What graphics cards are compatible with my motherboard?

Solution
It has the PCI Express x16 and the board is a socket 1155 so its not that old really. It should be fine as long as you have a PSU that is the correct wattage to power your chosen graphics card and has PCIE power cables if the card you pick requires them to be plugged into the card then also you will need the CPU to be strong enough to keep up with the GPU otherwise you will limit the card which is called a CPU bottleneck. Also I would recommend if you do not have 8GB of ram that you do change to 8GB so that would be a 2x4GB dual channel kit.

You may need to update your BIOS just in case as well, always good so to be safe:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4706#bios

Could you list your full system specs and may ask...
It has the PCI Express x16 and the board is a socket 1155 so its not that old really. It should be fine as long as you have a PSU that is the correct wattage to power your chosen graphics card and has PCIE power cables if the card you pick requires them to be plugged into the card then also you will need the CPU to be strong enough to keep up with the GPU otherwise you will limit the card which is called a CPU bottleneck. Also I would recommend if you do not have 8GB of ram that you do change to 8GB so that would be a 2x4GB dual channel kit.

You may need to update your BIOS just in case as well, always good so to be safe:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4706#bios

Could you list your full system specs and may ask if you see yourself as a light gamer or someone that plays a lot of games so then we can figure out what card would be best for you.

Regards
 
Solution


No i do not game alot, i just need a decent one that's fine with my specs.
By decent i mean im on budget haha.

I have an i3 3220 processor, 4gb ram, that h61m ww motherboard, and a 350 watt psu (i'll upgrade if i need to?)
And thank you. :)
 
Well the only card that could go in your system and keep up with recent games at 1080p at 60fps medium - high but maybe maxed depending on the game would be the GeForce GTX 950 which has a recommended PSU of 350w which is right on the dot for you (see bottom of page for power requirements: http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-950/specifications) but also I would like to add as you can see on the specifications you will require your PSU to have at least one 6pin PCIE power connector which will plug into the top of the PSU to feed the card the power it requires to run correctly.

Just to note it is advised that you have a PSU about 50-100w above the recommended PSU wattage. My build uses about 400-450 watt full load and I have a i5 4460 coupled with a MSI GTX 970 4GB which is powered by a EVGA G2 550 as the GPU requires a 500w PSU.

I would highly recommend the GeForce ASUS GTX 950 2GB Graphics Card: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-Nvidia-Graphics-Dvi-I-Pci-E/dp/B014GTF0SM/ref=sr_1_4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1457352483&sr=1-4&keywords=asus+gtx+950

The ASUS GTX 950 only has 2GB of VRAM which is what the GPU uses to store textures and frames, for more information about VRAM see this thread:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/308906-33-please-explain-importance-graphics-card. You should be fine though as on high settings I don't see the VRAM go above 2GB but when I max my games the VRAM can go 2.1-3.2GB depending on the game but I do have 4GB so I can handle it.

The ASUS GTX 950 should suit your needs perfectly.

Regards
 


Wow, that fps is way more than i expected from my build, thank you for letting me know. The price also seems pretty decent. And as i said i could upgrade my psu if i need to, which i dont need to i guess as i have got the 6pin one.

And, i'm a bit confused about the 950 you linked me to. i looked it up in my country's amazon. i've found this - http://www.amazon.in/GTX950-Asus-Gaming-DirectX-1228MHz/dp/B014A06D6K?tag=googinhydr18418-21
That says "Strix" And the one you gave says "itx"? is there a difference between these both cards?

Also, the price difference between the GTX 950 and GTX 960 is very very tiny as per where i looked up (500rs.) its 7 dollars difference to be exact. I know you have recommended it according to my build, but would you recommend the 950 rather than 960, yes or no? because the price actually has no difference.

And thank you very much.
 
Okay first thing don't get confused with the GTX 970 card I have as I was only using it as an example for the VRAM explanation and also what country are you in?

The Strix card you found on your countries amazon is the manufacturer overclocked version of the GTX 950
and as it has been overclocked it requires a better cooler which is why it has a two fan cooler. In so being overclocked it will draw more power so I would not recommend this one as you are already tight PSU wattage wise.

GTX 960 you found is not compatible with your PSU as the GTX 960 requires a minimum of a 400w PSU which you do not have sadly.

I would recommend you research sites in your country or close to you that have the one I recommended which is the stock not overclocked ASUS GTX 950 2GB

If your close to America you can try this link: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01FL6SYZU/ref=cm_cr_arp_mb_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8

Also ITX means that it can fit in small form factors computers. The card is only about 17cm long which is amazing. Just to compare, my full desktop MSI GTX 970 4GB is 27cm long!
 
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Oh i get it. so assume i have 400w psu and the corsair hydro series fan. i can run gtx 960 fine with the processor i have? (i3 3220)
And ok i'll look up which are not overclocking ones. and yeah the us links are shipping to where i live, thank you.

Ohh okay right, the cards length now makes sense so it fits my motherboard which is itx or micro atx form factor.. anyway thank you for all the info! :)
 
Is it in one of these?

http://www.amazon.in/ZOTAC-GTX950-128BIT-PCI-E-ZT-90603-10M/dp/B013P30MVK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457413843&sr=8-1&keywords=gtx+950
http://www.amazon.in/MSI-Geforce-GTX950-Armor-Memory/dp/B0151JL87I/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1457413843&sr=8-7&keywords=gtx+950
http://www.amazon.in/EVGA-GeForce-Cooling-Graphics-02G-P4-2957-KR/dp/B0146YLHV6/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1457413843&sr=8-8&keywords=gtx+950
http://www.amazon.in/Asus-GTX950-OC-2GD5-ASUS-GTX-950-OC-2GD5/dp/B018DP1CHS/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1457413843&sr=8-11&keywords=gtx+950
http://www.amazon.in/Gigabyte-Geforce-DDR5-PCI-E-Windforce/dp/B0146YLBTO/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1457413843&sr=8-12&keywords=gtx+950
 
...These are all overclocked in so will strain your current PSU and if your case is itx then it is going to be hard to fit it in and even if it any do fit you are going to have less air flow due to the tight fit as these GPU's as they have two fans due to the overclock and are designed for at least a mid tower desktop pc.

I would recommend these sites:

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-gtx950m2gd5

https://www.scan.co.uk (search 'ASUS GTX 950 Mini ITX')

Also as this is an 3rd party cooler (so in this case ASUS's own cooler) it is designed to suck air in over the heat-sink then blow it out of the sides in so releasing the hot air back into the case but if you have sorted out your case fans correctly then that air should be sucked out by the pc case exhaust fans.

While a reference GPU would simply intake air then blow it out the back but many find these cards to run slightly hotter and louder.

See this for more information:View: https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/44iv9t/difference_between_blower_and_regular_type_of_gpu/?
 
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