How can I verify if my PC/motherboard can take advantage of PCI Express x16 2.0 video card?
My PC is a Dell Vostro 200 with Intel G33 chipset.
My PC is a Dell Vostro 200 with Intel G33 chipset.
PCI Express x16 2.0 video card?
- Thread starter Quattro Pete
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2.0 is backwards compatible to 1.1, but it will not run at full bandwidth and you will require extra power supply power connectors if it is a card that requires more than 75 watts of juice.
I don't believe the G33 chipset is 2.0 compatible, but the card will work. Your biggest issue will be the power supply. May require some Molex to PCI-E power adapters. You should have one PCI-E X16 slot. Dell posts service manuals you can look up on their support site from the service tag.
What kind of card?
I don't believe the G33 chipset is 2.0 compatible, but the card will work. Your biggest issue will be the power supply. May require some Molex to PCI-E power adapters. You should have one PCI-E X16 slot. Dell posts service manuals you can look up on their support site from the service tag.
What kind of card?
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You're right. Having only a 300W power supply, getting such a card is probably not a good idea anyway. I was looking at this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103051
I'm basically trying to find the best card I can get for about $100.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103051
I'm basically trying to find the best card I can get for about $100.
For some strange reason in my experience, Dell underrates their power supplies.
If you have a standard dual core processor that is not a super high clock (being a Vostro I would assume something like a Pentium Dual-Core E2180) and a single hard drive and optical drive with few peripheral devices, you may have the headroom to run that card.
If not, I would look into buying a 350 watt FSP power supply which is underrated, inexpensive and of good quality. You can try it, and if you get stability issues, immediately upgrade the power supply.
If you have a standard dual core processor that is not a super high clock (being a Vostro I would assume something like a Pentium Dual-Core E2180) and a single hard drive and optical drive with few peripheral devices, you may have the headroom to run that card.
If not, I would look into buying a 350 watt FSP power supply which is underrated, inexpensive and of good quality. You can try it, and if you get stability issues, immediately upgrade the power supply.
The card will work in your motherboard, but as MGregoir said, it will not run at full speed. Transfers will be limited to 5000 MBytes/sec, vs. the full PCI Express 2.0 speed of 10000 MBytes/sec.
Data transfers will be no faster than a PCI Express 1.0 card.
Data transfers will be no faster than a PCI Express 1.0 card.
Vista has a nice 'performance score' which allows you to compare different video cards online. Before I knew about it the first non-gaming card that I bought seemed slow, and when I checked it out the card actually lowered video performance compared to the on board video chipset. Searching around I ended up traded that one back in and got a better non-gaming card. Now the performance is processor limited, which is arguably where you want to be.
The PCI-e 2.0 thing is only an issue for multiple video card setups at this point, I would really not sweat it. PCI-e 2.0 came about to increase the power available through the slot to reduce the need for extra connectors to the power supply, and for multi-GPU setups to be able to communicate through the slot rather than having to have extra bridges to increase bandwidth.
It's not something that should concern "normal" people.
It's not something that should concern "normal" people.
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
How can I verify if my PC/motherboard can take advantage of PCI Express x16 2.0 video card?
My PC is a Dell Vostro 200 with Intel G33 chipset.
My dell 9200 has 375W? power supply I would like to game and get a 8800 GTS card they say I need 400W will it run? also I have a PCI Express x16 slot still a good fit?
Thanks
bruce
How can I verify if my PC/motherboard can take advantage of PCI Express x16 2.0 video card?
My PC is a Dell Vostro 200 with Intel G33 chipset.
My dell 9200 has 375W? power supply I would like to game and get a 8800 GTS card they say I need 400W will it run? also I have a PCI Express x16 slot still a good fit?
Thanks
bruce
Originally Posted By: MGregoir
For some strange reason in my experience, Dell underrates their power supplies.
If you have a standard dual core processor that is not a super high clock (being a Vostro I would assume something like a Pentium Dual-Core E2180) and a single hard drive and optical drive with few peripheral devices, you may have the headroom to run that card.
If not, I would look into buying a 350 watt FSP power supply which is underrated, inexpensive and of good quality. You can try it, and if you get stability issues, immediately upgrade the power supply.
It's a Core 2 Duo E8200, single HDD, single DVD drive.
What I'm really wondering then, since my board can't take advantage of full PCI 2.0 speed, is if I would even notice any performance gain from that card versus a regular PCIe x16 card like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161203
For some strange reason in my experience, Dell underrates their power supplies.
If you have a standard dual core processor that is not a super high clock (being a Vostro I would assume something like a Pentium Dual-Core E2180) and a single hard drive and optical drive with few peripheral devices, you may have the headroom to run that card.
If not, I would look into buying a 350 watt FSP power supply which is underrated, inexpensive and of good quality. You can try it, and if you get stability issues, immediately upgrade the power supply.
It's a Core 2 Duo E8200, single HDD, single DVD drive.
What I'm really wondering then, since my board can't take advantage of full PCI 2.0 speed, is if I would even notice any performance gain from that card versus a regular PCIe x16 card like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161203
You do not need the full PCI-e 2.0 speed, the card does not use up all of that bandwidth unless you have two of them linked together.
