I traded a few comments with somebody in another thread about the confusion over PCIe 2.0 x16. Since then I've read a few things about it. I found another forum (via Google) where somebody quoted somebody else during a Q&A or during a press release. Anyways, here's the gist of it:
PCIe 1.0a or 1.1 (I think these are the two) are supposed to support 2.0 cards.
PCIe 2.0 slots support all rearward compatible cards.
However, here's the crutch, the 2.0 doubles the bandwidth the card can use, BUT stipulates that a 2.0 card MUST be able to function with the original bandwidth. This is why 2.0 cards are supposed to work in 1.1 slots.
So you can check your motherboard and there's a chance you can run a 2.0 video card.
You may have problems based on your BIOS, your motherboard chipset, or the physical structure of your PCIe port (mine is shared, is a 4x slot, for example, so I can never run 2.0 cards), so there is still plenty of room for confusion.
However, if you've got the PSU for the new card, and your mobo specs are 1.1 and (I think) 1.0a, you might be able to install one of the new super-cards in 2.0 x16 format.
I didn't see any comparisons on performance 2.0-running-in-1.0 vs 2.0-running-in-2.0. I bet the performance is throttled back noticably.
