PCI-E3.0 (x16) Graphics Card in PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot possible?

jagermain

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Someone Please Help!
I really want to get a nice GPU upgrade and had my sights set on the EVGA GeForce GTX 660 Video Card
- 3GB GDDR5, PCI-Express 3.0 (x16), 1x Dual-Link DVI-D, 1x Dual-Link DVI-I, 1x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI, DirectX 11, SLI Ready, Dual-Slot, Fan (copy pasted from tigerdirect.com)
Am I going to be able to use this? Also, why is there like 8 different versions of this and each have a different price. I'm pretty lost in all this I apologize for the stupidity. What do I do? It says it has a minimum PSU wattage requirement of 450watts and my unit has 500watts.

I have an Acer Predator G3620:
Operating System: Genuine Windows® 7
Processor: 3rd generation Intel® Core™ i7-3770 processor
Graphics: Discrete card support for high-end NVIDIA® GeForce® and AMD Radeon™ graphic cards
Microsoft® DirectX® 11
I/O ports
Front:
Multi-in-1 card reader
Two USB 2.0 ports
Two USB 3.0 ports
Headphone and microphone line-out jack
Rear:
Four USB 2.0 ports
Two USB 3.0 ports featuring power-off USB charging
PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports
Three audio jacks
Ethernet (RJ-45) port
D-sub VGA port
HDMI® port
I/O expansion: PCI Express® 2.0 x16 slot
Three PCI Express® 2.0 x1 slot
 

Intel God

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The 760 was released today and put a hurting on the 6 series and with you not being able to overclock the 3770 it would be fine with that psu.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130933
 

jagermain

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So this is a better card? It's not even more expensive, weird. I'm a total dummy when it comes to this stuff I just want to pay for it and install it and it just work nice. What makes this better than the 660 if you dont mind me asking?
 

Intel God

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760 is almost 25% faster then a 660 in BF3. The 760 is the new bang for the buck card under 250 dollars

bf3_1920_1080.gif
 

jagermain

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So could I even use the second one? the EVGA SC?
 

Intel God

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Yeah the SC would be fine

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130932
 

Achint2000

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I am also buying a GTX 780 which was PCI-E 3.0 whereas mine is PCI-E 2.0, so there was written (In the description) That hey are compatible with 2.0 and 1.1 also. So there are many chances that it may work. If you have a lot of money, buy another PCI-E 3.0x 7 slots Motherboard. Well if you don't have that kinda money, it will work on PCI-E 1.1 as its written in the description.
 

Achint2000

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Andy, you may also need a compatible CPU and Motherboard to use this PCI-E 3.0 and GDDR5 Memory. I am using Intel Core i5 2310K and unfortunately it doesn't support PCI-E 3.0 so I'm running slow. Sill I play Need For Speed Rivals and Assassin's Creed IV on 1366x768 and everything else Ultra High. PCI-E 3.0 Would be even faster, something which I've not experienced....
 
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For the benefit of people in a similar but different scenario;

Not all PCI-e cards are backwards compatible. His will almost certainly. But some peoples comments on the subject caused me issues in the past.

Example?
I asked advice and using it, I bought a Sapphire HD7770 (1Gb) card I have tried all sorts of ways to get to work in my older motherboard on my XP rig; but they`re too new (past Ver 2.1) to work with the pre-ver 2.0 x16 motherboards (I run an Sapphire X1950 XTX fine on it; [but thats 512Mb]).

For early x16 motherboards (circa 2006), the best card would likely be something like the HD4770 (or HD4770 x2 if you have the PSU for it [ & 6 pin power req]).

Its appreciated that some things have moved on, but its not a panacea.