Will PCIe 3.0 card work on PCIe 2.1 motherboard?

[vfighter]

My current video card is about to bite the bullet. I want to spend around $250. Will a Radeon HD 7850 run on my current MB? It is fine if it runs at PCIe 2.1 speeds, when I upgrade the MB I can keep the card, buit if it won't even run then I will get a different card altogether. Anyone know? Thanks in advance.

 

[sosofm]

Yes is fine PCIE 3.0 is backward compatible. All the tests and benchmarks of new 7000 series from AMD was on PCIE 2.0 because if you don't have Ivy Bridge CPU you can't benefit from the speed of PCIE 3.0. It will be fine.

 

[vfighter]

Not taking PCIe 3.0 into account, would a 2GB 560ti hold up better from a pure gaming FPS stand point than the 7850. The bit of benchmarks I am seeing shows that the 7850 falls behind a 1GB 560ti in Portal 2 and BF3, both games that I play, and the ones it does better in is not by much. Could a 2GB 560ti be able to make even that slim lead that the 7850 has on some games go away? The only thing that the 7850 would still have over even a 2GB 560ti seems to be power consumption, but as I am playing a game and trying not to die I am not too worried what my electricity bill is like.

 

[vfighter]

Best answer selected by vfighter.