How do i know the maximum capacity of graphics card my motherboard can handle?

[hiaditya21998]

Hello guys! I just wanted to know the maximum gpu capacity of my motherboard. I have attached a pic in which the model of my mboard is mentioned. Its between the two pci slots. Starting with L. Also, i find it strange that the ddr3 ram slot only supports 1066mhz ram. Each slot has max capacity of 4gb (as per what was shown in siw)
I have borrowed both 1333mhz and 1600mhz ram from friends but none of them worked as the system started making beep-beep sound. And yes, it was definitely properly fixed so thats not an issue.
But my major concern is the gpu right now.
Can my system support this gpu?
https://www.amazon.in/gp/aw/d/B071L9QT35/ref=gbdp_vlo_0c74f5f7_B071L9QT35?ie=UTF8&smid=A3RBXHK5VHQNUA
Thanks for the support...

 

[GizmoMKD]

if your MOBO support: Support PCI Express 2.0 x8 bus interface then you should be fine with that GPU. and check your power supply too...

since that GPU recommends: system power supply requirement: 300W
https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N710D5-2GL#ov

 

[Math Geek]

if your system is new enough to have ddr3, then it can easily support a low powered gt 710

even an older pcie 1.0 slot would be able to handle that card.

 

[smorizio]

if the mb has newish chipset from intel it should run ok. the only issue is some pre built mb have outdated bios that can lock up with newer gpu. if you have a stock mb not one pulled from a dell or hp check to see if you have the newest bios file for it. if not try the gpu if it work fine your good you may have to update your bios.

 

[SkyNetRising]

i find it strange that the ddr3 ram slot only supports 1066mhz ram. Each slot has max capacity of 4gb (as per what was shown in siw)
I have borrowed both 1333mhz and 1600mhz ram from friends but none of them worked as the system started making beep-beep sound.

[strike]Your motherboard supports DDR2 ram only and max capacity is 4GB total (not 4GB per ram slot).[/strike]

 

[hiaditya21998]

Thanks for your answer skynet rising. The info you got from the internet is kinda not correct. It's DDR3 I'm sure about that.

 

[Math Geek]

we don't even know what mobo you have as you have not listed the model or posted a pic so we can tell what it is and what it can do.

my answer is a general one assuming you have ddr3 ram. that's new enough that you should be ok. either way, updating bios file to the newest is a good idea no matter what model mobo it is.

 

[hiaditya21998]

"if your MOBO support: Support PCI Express 2.0 x8 bus interface then you should be fine with that GPU. and check your power supply too...

since that GPU recommends: system power supply requirement: 300W
https://www.gigabyte.com/Graphics-Card/GV-N710D5-2GL#ov”
What's 8 bus interface? Sorry guys but I'm not very well vested with such knowledge yet. Can you tell that from the image I shared??

 

[Math Geek]

that means Pcie version 2.0 with 8 lanes of bandwidth.

you keep saying you shared a pic of the mobo but i don't see one. so i have no clue what mobo you have so can't say for sure. but the slots are backward and forward compatible and the card will not use al that bandwidth. even a version 1.0 slot would be enough for the card to fully run.

 

[hiaditya21998]

I'm so sorry I have a link idk why it isn't there. I'm sharing again.
https://1drv.ms/i/s!Al7cVy2BFpZb1F2ti75FzG_ShBfT

 

[Math Geek]

that's a 2.0 x16 slot. so more than ample for the card.

you can see it above the slot itself. it says "PCIE16X"

the model number is cut off by the cpu cooler but that's ok slot itself gives it away.

i'd go to lenovo and see if they have a bios update for the pc just to be safe. but there should not be any problems. i've got an r9-270 running on an older ddr2 dell board and it did not even give me any issues at all. ran right out of the box.

 

[hiaditya21998]

@math geek, the same model number is written b/w the two PCI slots. Can you tell me why the frequencies above 1066mhz are not supported and the same way ram slots have limitations, will max GPU capacity will have limitation too?
Heres a pic of my psu
https://1drv.ms/i/s!Al7cVy2BFpZb1F7UR8fVicRkmXRc
Its 280W max. Now what?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Thanks for your answer skynet rising. The info you got from the internet is kinda not correct. It's DDR3 I'm sure about that.

Can you show screenshot from CPU-Z memory section?
There are multiple versions of this board:
DDR3:

DDR2:

 

[hiaditya21998]

https://1drv.ms/f/s!Al7cVy2BFpZb1FysgAkc77vs2ziW
Here's the link to the folder. It has both screenshot and full report in .htm format.

 

[Math Geek]

the ram issue is likely a limitation by lenovo. mass produced motherboards are made to just meet the standard they are looking for. they did not intend to sell it with higher end ram so they did not make it supported. very common for pre-build systems. cpu upgrades are usually also highly cut down. saves cost when making the board to only have it support what they are going to put into it. same reason low powered psu's are used. if it only needs 300w, then why spend extra for a 500w unit to put into it.......

this is one of the main arguments in favor of building it yourself. this way you don't run into such artificial limitations.

i'm not worried at all about you using that gpu. it is very low powered and even with the low wattage psu, the gt 710 should be ok. it only needs 20 watts!! the motherboard slot can handle it no problem as well.

