Thinking of upgrading my video card

[CapKaboom]

Hello, My current gaming rig has an Asus P5KPL-CM Intel G31 motherboard, running an ATI HD 4850 video card. I'd like to get one of the new Radeon HD 5770s, but I don't know if it fits the motherboard. The description for my motherboard mentions that it's a "single PCI-E MB", whereas the video card has a PCI Express 2.0 interface. Does this mean that my motherboard won't support the video card?

 

[4745454b]

It will be fine. There are two specs for PCIe, version one and two. They made it so that version two cards will still work in version one boards, but at the reduced speed that version one offers. The 5770 doesn't exceed the bandwidth that version one offers so your good to go.

 

[CapKaboom]

Oh, well that's fantastic. Thank you very much for your help

 

[CapKaboom]

Actually, now that I think of it there is another question I should ask. Would you recommend upgrading to Windows 7 to take advantage of the DirectX 11 that the ATI 5770 can support? I'm still running Windows XP service pack 3.

And I realize that this isn't really a motherboard question...my apologies.

 

[4745454b]

I would. I want to move to win7 and I only have a DX10 8800GS. Its a very nice slick OS. And move to 64bit win7 so you can use all your ram, assuming you have 4GBs.

 

[hamiac]

I have a question- I think this is still relevant so I'm not trying to hijack your thread

I have a HD 5770 which I am very pleased with. However I have no directX 11 games or programs and probable wont for a while, so I was wondering:
A) do I need to install DirectX if a program needs it?
B) Is there any advantage in installing it now (if I need to)?

Thanks, hope this is not off topic

 

[hamiac]

The 5770 isn't any faster than your HD4850, not sure why you would waste your money like that.

Look here:
http://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/f22/ati-radeon-hd-5770-vs-4850-compared-4-game-benchmarks-66857/

I dont know about you guys but those results look quite conclusive...

 

[hamiac]

I honestly dont see how you can say the 4850 if faster than the 5770. In those tests it consistatly produces more frames per second, and along with is added features such as lower power consuption, eyefinity capability, directx11 etc. it really does seem like $160 worth of benefits. The only card that would compare is the 4890 in terms of FPS but still has none of the features above.

 

[4745454b]

Hamiac, you missed his point. He didn't say the 4850 was as fast as the 5770. He said that because the 5770 is slower then the 4870, what your suggesting is worse then telling him to spend $$$ to move up to the 4870. Depending on his resolution he might not even notice the speed. If you have a 4850 already, and game at a low enough resolution, it doesn't make a lot of sense to spend a lot of money to get more power which you can't use.

Moving to the 5770 only really makes sense if there is some game he wants to play that the 4850 just can't handle, is DX11 only, or if he wants the features found in the 5 series like Eyefinity. It also makes sense if he can get the 5770 cheap enough, and sell his 4850 for lots of money. If he can get the 5770 for $150, and sell the 4850 for $100, then the 5770 only cost him $50.