PCIE-2.0, 9800gtx+, Power Supply...

[sorensr]

What exactly does PCIE-2.0 do compared to PCI-E?

Would I have to upgrade my motherboard to one that supports PCIE-2.0 in order to upgrade my graphics card to an EVGA 9800gtx+ (PCIE-2.0 Graphics Card)?






And slso, I'm unsure if my 550Watt Zumax Power supply will support a 9800gtx+

 

[Proximon]

PCI-E 2.0 graphics cards are backwards compatible. You can get the card, although it might not be the best bang for your buck.

See the TH graphics card guide here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-radeon,2151.html

I have never heard of Zumax. If it's the same as this Topower 550W:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817101021

And I think it might be, then it might be OK for the card. It's not a high quality unit but it's not awful.

 

[sorensr]

Actually, That is the exact same power supply I have





If you think the 9800gtx+ would be a bad decision, what would you recommend I buy?
My price range is 150-300$ to upgrade my AMD 4200+ and EVGA 8600gt (SLI)

 

[Proximon]

This card would blow that one away:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102815
Sapphire 4870 1GB Toxic edition. Probably pull less power as well.

I see the 9800GTX+ has come down in price a bit, so it's really not as bad a choice as I thought for the price. A comparable video card is the 4850:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161259

A GTX 260 can be a great buy as well. About the same performance as the 4870 I linked or perhaps even better, and looks to be less these days:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434

 

[sorensr]

Well right now I'm considering http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103228 along with either

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130420
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130370






But wait, with that ATI card you recommended, would I even be able to use it in my NVIDIA motherboard? I know it sounds like a stupid question but... yeah.

And at that, would I be able to run it in crossfire in future upgrade?

 

[sorensr]

Oh, I forgot, I have an ASUS M2N SLI Deluxe 570 Motherboard.

 

[Proximon]

You can run any single PCI-E card, but you cannot crossfire. The chipset only determines crossfire or SLI, in respect to GPU.

You can SLI, but really you would be somewhat limited by the CPU. I think either of those cards you have chosen are pretty nice for the price. The GTX 260 I linked is a faster, newer version than the one you have linked. 216 processors as opposed to 192, and it does make quite a difference.

Still I think it's kind of cool that all the cards we've listed pretty much reflect a good cost/performance ratio. It's been a few weeks since I looked closely. Choose what you can afford and you should be happy with the results.