Video Card upgrade advice

[aerlina]

Nearly a year ago my video card, power supply and monitor all died on me within a month of each other. I was able to borrow or buy only the power supply and monitor and have lived without the gorgeous graphics that my ATI Radeon HD2900XT 513MB card gave me. I'm using a very low end card at the time (most graphic demanding thing I can play is World of Warcraft on its lower settings).

I was looking in my users guide for my P5NSLI motherboard to see which type of video card(s) I can use and noticed all it says is PCI Express x16. I know there are different types of PCIe cards and was wondering if my system can handle the 2.0 or 2.1 cards. I've been looking on New Egg and there are very few cards that are merely PCIex16 and they dont seem that great.

I want a card that is at LEAST as good as my old ATI card, but not above my budget. My budget is up to $100, but I'd like to keep it around $75 if possible. My CPU is an Intel Core2 6400 @ 2.13GHz and I have 4gigs of ram (but only 3 shows up because I dont use 64 version OS. I will provide more info on my system if you ask specifically for it.

Some suggestions would be great.

edit: I prefer ATI cards but I am open to others. Also my PSU is Corsair 650.

 

[4745454b]

You have a very odd mobo and one that supports SLI so your better off with Nvidia this time. Perhaps a GTS450? You should be ok with a 2.0 card, but the AMD cards that are 2.1 might cause you grief. (if you do buy one, make sure you have the newest bios installed.)

 

[jonpaul37]

I would start by using the chart on the following link for reference:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card-game-performance-radeon-hd-6670,2935-7.html

from there, you will be able to see what card is better or equal to the 2900XT then you can research what would be the best/cheapest choice for you...

I would say that something like the HD 5670 would be a good match for your $75.00 price range: it is actually one-notch better than the 2900XT and you don't have to worry about PCI-E 2.0 or 2.1, it is backwards-compatible.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125360

 

[4745454b]

Its supposed to be backwards compatible. That P5N is one of the boards that I've seen have issues with PCIe 2.1 cards. And as I said, seeing as its an SLI board, might as well stay Nvidia.

If the OP does get a 2.1 card, make sure whoever you buy it from has a good return policy. Perhaps this thread will help the OP. The guy does finally state he got it working, but never said how.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=33&post=316363&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0

 

[jonpaul37]

Its supposed to be backwards compatible. That P5N is one of the boards that I've seen have issues with PCIe 2.1 cards. And as I said, seeing as its an SLI board, might as well stay Nvidia.

If the OP does get a 2.1 card, make sure whoever you buy it from has a good return policy. Perhaps this thread will help the OP. The guy does finally state he got it working, but never said how.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=33&post=316363&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0

Good call, I forgot to mention that some motherboards are quite finnicky and others are smooth butta...

 

[aerlina]

I've been searching New Egg and this video card keeps coming up at the top of my list, not sure why. It's a step down on the hierarchy chart and I'd rather find a better one but I'd like to know peoples thoughts about the card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161315

 

[4745454b]

The 4670 would be a small step down. Should be close enough to what you had that you wouldn't notice. You might want to look for a 5670 or 6670 to get a speed increase.