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PCI Express confusion

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Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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Ok so not to long ago I was told I could only use certain video cards because I did not have the right Express PCI thing. Now I'm not so sure.
This is the link to exactly what I have. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Now This part:
Graphics
GPU/VPU Type: NVIDIA GeForce GT 220
Graphics Interface: PCI Express 2.0 x16

That means I have a 2.0 x16 right?
And if so, what is the difference between that and a 2.1 x16, and can I a video card that uses the 2.1 x16

(Sorry if this was a repost, I can't seem to find the right information on this stuff)

Thanks in advance

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Graphics card Authority

Well, PCI-e 2.0 just supports double the bandwidth of PCI-e 1.1. A PCI-e 2.0 card will work in a PCI-e 1.1 slot, and vice versa (IIRC). It does not matter whether your graphic card has PCI-e 2.0 if you wish to upgrade the graphics of your computer, it is more important that your motherboard has such a slot.

In the specifications of your computer, it said that your motherboard was based on the AMD 780G chipset which provides a PCI-e 2.0 16x lane, and thus your motherboard has a PCI-e 2.0 16x lane. You can use a PCI-e 2.1 16x card if you would like to in a PCI-e 2.0 lane, however, I believe it is limited to PCI-e 2.0 features, although really PCI-e 2.1 doesn't seem to offer many new benefits at all.

Graphics card Master

PCIE 2.1 is just an implimentation of some proyocols that will be in PCIE 3.0. It dosent make much differance for now, just something that i guess was quite easy to put in that gives them a bigger number to use and claim to be more advanced.
Real world differance=Zero.
If you have a PCIE 2.0 slot then as far as i know any new card will run in it just fine.

Mactronix
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Thanks guys for the clarification.

Just one more thing on the power supply, do some video cards need a seperate cable that go directly to the power supply? Like a 6 pin?
Graphics card Master

Yes some cards will need a 6 Pin PCIE cable, Some need two and some need a 6 and an 8 pin cable. The 220 dosent need any extra cables and if you are looking to upgrade it you had better be sure teh PSU is up to powering the card

Mactronix
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