Graphic Card Compatitbilty Question

[nx74205]

All,

I would like to do a slight upgrade to my system including buying a new graphics card and processor. Being that I am married now, the wife has put a serious crimp on the budget for this upgrade which means that I am trying to get both of these items for about $200 and cannot upgrade the motherboard.

I currently have an ASUS M2N-Plus SLI Vista Edition AM2 NVIDIA nForce 500 SLI MCP ATX motherboard. I would like to purchase a radeon Hd4870 graphics card but this is a PCI Express 2.0 card. I was wondering will this card be compatible with my motherboard?

I would also like to upgrade my CPU from an AMD 4600 chip to possibly an AMD 5600+ chip. Can I go up to possibly an AMD2+ chip with my motherboard, and if I can which chip would you recommend? Likewise, is it even worth going up from an AMD 4600+ chip to a 5600+ chip, or should I just put the money all into the video card?

 

[Maziar]

You can purchase a HD 4870 because PCI-E 2.0 is backward compatible with PCI-E 1.1

Its not worth it to go from an Athlon X2 4600 to 5600 IMO,go for a Phenom II CPU,for compatibility check your motherboard's CPU support list,u "MAY" need to update the BIOS for using Phenom II CPUs.

 

[avatar_raq]

I agree with the Iranian guy..

 

[nx74205]

Yeah , with my mobo, im not sure it is compatible with the latest Phenom chips, does anyone know for sure? Also, how do you know my PCI express slots are 1.1 instead of 1.0?

 

[Maziar]

Check your motherboard's CPU compatibility list from ASUS's site.
Also i think your motherboard has PCI-E 1.1 but even it has 1.0 its compatible,
http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3140&p=4


The transition to PCIe 2.0 won't be anything like the move from AGP to PCIe. The cards and motherboards are backwards and forwards compatible. PCIe 1.0 and 1.1 compliant cards can be plugged into a PCIe 2.0 motherboard, and PCIe 2.0 cards can be plugged into older motherboards. This leaves us with zero impact on the consumer due to PCIe 2.0, in more ways than one.