, but it's only active at x1. I ran both HDMI (well, DVI) and analogue YPbPr captures while rescanning with HWiNFO, and it didn't seem to budge past x1.

Additionally, Datapath's datasheet for the E1s says it won't use more than 650MB/s bandwidth.

So, if the E1s is effectively only running at PCI-e 1.1 x1, it should work fine in an x1 slot, yes?

I would test this myself, but I only have older equipment at the moment--nothing with an open-ended x1 slot. Is anyone equipped to test this?

[Austin]

I have an older x370-based motherboard and had to put my E1S in a x4 slot. Couldn't get it to work in my x1 slots. My motherboard has an issue where populating the x8 and x4 slots pretty much disables x1 slot support, even after tweaking BIOS settings. Since the DP card had to go in the x4 slot, I had to put my Elgato card (used for modern stuff and my upscaler) in the x8 slot and I had to remove my sound card and enable onboard audio because it wouldn't be recognized in any x1 slot afterwards. Such a pain in the ass. Sacrifices had to be made I guess, heh.

[Elrinth]

I had to remove mine cause I needed another 1TB M2 disk in my computer... Which is already almost full.
Will maybe put it into my other computer. Barely using it anyways.