PCI-E!!!!!

I am 99% sure that it will work fine. I am also quite sure that the other 8800 cards were pcie 1.0. I also believe that all future cards will be 2.0, 3.0, etc.

From what I recall, there won't be many compatibility issues because pcie is basically just how fast you can transfer things.

1.0 = 8gb(I think)/sec
2.0 = 16...

-Adam

man you put a smile on my face thanks alot, i take the 99% and if it doesnt work i blame u!! 

PCI-e 2.0 is backwards compatable, it should work with your system. Speaking of which, what's the rest of your stuff?

All 8800GT's are PCI-e 2.0. Everything else is the standard PCI-e 16x. PCI-e 2.0 seems to be the direction that things are heading, but for now it shouldn't matter since current cards don't use the full bandwidth of 16x.

ah thats cool then, am on E6550, 2 gig ram, 320 gb, and a louzy 8400gs, which am looking to change but no card is drawing my attentions yet, and for the CPU, i am waiting for stable quad cores

My only concern is to make sure your power supply is strong enough. What unit do you currently have?

my PSU now is kind of crap, mas 350Wat, i dnt no the make of it though, but when am gettin my new GPU, i will order the 650W CoolerMaster eXtreme Power, soo i have a bright future ahead 

Sofar reports are that the GF8800GT has alot of trouble with PCIe 1.0 and some PCIe 1.0a boards/slots , whereas PCIe 1.1 is fine.

Here's the official FAQ statement from ASUS;

The PCIEX16_1 slot has been designed based on PCI express 1.1 specification, while PCIEX16_2 slots adopts PCI express 1.0/1.0a specification.
As PCI express 1.0/1.0a standard is not compatible with PCI express 2.0 specification, installing PCI express 2.0 cards onto PCIEX16_2 slot will result in system fail to detect expension cards installed on both PCIEX16_1 and PCIEX16_2 slot.


http://support.asus.com/faq/faq.aspx?no=DE05A01F-3A3B-A859-177B-6A668A2D6982&SLanguage=en-us

To further complicate things some MoBos used the fallback PCIe1.0a in their literature, but have PCIe1.1 slots. Some early P965 boards did that, but most are updated (some original intel literature had the P965 outside the PCIe1.1 grouping and just put it as PCIe 16x).

So check with your MoBo mfr to be sure, and also check to be sure you can return a card if it doesn't work.

My motherboard is an Asus IPIBL-LA, my knowledge is pretty much restricted, is this motherboard oke?

* you can stick a PCIe 2.0 card in a 1.0 slot and it will enable a max transfer rate of 8GB/s.
* you can stick a PCIe 1.0 card in a 2.0 slot and it will enable 8GB/s.
* you can stick a PCIe 2.0 card in a 2.0 slot and it will enable 16GB/s.

this also means that in the case of SLI and Crossfire, a PCIe 2.0 configuration of 2 slots at 8x is the same bandwidth as 2 PCIe 1.0 slots at 16x bandwidth.

since most cards still have not maxed out the bandwidth offered by PCIe 1.0 x16, SLI or Crossfire on dual 8x 2.0 slots will do fine too. just a tangiental thought.

oh thnx alot do you by any chance know more info bout this motherboard?Asus IPIBL-LA i cnt find alot about it.(regarding PCIE)

i should revise my statements. i have indeed heard of the issues TGGA is mentioning about PCIe 2.0 falling back to 1.0a. i'm not sure how wide-spread the issues are, but they do exist. asus was the first one to document these issues.

i'm not sure about your motherboard as a google search or five doesn't reveal anything. i wonder if it's visible somewhere in the BIOS whether the slots are 1.1 or 1.0a?

The IPBL is a G33 based mobo according to HP's website;
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c01077641&dlc=en&lc=en&cc=us

So it should support PCIe 1.1 according to Intel's literature (see features at a glance) on the G33 Express;

http://download.intel.com/products/chipsets/g33/317311.pdf

However if you look on their site in the comparison table, features, list, etc. it says on PCIe 16x, but that product brief spells it out. It's one of those example I was talking about above that make it difficult.

ooh great thnx alot for ur effort , so does it mean that my motherboard is good or bad? or shouldi consider an upgrade soon?

Motherboard seem fine according to that information. It should be PCIe1.1 spec, and it should support the GF8800GT and HD3800 refresh cards. I would consider your upgrade after next week once you know what those 2 different cards have to offer. Then after you've chosen your best fit, then look for the best price and enjoy your upgrade.

BTW, no effort, I looked up alot of this already and knew where to look, the only 'effort' was the few second to try and track down the MoBo, which took all of 15 seconds.

Have fun upgrading, and remember be careful and double check stuff.