Need advice on a new graphics card compatibility.

Hello Fleetie Darlings.

So my old Radeon card finally began to give out on me. It never used to make a sound but recently I could really hear the fan laboring to keep it cool and the game would start to lag and skip whenever the graphics requirements became too heavy.

I bought a new card that was the current version of the same model:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7192175&csid=_61

It should have worked fine but even without full graphics settings it was still lagging. I played around with the clocking to no avail.

I'm trying to find more powerful card but all the cards I'm finding require a pci-e 3.0 and 2.1 but my HP 3.ghz x4 amd cpu with 8gb ram only has 2.0 ports. I've heard that any graphics cards with higher port requirements won't work well and I'm wondering how true that is or if anyone knows where I can find a good card for my comp with 2.0 ports. My budget is about $300 and if it is ok to use a higher port card with my comp I've narrowed it down to these choices:

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=NU-560-220-0004&cpc=RESX

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HD7870-DC2-2GD5-PB-R&cat=VCD

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6820401


If anyone has any advice or expertise in these matters I'd sure appreciate it. I'm totally lost :(

Thanks Ras :)

But I was told that AMD processors couldn't run Nvidia cards, is this not true?

I removed my post because I didn't read yours carefully enough. If you have an AMD chipset, you should stick with their hardware...that's probably why mine is a bit flakey on....well..my Nvidia N-force motherboard. LOL!

*facepalm*

So before i make an ass of myself further, Let me gracefully bow out of this one before i give you bad information and let the real experts chime in. HA! :blush:

For under $300 you can get a beast of a card. I love my Radeon 6870.

Best! B)
Steve

I don't know much about AMD graphics cards; I mainly stick with Nvidia. But from what it looks like all those cards are pretty good options. I would stick with the high memory when possible. :P

Thanks, Nick :)

I'm primarily worried about the PCI-e port compatibility. Is the performance I get going to be worth the money or is the difference in ports not a big deal?

Jacien,

I'm currently running a 3.0 PCIe card in my 2.0 bus and haven't really had an issue so far. I have a 7850 running in the 990fx motherboard. Now I think about it I have yet to see an AMD motherboard with the 3.0 PCIe.

I will have to say you may need to totally uninstall your video driver and reinstall. I've had more issues with drivers than the cards themselves.

As far as running a different card with a different manufacturer chipset. The drivers may work more hand in hand when they are the same but if they follow the standard PCIe any card should work in any motherboard.

SB

Hd 7770 is good enough for most games and I'm sure the 2.1-3.0 pci specifications are backwards compatible.

Awesome, thanks to everyone for the info. I've boought the card and should have it next week :)