PCI express 2 card in a PCI express 1 slot

[carpen7]

Hello,
I have a mother board (ASRock 4coredual-sata2 R2.0)with a PCI express 1.0 slot, and I'd like to get a new graphics card to play some newer games, my current card is a nVidia geForce 7600 gt, with 256 megs of memory. I like to get some thing a little faster wnd with more memory, but they all seem to be PCI express 2 cards. I have read that PCI express 2is downward compatable with PCI express 1, but will I lose much in performance? I hate to spend $$$ and then not get all the benifit

So in short can I use a PCI express 2 card in a PCI express 1 slot

 

[simon12]

Yes you can use them and the performance hit is 0-3% usually nearer the 0.

 

[carpen7]

Thank you, even at a 3% hit it seems worth it.
Any recomendations for card in the $150 range?

 

[Supernova1138]

For $150 a Radeon HD 6850 is your best bet, you might be able to get a 6870 which is a little bit faster for a little bit more money if it is on sale. Neither of those cards will suffer any performance hit on PCI-E 1.0 Make sure you have a power supply that can run those cards though, they use more power than a 7600GT. A good quality power supply in the 450 to 500 Watt range would be okay. If your PSU is below that, you'll want to upgrade it before you get a new card.

 

[Rockdpm]

Or If you a NVIDIA person, try a GTX 460 1gb version. Can run most modern games easily. but you still wanna check your power supply

 

[Supernova1138]

The problem with that is the 460 is getting hard to find in the $150 price point. They are starting to get rare, so the prices are going up to the point that it isn't worth getting a 460 unless you need a second one for SLI. If you can find one for $150 it is a good choice, but it will use more power than a 6850, so you'll need a slightly beefier PSU.

 

[RetiredChief]

NOTE. as identifed above 2.0 is backwards compatable with 1.0.
However some cards that are 2.1 do not play nice with 1.0.
Check out the reviews on 2.1 cards to see if any put card in a 1.0 slot and if they had/did not have a problem. Newegg reviews are a good place to look.

 

[carpen7]

Thanks for the advice on the power supply, I'll check but pretty sure it 500 watts. Thinking about this card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130749
Right in the price range

 

[carpen7]

Ok I have a stupid question. I have this mother board:
Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 R2.0
It does not include the above graphics card as compatable, I hoping this maybe just outdated information. Any opinions?

 

[Supernova1138]

It should work without a problem. Usually mobos do not have a list of compatible graphics cards, as they all should work. Some of the really old PCI-E 1.0 boards have issues with the 2.1 cards. The one you linked to is listed as a 2.0 card, so there is no problem. The 460 isn't powerful enough to saturate PCI-E 1.0 bandwidth, so you won't lose any performance either.

 

[carpen7]

Thanks, looks like it's time to transfere some more wealth to NewEgg........

 

[carpen7]

Well Check my PS I have a 420 W. I just ordered a OCZ 600 watt ps. Should be enough to power it.