GTX 980 Compatibility with Gigabyte GA-990FXA-D3 Motherboard

[HDCerberus]

Hey,

So, I'm upgrading my PC for use with a HTC Vive, and as a result, I need to upgrade my GPU (My CPU is barely under the recommended specs, but seems to be Green when using compatibility checkers, so GPU it is).

My motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-990FXA-D3, AMD 980FX, AM3 +, ATX which seems to be a more unusual board (thus I have difficulty finding other users). I'm currently running a modest Gainward GeForce GTX 660 Golden Sample, and I'm one click away from ordering a MSI NVIDIA GTX 980 Gaming Graphics Card.

I'm 99.9% sure I won't have any issues with this card on this board, but I was hoping someone could confirm that I've not overlooked anything, and that I shouldn't have any problems fitting it etc (I'm paranoid about the 980s requirement for '2 PCI-e ports with 8 slots each.').

As for other specs, I have a 700 Watt power supply, so I should be good there.

As a side question, my CPU is a AMD FX-6200, which seems to be the absolute bare minimum I can get away with on the Vive (based on some official compatibility checkers), but I'm just wondering will my CPU limit the benefit I'll get out of the GPU.

Thanks!

 

[junkeymonkey]

''I'm 99.9% sure I won't have any issues with this card on this board''

I would think the same and don't think I would have a issue slapping one in but with any hardware like you say theres all ways that .1% of bad luck or getting the lemon that's a risk we all take all the time

 

[HDCerberus]

''I'm 99.9% sure I won't have any issues with this card on this board''

I would think the same and don't think I would have a issue slapping one in but with any hardware like you say theres all ways that .1% of bad luck or getting the lemon that's a risk we all take all the time

Hi junkeymonkey,

Thanks for your response. I'm not really talking about junk GPUs or getting a bad batch though, I'm more concerned with buying it and finding it doesn't fit in the motherboard. Do you think I have the requisite slots for it?

 

[junkeymonkey]

yes yopur boards slots are fine and accept modern gpu's no problem

'' 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1, PCIEX16_2) (Note 3)''

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3900#sp

your board supports NVidia sli as well so you could do 2 of them

 

[Samazing]

''I'm 99.9% sure I won't have any issues with this card on this board''

I would think the same and don't think I would have a issue slapping one in but with any hardware like you say theres all ways that .1% of bad luck or getting the lemon that's a risk we all take all the time

Hi junkeymonkey,

Thanks for your response. I'm not really talking about junk GPUs or getting a bad batch though, I'm more concerned with buying it and finding it doesn't fit in the motherboard. Do you think I have the requisite slots for it?

Well there is a possiblity that your cpu will bottleneck the gpu cause 980 is a beast..... Your motherboard is compatible with the gpu.... No problem there.

 

[migronesien]

You board supports any GPU out there but it will suffer from heavy CPU bottleneck. Your CPU won't even run a 970 at full potential. I'd either upgrade your CPU first or go for a 970 and see how much you can get out of it with a lot CPU overclock.
Even FX-6300s need a lot of OC to run a 970 at 100%.

 

[junkeymonkey]

I want to go back and ask if you concerned with the card fittin the board -there no issue there - or concerned how it will fit in your case overall ??

 

[Rookie_MIB]

Going to agree that the 980 will be just fine on your motherboard. I'm also going to agree that the FX-6200 is going to be the bottleneck in your system. I'd search around on eBay for a nice Phenom II six core Black Edition or a FX-8xxx series. Either of those would be preferable to the FX-6xxx series

 

[junkeymonkey]

don't get scared a ''lesser '' chip gives lesser performance 80% of games run off the gpu and the cpu may not be a major factor - you could oc the chip some and be fine for what it is my older fx6100 runs a 280x nice

if you want the card get it run it and enjoy it .. I fell you will find it was a nice investment that you can ''move up '' when needed

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm11/9885698

 

[HDCerberus]

yes yopur boards slots are fine and accept modern gpu's no problem

'' 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1, PCIEX16_2) (Note 3)''

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3900#sp

your board supports NVidia sli as well so you could do 2 of them

Thanks, you've been great!

 

[junkeymonkey]

look them over like yours and see some nice scores [I think ]

http://www.3dmark.com/fs/2875709