Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > Graphics Cards > Is it worth the upgrade with a PCI express 16x (not 2.0)?

Is it worth the upgrade with a PCI express 16x (not 2.0)?

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Is it worth the upgrade with a PCI express 16x (not 2.0)?

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FalcoVolt   11-14-2009 at 05:31:35 AM

Hey everyone. I was talking to one of my coworkers and I'm a bit confused.

Currently I have a M2N-E Asus motherboard with a Quad Core AMD 9950 2.61 GHz. My current graphics card is a EVGA e-GeForce 8600 GTS with 256mb of DDR3. Sadly the motherboard doesn't support PCI express 16x 2.0. However I've been reading a lot about it and it says that it's backwards compatible with the PCI express 16x slot. My question, is it worth upgrading? I know I wouldn't be getting the whole 2.0, but I'm still thinking it would drastically raise the gaming power of my PC.

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Bronze Graphics badge jay2tall   11-14-2009 at 05:39:38 AM

I'm a little confused. Are you looking to upgrade your 8600GTS to a better card? And the cards you are looking at are PCI-E 2.0 and you are asking if that will work?

 

PCI-E 2.0 cards are backward compatible with PCI-E 1.1 slots. So you can install a 2.0 card into your motherboard, no problem. PCI-E 2.0 just supports a higher bandwidth over the PCI-E bus. Most 2.0 single GPU cards don't see any impact on performance when install in a 1.1 slot.


Message edited by jay2tall on 11-14-2009 at 05:40:27 AM
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Bronze Graphics badge jyjjy   11-14-2009 at 08:30:15 AM

As long as it's not AGP you are fine so stop worrying about it. The limiting factor is more likely to be your PSU.

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FalcoVolt   11-14-2009 at 07:34:42 PM

Basically I have a PCI express 16x port and card. I want to upgrade. Is it worth putting a PCI express 16x 2.0 card into the slot? It seems like it is, but I just didn't want to be throwing money away.

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Bronze Graphics badge jyjjy   11-14-2009 at 07:59:02 PM

We already answered you in a rather clear fashion

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anarchy4sale   11-14-2009 at 08:15:52 PM

Jay is correct, any single GPU card you buy will be fine. No worries :)

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Bronze Graphics badge jay2tall   11-15-2009 at 06:52:38 AM

^any 2.0 card is a good upgrade as long as it is a CLEAR upgrade from your current 8600GTS

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