- Jun 8, 2015
- 10
- 0
- 10,510
Hello, all.
First off, I want to say how helpful this site and the forums have been to me. I've gotten lots of answers from here for a long time. Very helpful and insightful people.
Ok, so I have a rig I built myself a few years ago. I'm no expert, but have enough knowledge to follow instructions on how to build a PC, but I need advice on my next issue.
*****SKIP TO NEXT SECTION IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ BACK-STORY*****
I have a Radeon HD6950 video card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161372) that I've had since the beginning on this rig. I'd never had problems with it, and have very good performance from it playing some games. (Ultra settings, for example, at good FPS). However, I never installed any AMD Software on this PC, to maximize the use of the card and use other features. So I tried to install the Catalyst software from AMD's website, and had problems installing it. I had to uninstall drivers, re-install them, try Catalyst again, but it always failed to install.
Then, my PC began to freeze up and show other symptoms that I hadn't ever had before. Such issues with trying to install software form the manufacturer was just quite ridiculous to me.(I ultimately got the driver installed again, sans the Catalyst software, which at that point was irrelevant, if I couldn't at least get the drivers for the card to work.)
That got me thinking that maybe I should get a new video card.
I had always been a fan of NVidia, but I decided for an AMD when I built this rig because it seemed from what I gathered during that time, that AMD was a more serious brand for gaming. I did some research, compared products and ultimately bought the HD6950.
*****CONTINUE HERE*****
Ok, so now I'm thinking of buying an NVidia video card that is comparable or better than what I have now, but at a decent price. I've seen some GeForce GTX 750 cards out there for about $140. Other GeForce cards that have better performance (and also higher prices) too. (I need help with the NVidia video card tiers too).
But those cards are for PCIe 3.0 x16. My motherboard is an Asus Sabertooth P67 LGA1155 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131702), that has 2 PCIe 2.0 x16 slots where my video cards is.
I've read some threads on here where most people say that there is no significant drop in performance in using a PCIe 3.0 card in a PCIe 2.0 slot.
However, my question, more specifically, is this: If I were to buy a video card (PCIe 3.0) that has better performance than what I have now, but use it in a PCIe 2.0 slot, will I get performance close to what the new card would be, or would I get pretty much a similar performance from what I have now, due to the 2.0 interface? Is it worth the money to get a new card, even though I won't be using it at an optimum setting (3.0 card in a 3.0 slot, vs 3.0 card in 2.0 slot)?
Or will my performance increase because the new video card would be better? Or do you recommend I get a new 3.0 card along with a 3.0 motherboard to maximize performance? (I really don't have the funds to get both, however... so that's why I ask if I could get away with a performance increase from a better (newer) 3.0 card in the 2.0 slot.
Sorry to sound like a noob, which I mostly am. Haha.
(Also, if anyone knows about the current tiers of NVidia cards, and which one they'd recommend based on what I have now, I'd appreciate it.)
So, to sum up / TL;DR
-I want a new (and better) video card (NVidia, PCIe 3.0), but I have PCIe 2.0 slots on my MB.
-Will I get overall better performance from the card, even from a 2.0 slot? or
-Will I have to get a new MB to get better performance from the new card?
-I'd rather avoid a new MB if I can.
Could I get something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487028
And use it on this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131702
And still get better performance than that MB with this (which is what I currently have): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161372
Or which card do you guys recommend? Price to not exceed $250 or so.
Thanks for the time, everyone. Sorry for the long post. I like to be thorough.
Any advice is truly appreciated.
-HP
***EDIT***
Forgot to post my specs:
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge Quad-Core 3.4GHz
AMD Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16
ASUS SABERTOOTH P67 (REV 3.0) LGA 1155
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
Rosewill LIGHTNING-1000 1000W PSU
Western Digital Black 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
First off, I want to say how helpful this site and the forums have been to me. I've gotten lots of answers from here for a long time. Very helpful and insightful people.
Ok, so I have a rig I built myself a few years ago. I'm no expert, but have enough knowledge to follow instructions on how to build a PC, but I need advice on my next issue.
*****SKIP TO NEXT SECTION IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ BACK-STORY*****
I have a Radeon HD6950 video card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161372) that I've had since the beginning on this rig. I'd never had problems with it, and have very good performance from it playing some games. (Ultra settings, for example, at good FPS). However, I never installed any AMD Software on this PC, to maximize the use of the card and use other features. So I tried to install the Catalyst software from AMD's website, and had problems installing it. I had to uninstall drivers, re-install them, try Catalyst again, but it always failed to install.
Then, my PC began to freeze up and show other symptoms that I hadn't ever had before. Such issues with trying to install software form the manufacturer was just quite ridiculous to me.(I ultimately got the driver installed again, sans the Catalyst software, which at that point was irrelevant, if I couldn't at least get the drivers for the card to work.)
That got me thinking that maybe I should get a new video card.
I had always been a fan of NVidia, but I decided for an AMD when I built this rig because it seemed from what I gathered during that time, that AMD was a more serious brand for gaming. I did some research, compared products and ultimately bought the HD6950.
*****CONTINUE HERE*****
Ok, so now I'm thinking of buying an NVidia video card that is comparable or better than what I have now, but at a decent price. I've seen some GeForce GTX 750 cards out there for about $140. Other GeForce cards that have better performance (and also higher prices) too. (I need help with the NVidia video card tiers too).
But those cards are for PCIe 3.0 x16. My motherboard is an Asus Sabertooth P67 LGA1155 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131702), that has 2 PCIe 2.0 x16 slots where my video cards is.
I've read some threads on here where most people say that there is no significant drop in performance in using a PCIe 3.0 card in a PCIe 2.0 slot.
However, my question, more specifically, is this: If I were to buy a video card (PCIe 3.0) that has better performance than what I have now, but use it in a PCIe 2.0 slot, will I get performance close to what the new card would be, or would I get pretty much a similar performance from what I have now, due to the 2.0 interface? Is it worth the money to get a new card, even though I won't be using it at an optimum setting (3.0 card in a 3.0 slot, vs 3.0 card in 2.0 slot)?
Or will my performance increase because the new video card would be better? Or do you recommend I get a new 3.0 card along with a 3.0 motherboard to maximize performance? (I really don't have the funds to get both, however... so that's why I ask if I could get away with a performance increase from a better (newer) 3.0 card in the 2.0 slot.
Sorry to sound like a noob, which I mostly am. Haha.
(Also, if anyone knows about the current tiers of NVidia cards, and which one they'd recommend based on what I have now, I'd appreciate it.)
So, to sum up / TL;DR
-I want a new (and better) video card (NVidia, PCIe 3.0), but I have PCIe 2.0 slots on my MB.
-Will I get overall better performance from the card, even from a 2.0 slot? or
-Will I have to get a new MB to get better performance from the new card?
-I'd rather avoid a new MB if I can.
Could I get something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487028
And use it on this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131702
And still get better performance than that MB with this (which is what I currently have): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161372
Or which card do you guys recommend? Price to not exceed $250 or so.
Thanks for the time, everyone. Sorry for the long post. I like to be thorough.
Any advice is truly appreciated.
-HP
***EDIT***
Forgot to post my specs:
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge Quad-Core 3.4GHz
AMD Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16
ASUS SABERTOOTH P67 (REV 3.0) LGA 1155
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
Rosewill LIGHTNING-1000 1000W PSU
Western Digital Black 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
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