New Video Card for my older system.

[Anthony_T]

First of all I have to say that I have enough technical knowledge to be dangerous, so please dumb down your answers a bit.

I have a home built system put together about 3 years ago (Still amazed that somehow I did it )

MOBO: Asus P5B-E Plus (http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_775/P5BPlus/ )

I want to upgrade the video card a bit ( It now has a Radeon x1650 512 meg ) in it, but the listed MOBO interfaces, what cards are wanting today, and looking at the physical interfaces has me all confused.

The MOBO says that it has:
1x PCI-E x16
3 x PCI-X x1
3 X PCI 2.2

Can Video Cards that want 2.0 or 2.1 ( Which seem to be the majority of the cards out there ) work in a PCI 2.2 interface?

Would a GIGABYTE GV-N440D3-1GI GeForce GT 440 (Fermi) (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125366 ) work with my MOBO, i

If not why not.

I am looking for a card <$100 that allows me 2 monitors ( for software development 1 for code 1 for other. ) Very light gaming needs, think games 3+ years old, but then again if it can run modern games so much the better.

Any suggestions, comments etc very much appreciated.

 

[amuffin]

6670.

 

[monsta]

At your price range you could also consider a 6770

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150540

 

[Anthony_T]

At your price range you could also consider a 6770

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150540

Thank you for the reply.

Doing some research I see that the 6770 is a far better GPU ( I am sure you already knew that.) However can my MOBO handle it? In that my spec says I have a PCI 2.2 interface and the card suggested uses a PCI E 2.1.x16. e.g. which of my PCI slots would this card go into?

 

[jsrudd]

Don't worry. All PCI-e slots are forwards and backward compatible.

 

[refillable]

Just a note, Do not try to confuse between PCI and PCI-E mate. They are two different things :lol:

Check it out yourself, asus doesn't tell us. Basically if you have PCI-E 2.0 you can upgrade to almost all of the new GPU as long as other components are fine with the GPU.

And also check out your PSU? When the PSU is too low it might damage your components some time.

 

[Anthony_T]

Just a note, Do not try to confuse between PCI and PCI-E mate. They are two different things :lol:

Check it out yourself, asus doesn't tell us. Basically if you have PCI-E 2.0 you can upgrade to almost all of the new GPU as long as other components are fine with the GPU.

And also check out your PSU? When the PSU is too low it might damage your components some time.

It looks to me that the PCI-E are the much smaller/few connections then the PCI 2.2, right? or do I have that backwards.

PSU. I do not see the Wattage rating on the PSU (I have kept all of the specs, receipts, user manuals etc. in one place, problem is can not find that one place <grin> ) but it is heavy, modular, PSU from Thermaltake and I am only use ~1/2 of the possible power moduals of the PSU at this time. So I think I am OK there (Famous last words <grin> )

"if you have PCI-E 2.0" but the ASUS MOBO spec says I have PCI 2.2 ( and PCI-E x1 ) not 2.0. While all of these PCI standard names are clear to you, they are not to me. Can anyone suggest a web-link that will clear it up for me? I have tried a couple but they just make it more confusing. I am most likely overthinking this.

 

[clarkjd]

The video card would fit in the PCI/E x16 slot. now that slot may only be a 1.0 version of the slot. If so, there are documented instances of Video cards that follow the 2.1 standard not working in the 1.0 version slot. Look you motherboard up on the ASUS website & see what standard the PCI/e x16 slot follows.

 

[Anthony_T]

The video card would fit in the PCI/E x16 slot. now that slot may only be a 1.0 version of the slot. If so, there are documented instances of Video cards that follow the 2.1 standard not working in the 1.0 version slot. Look you motherboard up on the ASUS website & see what standard the PCI/e x16 slot follows.

I could not find any standard information, so I am going to assume that it is a 1.0 version of the slot. ( Note that comment based on my reading of page 2-21 of http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/P5B-PLUS/e3077_p5b-plus.pdf )

If the Video card does work in my MOBO's PCI/E x16 slot, but because the slot is not a 2.1 how would the videoa card be 'crippled' e.g. works only 1/2 as fast as normal or something like that?

 

[refillable]

Hi there,

Seems that your motherboard really have 1.0, Now I heard some motherboards (that has 1.0) can hold 2.1 with BIOS update. But this is 'SOME'...

Now what you have to see at is decent Nvidia cards that has 2.0, I heard that 2.0 works in 1.0 motherboards almost all the time, so you better take a look at this nvidia card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125397

Notice that this has 2.0 PCI-E, Hope it works well.

 

[Anthony_T]

Hi there,

Seems that your motherboard really have 1.0, Now I heard some motherboards (that has 1.0) can hold 2.1 with BIOS update. But this is 'SOME'...

Now what you have to see at is decent Nvidia cards that has 2.0, I heard that 2.0 works in 1.0 motherboards almost all the time, so you better take a look at this nvidia card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125397

Notice that this has 2.0 PCI-E, Hope it works well.

Thanks for the recommedation.

If it work, will it work fully? That is will I get maximum or nearly max performance or do you think that with the 1.0 interface of the motherboard I will see a significant decrease in performance?

 

[refillable]

I think it is fully compatible and you don't have to worry.

 

[FtsArTek]

For a card like a 6770, there won't be anything holding it back...

 

[Anthony_T]

Well I am going with the: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125397

We will see what happens. Thanks for all of the suggetions, information etc.

 

[refillable]

Cool, hope it works

 

[Anthony_T]

Best answer selected by Anthony_T.