PCIE x16 vs PCIE x16 2.0

[HorridJohn]

I have an ASUS MTA78L-M/USB3 Motherboard (FD8350FRHKBOX).
It appears to have only a PCIE x16 graphics card slot.
Am I going to get better performance slotting in a higher end PCIE x16 or a mid range PCIE x16 2.0 Graphics card?
My box has:
AMD 3+ CPU (I forget the specifics);
16GB DDR3;
2TB 7200RPM SATA Drive;
Audigy sound card(24bit?).
The machine is choking on games like Dying Light and XCOM2 (X2 is unplayable on anything above the minimums).
I got Fallout 4 as a gift and I would like to have it play smoothly without looking like a NES game.
So what is my best move?
Thank you.

 

[k1114]

It's pcie 2.0 and won't have an issue with any gpu. You can get a modern 3.0 card. Not having a graphics card is why your games are unplayable. What is your budget and what is your psu?

 

[joex444]

Your board actually has a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot. This makes sense given its age and the fact it has USB 3.0. My board has PCIe 2.0 but does not have USB 3.0 so I was confused, but your board's manual clearly states it's PCIe 2.0.

Further, PCIe 3.0 cards are backwards compatible so you can put them in a PCIe 2.0 or PCIe 1.0 slot and it works. The bandwidth is like running at PCIe 3.0 x8, which is not a problem.

The only thing to keep in mind is that your CPU won't be able to keep up with the highest end GPUs. If you could tell us which CPU you have exactly, it would be easier to suggest a GPU, but provided you are equipped with a suitable power supply you should be able to handle some of the mid-range R9 3xx series GPUs or the nVidia 960/970 GPUs. The nVidia ones will use less power.

 

[HorridJohn]

It's pcie 2.0 and won't have an issue with any gpu. You can get a modern 3.0 card. Not having a graphics card is why your games are unplayable. What is your budget and what is your psu?

My budget is between $200 and $300.
What I have is an AMD Radeon r7 200 Series 4GB 400Mhz
My processor: AMD FX-8350 8 Core AM3+ 4GHz 8MB L2 Cache (FD8350FRHKBOX)
RAM: 32GB DDR3
HDD WDC WD10EZEX-60MSNA0 (I think it is a 7200rpm)

 

[k1114]

Need to know your psu to know if you would have to upgrade that. You're probably looking at a 380. A 390 or 970 goes a bit above $300.