What graphics cards are similar in performance to the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660, yet can fit on my motherboard?

[kai.stevens06]

So i have been looking at graphics cards for my computer, but i have an issue. the motherboard i'm looking to buy right now is the GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P, and it has a PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot on it. the graphics card i have been looking at is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 660, but that graphics card needs a PCI Express 3.0 x16. it also doesn't support my OS (i have windows 8.1, the graphics card supports windows XP, Vista, and 7). do any of you know of any graphics cards that are similar in performance to the Nvida GeForce GTX 660, but fit on the motherboard i'm looking at, and is compatible with my OS? i'm not really worried about price, i just want to know what i need to be looking at here, since i don't really know how to compare the performance of graphics cards

 

[Hellfire13]

All the cards and boards since the last decade or so, are reverse compatible with each other.
Since you are rocking one of the old FX/Phenom/Athlon chips, you should look into the GTX 1050/1050ti card, depending on whichever chip you have.

 

[dontlistentome]

In today's usage, a GTX 660 would be entry level. So in new cards, the RX 460 or 560 from AMD, or the Nvidia 1050 would do it. In slightly older cards, there are a bunch in that category. AMD HD 7870 and derivatives like the 270x, Nvidia GTX 750 Ti, to name a couple.

All these should be compatible with the motherboard and are getting driver updates for Win 8.1 and newer. You can double check this by going to the AMD or Nvidia websites and looking at the model of cards that are still supported by new drivers.