Video Card

[Ronspc]

I have a PCI Express x16 slot in my motherboard. I know this because its engraved in the motherboard. I am looking at new video cards, so my question is for the higher end video card there all 2.0 PCI Express x16. So will they fit in the x16 slot labeled on the motherboard. this isnt a old computer less than a year

 

[rohan23]

It will work in your computer. All PCI-E 2.0 cards are backwards compatible with 1.0. You won't get all of the speed.

 

[Ronspc]

thanks for answering so fast. but im wondering if it does work. i was looking at to get a 8800GTX or something. For flight simulator. On toms hardware apparently thats suppose to be the best card to run it. So how much of a difference will i see

 

[rohan23]

Theoretically, you will see half. I don't know about real life performance. You might as well buy a x16 card and save a bit of money. They still sell them online.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&N=2010380048 1069609641&name=PCI Express x16

"Now - As far as "real" performance increase? That's going to be difficult to pinpoint. Why?? Because the existing standard isn't close to it's limits. If you'll allow me to make up some numbers: Think of it as doubling the speed limit on the highway from 70 to 140. If no cars exist which are powerful enough to go faster than 50 miles an hour, and there are enough lanes to fit the traffic, does it matter???? This is like the situation now. Even multiple devices aren't capable of running faster than current limitations. So increasing the capacity of the pipe isn't going to bring much 'real world' benefit."

 

[bullzi]

As rohan said, theoretically it'll decrease your speed by half. However, on an 8800 Ultra those are built on the X16 1.0 bus. The only place that you really need 2.0 is on a GX2, 4870X2 or the GTX295. Any other cards honestly will not use the full bandwidth.

 

[wol-va-rine]

As rohan said, theoretically it'll decrease your speed by half. However, on an 8800 Ultra those are built on the X16 1.0 bus. The only place that you really need 2.0 is on a GX2, 4870X2 or the GTX295. Any other cards honestly will not use the full bandwidth.

so basically what bullzi's saying is multi gpu configurations, and if you're getting an 8800GTX or similar card, you want to check out if your psu will be able to handle it, most prebuilts (which I'm assuming you have) supply a rather skimpy psu that may not hold up when stressed by the more power hungry video cards, the 8800GTX falls into that category...