Is my motherboard compatible?

[Cuhlt]

Hey everyone I have a question and I'm hoping you guys can answer it.
So I'll just list out my specs as it is right here (The ones I think you guys need)
Intel i5-2500k
Asus p8h61-m lx2
So my main concern is my motherboard compatible with a GTX 970? I also want to SLI 2 970's soon so would my best bet be to buy a new motherboard or can it handle one at all, or even 2? Thanks and if I need a new one list some good ones that can handle SLI 970's. Thanks :^)

 

[Tradesman1]

Yep for SLI will need a new mobo, would look at the ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 - your current mobo only has a single PCI-E 2 slot

 

[delaro]

1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 so yes, you wouldn't make full use of the card but it would work.

 

[iron8orn]

I would say to pick up 1 970 for now and see how it goes.. will be a great gaming rig.

 

[Cuhlt]

Yep for SLI will need a new mobo, would look at the ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 - your current mobo only has a single PCI-E 2 slot

There are a lot of bad reviews on Newegg, maybe I'm looking at the wrong board, is it possible you could try to send a link to the right one just in case I'm looking at something different?

 

[delaro]

ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 is a decent low cost board, most of the reported RMA's are user goof ups and initial failures. It is a still a solid board.

 

[Cuhlt]

1 x PCIe 2.0 x16 so yes, you wouldn't make full use of the card but it would work.

How bad would it run on my current motherboard? I'm thinking of just getting 1 for now would it be fine to run games and stuff?

 

[Tradesman1]

Here's the Newegg page, best selling, best rated

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293

 

[iron8orn]

Not sure what delaro is talking about but you will have no performance lose when using a 3.0 gpu in a 2.0 slot

 

[delaro]

Not sure what delaro is talking about but you will have no performance lose when using a 3.0 gpu in a 2.0 slot

Yes there is a minor lose in performance, 1-2 fps is minor is it not. Some people care about that stuff which is the only reason I will post about it.

Op It is a great board the only complaint I have is just the Occasional not coming out of sleep issues you get with Asrock Bios, not a big deal there just reboot and your good.

 

[Cuhlt]

Not sure what delaro is talking about but you will have no performance lose when using a 3.0 gpu in a 2.0 slot

Yes there is a minor lose in performance, 1-2 fps is minor is it not. Some people care about that stuff which is the only reason I will post about it.

Op It is a great board the only complaint I have is just the Occasional not coming out of sleep issues you get with Asrock Bios, not a big deal there just reboot and your good.

So what you're saying is that my motherboard will only cut off a few FPS from the card nothing too big? A few FPS isn't going to hurt me, I'm not that picky about it

 

[delaro]

Not sure what delaro is talking about but you will have no performance lose when using a 3.0 gpu in a 2.0 slot

Yes there is a minor lose in performance, 1-2 fps is minor is it not. Some people care about that stuff which is the only reason I will post about it.

Op It is a great board the only complaint I have is just the Occasional not coming out of sleep issues you get with Asrock Bios, not a big deal there just reboot and your good.

So what you're saying is that my motherboard will only cut off a few FPS from the card nothing too big? A few FPS isn't going to hurt me, I'm not that picky about it

Correct in gaming terms you wont see much of a difference between PCI-e 2 X16 and PCI-e 3 X16 "1 to 2 fps" for some odd reason in older titles PCI-e 2 X8 gets a little more fps than PCI-e 3. X8 and X16. 0.o maybe newer titles make better use of PCI-e 3, but I haven't seen any review yet to show us otherwise.