PCI Express 2.0 VGA on PCI Express MoBo

[yronnen]

Hi,

I'm trying to give my desktop another year or two by upgrading some components. I want to install a new video card, but all of the new cards are PCI Express 2.0. My motherboard (Asus P5LD2) is PCI Express. Will the card work with an older board?

Thanks.

[awergh]

I don't see any reason why it shouldn't I used to use a PCIe 2.0 HD4670 on G31 motherboard and it worked fine.

That being said you should make sure your CPU isn't going to be a bottleneck

Edited December 15, 2009 by awergh

[Zenskas]

Yes PCI-e V2 cards are backwards compatible.

As far as speed goes PCI-e V2 is twice as fast as V1 but it makes no difference for most cards. In benchmarks, V2 @ x16 is no faster than @ x8 speed. Since V1 @ x16 is as fast as V2 @ x8 then there wouldn't be a noticeable difference as far as performance goes.

[yronnen]

Well, I have the E2180 (dual core, 800fsb, 1MB cache, 2Ghz). It's a bit light on the cache, but I think it's strong enough for Vista Pro 64.

Edited December 15, 2009 by yronnen

[Junior2613]

Its definitely enough for vista. I have the little brother of your CPU the E2140 @ 1.6Ghz runs it like a charm, even with 2 Sketchup projects and a 1080p movie in the background. Also how much RAM do you have ?

[puntoMX]

Also how much RAM do you have ?

Indeed, give it some 3 to 4GB and it will work fine.

If you don't play the latest games at 1080p, a HD4650 is a good recommendation, it even works for most games up to 1366*768 at some 25-30FPS.