Video card that will work with GA-EP35-DS3L

[nakago]

I have a Gigabyte EP35-DS3L mobo

http://www.gigabyte.us/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2778

and a horrible Evga 8600 GT, need to upgrade, but I think a HD 4870 is probably over kill since i don't want to upgrade mobo, and just want a some what upgrade on my card.

what is the best Video card i can get that will not be bottle necked by my mobo?

i know this MOBO cannot take advantage of everything a HD4870 provides.

 

[daedalus685]

It wont bottle neck the card as much as you think. In fact it wont make a difference at all not having the pcie 2.0, not with a 4870 at least.

What CPU are you running, what resolution do you play at, what is your PSU?

 

[nakago]

thanks for quick reply man,


I have a E8400 wiht my GA-EP35-DS3L,
PSU is a OCZ modstream pro. 500 Watt ATX12V/2.2V

I wast hinking of buying a Asus 4870, 256 bit, GDDR5 1 GB card, (great deal on newegg)
but a Gigabyte tech said my mobo will not be able to take advantage of this Card due to chipset speed limitation. (or something, i am not very GPU literate)

i like to play at 1600 x 1200 ( right now its just 1280 x 1024, my 8600 GT is so damn slow)

 

[daedalus685]

The 4870 is PCIe 2.0, which is double the speed of PCIe 1.1. Now that may seem bad, and certainly would be something an employee of gig might point out given he wants to sell you a new MB.. but in reality no current cards max out the bus (an Asus MARS might.. and some next gen cards probably will).

A 4870 would work fine with that CPU and PSU. You might also consider a 4850 as they are great deals right now and good performers at 1600*1200. But the 4870's are also great deals atm.

 

[nakago]

cool,
what about Mem capacity,


will I notice difference between radeon HD 4000 series at 512 MB or 1 GB ,
or is that another thing that won't be noticeable unless I bench mark

 

[swifty_morgan]

Why did you say the resolution " I like to play at" ? What's the native resolution of your monitor ? That's what you should be playing at. Regardless, the 4870 with 1gig will be fine......... the faster the better. Don't waste money on a 512 card and your Gigabyte man is blowing smoke. 1.0 to 2.0 doesn't mean nothing..... not since it came out - to date.