Graphic Card Buying and Compatibility Advice

[arpit982]

Hey all.. I need a graphics card buying and compatibility advice.
This will be my first graphic card purchase.
My Budget : 5.5k
I am currently looking at HD6670GDDR5

(http://www.flipkart.com/sapphire-radeon-hd-6670-1gb-ddr5-graphics-card/p/itmdfygjystmyqrx?pid=GRCDFYGJGKEGHRDQ&ref=ccd87875-9c46-4f54-89b5-d9daf24576bc)

Now my dilemma..
My PC is old. Its super old. Its so old that I feel like dinosaurs used to game on it.
I was about to make a PC but studies and a very tight budget stopped me from doing so.
But inspite of all I love it

Specs :

Intel Pentium D 925 3.0 GHZ Processor
Intel D945GCCR Motherboard (http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/d945gccr/sb/CS-029314.htm) Here are specs if you want to see what we are dealing with.
2 GB DDR2 RAM.

I will use this card with my current system to get playable frame rates at 1280x1024 resolution for some recent titles.
And Can I? Is the system very shitty or I can use it for latest games?

Why am I not upgrading the rest of the build? Because I have a very busy next year full of studies and won't be able to use a new system that seriously so why not wait?


Now to the point. The PCI-E slot on the motherboard is PCI E Express x16. So I dig up about backward compatibility of 2.0/2.1 cards and was all happy and cool until I read people saying some newer cards don't work with old generation slots (why God why?)

Now I don't want to shell 5-6k on a card only to find its not working. And be stuck up with a useless hardware
I was able to procure a very old 7400GS DDR2 which ran fine on my PC.
The motherboard is around 4-5 years old and the bios is updated to the last 2008 update released by Intel. Unfortunately the change log didn't mention anything to do with PCI Lanes.

The PSU is fine enough 450W and has 25A on 12V rail, I think.

So will there be compatibility issues in buying this card?
Is it a good purchase or can I get something better?
Bottlenecks?
Gaming performance for this configuration?

Thanks to those who read and reply and also to those who don't

I also don't want to hear the truth like PentiumD is ***, buy a new rig. I know its true but the fact is right now this is all I can afford time wise and money wise.

Sorry for long post.

 

[alvine]

get a 7750 if you can. newer pcie is backwards compatible idk where you heard that
you will experience a bottleneck as your cpu is slow but you can counter that by tasking the video more by increasing the video gtraphics settings

 

[maxinexus]

I would suggest at least 7750 if you want to play at 1280x1024 at high settings.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161427

The card is backwards compatible with all pci-e slots

 

[maxinexus]

not all pci-e only pci-ex 16

 

[geofelt]

You can use any card that your 450W psu can support.
Most games are more limited by the graphics card than the cpu.
The stronger your card, the better your FPS/minimum frame rate will be, and/or the more eye candy you can use.
You will likely be limited more by budget than anything else.
Buy the strongest card you feel comfortable paying for.

PCIE-X16 for graphics cards 1/2/3 are all backwards and forwards compatible, and there is very little impact on performance with a mismatch.
Here is a list of psu requirements for various graphics cards.
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

A 6670 is fine.
The newer 28nm based cards(GTX6xx and amd 7xxx) take less power and run cooler. I would look at them first if the price/performance is similar.

 

[arpit982]

Thanks for the helpful and quick replies.
A 7750 is surely a great card but in India it will mean 20$+ over 6670 and I can't shell that more for now.

And I am still concerned over backwards compatibility as I have read people having problems with it. I just don't wanna order online and fine it a waste of money.

How can I check if the specific card will work?

And how to check the space requirements of the card with respect to my cabinet?
Seriously guys I am in a big stuck up here. I want to buy asap

 

[arpit982]

I spent 4 days and countless Google searches and links to find anything I can about D945GCCR mobo specific compatibility, plus any good gfx in my budget I found my problem to be unique as it's an intel board + bios updates were stopped in 2008. I read that pci x16 1.0 having issues start supporting 2.0/1 with bios updates and these came way after 2008.

 

[arpit982]

Best answer selected by arpit982.