 

[hiaditya21998]

But @math geek, you sure about the 20w thing because the recommended wattage is 300w? Im just a bit confused here thats a huge difference. One last unanswered question. Maximum capacity of usable gpu?

 

[hiaditya21998]

I am considering this one for now. https://www.amazon.in/gp/aw/d/B06Y2NRB5S/ref=pd_aw_sbs_147_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=C6MNJJE2GQCMHK39A5D9
But i have read at places about psu blowing up because of power difference? Do i need to worry about that?

 

[SkyNetRising]

GT 710 is not really worth it. Performance is about the same as on integrated gpu.
Consider at least GT 730 (GTX 750 ti would be much better).

 

[Math Geek]

750ti would be nice but now you're really looking at over-taxing that psu.

and the 300w suggestion for the gt 710 is taking the whole system into consideration. that leaves extra power for the cpu, hdd and so on. 300w is about the lowest you'll see suggested since they don't really make smaller wattage psu's for the upgrade market. for instance the 750ti also suggests a 300w psu despite using more than 3 times the power at 60+ watts.

you're psu only has 216w on the 12v rail which is where the power for the gpu comes from. as well as the cpu and other main parts. i'd stay under a 50w card at the most which is roughly a reference 750 (non ti) gpu if you want more performance than a gt 710.

finally, you could actually put just about any gpu into the system you want so long as you have the psu for it. the motherboard itself will easily handle a lot more card than a gt 710. but to really add a good card you will also need to upgrade the psu as it is more a limiting factor than the motherboard is. you could literally drop a new gtx 1080 into it and the motherboard would be able to handle it. your cpu would not be happy about it but the motherboard would not care. just would need a new psu to power the beast

 

[hiaditya21998]

So in easy words, i can use any gpu in my motherboard as long as my pay supports it, and I will also get full performance of the gpu regardless any factor other than the psu. Right?
Like a gtx 1080 would run on full performance, no limitations, as long as it gets the right power support. Right?

 

[Math Geek]

sorry i did not write that very well.

the motherboard would run a 1080 if you could power it but your cpu would likely slow it down and thus it would not get full performance from the system. you want to balance the cpu and gpu as well as possible to ensure neither is holding the other back very much. depending on the game, one or the other will ALWAYS slow the other down. just the way games work. but balancing them out ensures you get a good balance of when it happens and how badly. some games favor the gpu and some favor the cpu. you can google some benchmarks for most games and see which it is for that game.

i don't know the rest of your system specs but i assume it is an older cpu and likely not a strong one, based on it being a lenovo system with a low end mobo. so something like a 1080 would probably be a waste. but with the rest of the system specs it's not hard to figure out how high of a gpu to add in for max system balance.

for instance i have an older system with a q6600 cpu so i went with an r9-270 (roughly a 750ti) as anything better would likely be held back by the cpu a lot. they work well together but i did my homework before buying.

 

[hiaditya21998]

Thanks a lot math geek you have been so supportive!
I just want to run basic games like watch dogs and assassins creed 4 on basic settings. I hope the following gpu should be fine without causing the balancing issue as you said?
https://www.amazon.in/gp/aw/d/B00L61VGPU/ref=pd_gwm_simh_0?pf_rd_p=7874d679-56c8-44c4-9216-5081a331f838&pf_rd_s=blackjack-personal-1&pf_rd_t=Gateway&pf_rd_i=mobile&pf_rd_m=A1VBAL9TL5WCBF&pf_rd_r=JBZAW95DCAMTQYSQB8NS&pd_rd_wg=tRWLV&pd_rd_r=JBZAW95DCAMTQYSQB8NS&pf_rd_r=JBZAW95DCAMTQYSQB8NS&pf_rd_p=7874d679-56c8-44c4-9216-5081a331f838&pd_rd_w=e9j7l&pd_rd_i=B00L61VGPU

 

[Math Geek]

just cause we're there now. what is the rest of your system specs? especially cpu.

may as well finish this right and make sure your cpu will pair well. so what cpu you got?

 

[hiaditya21998]

Well. I have a 2gb ddr3 ram, 1.93 ghz core2duo processor, 500gb hdd. That's it i guess? Detailed information are available in the .htm file of this folder extracted by cpu-z software.
That's it i guess. It was a non assembled Lenovo A72 machine, and the monitor only supports vga. Just required for normal gaming.
https://1drv.ms/f/s!Al7cVy2BFpZb1FysgAkc77vs2ziW

 

[Math Geek]

what i figured really. a 730 or at most a 750 is about as high as i'd go to balance out the cpu as well as possible.

the 730 would probably be a better idea than a 750 due to the weak cpu. you should be able to get 720p at mid settings out of it in general. maybe 900p depending on the game.