Worry more about the chipset, where they HD 3850 is a much superior card to any of the HD2000 cards.
As far as Bruce's question, I have a Dell 9150 and guys have ran some pretty high end cards with them. In fact, that power supply was used in the XPS 600. If it is a 512 MB 8800 GTS rather than a 320 or 640, it is the newer generation one which is more power effecient and should work fine.
Worry more about the chipset, where they HD 3850 is a much superior card to any of the HD2000 cards.
As far as Bruce's question, I have a Dell 9150 and guys have ran some pretty high end cards with them. In fact, that power supply was used in the XPS 600. If it is a 512 MB 8800 GTS rather than a 320 or 640, it is the newer generation one which is more power effecient and should work fine.
thanks have not bought card yet newegg has the 512 8800 GTS at $179 I think.
bruce
bruce
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Originally Posted By: 1sttruck
Vista has a nice 'performance score' which allows you to compare different video cards online.
Do you have a link? I haven't been able to google it. I mean, I now that I can run my own performance score, but I don't know how to find other people's scores (for different gfx cards).
Vista has a nice 'performance score' which allows you to compare different video cards online.
Do you have a link? I haven't been able to google it. I mean, I now that I can run my own performance score, but I don't know how to find other people's scores (for different gfx cards).
Sorry for posting this so late, but Vista performance scores don't really translate well to real world performance. Graphics card benchmarks would probably serve you better. This site has some recent ones with specific power requirements considered:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gainward-bliss9600gt-512gs_7.html#sect0
Here is a site that ranks video cards based on approximate performance:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card,1923-7.html
It shows that the 3850 is much better than the 2600XT. That page also has a buying guide based on what you want to spend, but doesn't consider rebates.
Brand quality and correct amperages matter more than inflated wattage ratings on power supplies. A few reliable brands are SeaSonic, PC Power and Cooling, Corsair, FSP, Sparkle, and the Antec Earthwatts line (made by SeaSonic).
Here's lots of good info on power supplies if you want to do more research:
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=136602&page=1&pp=20
The Antec Earthwatts EA430 often goes on sale on Newegg with a good rebate:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006
It should be strong enough for just about any single video card system. The rebate takes a while to get back though.
You really have to consider how much you want to spend on a graphics card based on what you need it for because they depreciate so rapidly.
Also, make sure your Dell Vosotro case is big enough to hold anything you plan to buy. I don't know how much room they have.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gainward-bliss9600gt-512gs_7.html#sect0
Here is a site that ranks video cards based on approximate performance:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card,1923-7.html
It shows that the 3850 is much better than the 2600XT. That page also has a buying guide based on what you want to spend, but doesn't consider rebates.
Brand quality and correct amperages matter more than inflated wattage ratings on power supplies. A few reliable brands are SeaSonic, PC Power and Cooling, Corsair, FSP, Sparkle, and the Antec Earthwatts line (made by SeaSonic).
Here's lots of good info on power supplies if you want to do more research:
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=136602&page=1&pp=20
The Antec Earthwatts EA430 often goes on sale on Newegg with a good rebate:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371006
It should be strong enough for just about any single video card system. The rebate takes a while to get back though.
You really have to consider how much you want to spend on a graphics card based on what you need it for because they depreciate so rapidly.
Also, make sure your Dell Vosotro case is big enough to hold anything you plan to buy. I don't know how much room they have.
The ATI cards tend to be less picky about power vs. the Nvidia cards.
For $109 after rebate, I would definitely grab that 3850 as an economical upgrade to integrated g33 graphics. Slickdeals.net shows a gigabyte equivalent for
To take advantage of a card, you'll need to use programs that require that power. Are you planning on playing games or use graphics intensive programs currently choking the integrated G33 graphics?
The 1.0 vs 2.0 is meaningless at that level of performance. Don't worry about it.
For any 8800 Nvidia card, upgrade the power supply to prevent headaches. I wouldn't consider anything under 500watts.
Dell's tend to be power supply picky. Make sure that you research online with those that have already upgraded the power supply in your computer family. I get annoyed at older dells with their not-really-ATX wiring and the newer BTX cases that most ATX powersupplies won't fit in.
For $109 after rebate, I would definitely grab that 3850 as an economical upgrade to integrated g33 graphics. Slickdeals.net shows a gigabyte equivalent for
To take advantage of a card, you'll need to use programs that require that power. Are you planning on playing games or use graphics intensive programs currently choking the integrated G33 graphics?
The 1.0 vs 2.0 is meaningless at that level of performance. Don't worry about it.
For any 8800 Nvidia card, upgrade the power supply to prevent headaches. I wouldn't consider anything under 500watts.
Dell's tend to be power supply picky. Make sure that you research online with those that have already upgraded the power supply in your computer family. I get annoyed at older dells with their not-really-ATX wiring and the newer BTX cases that most ATX powersupplies won't fit in.
Thanks everyone. I ended up picking up the HIS HD 2600 XT, mainly due to physical size (not much room in my mini-tower case), but also because it has a silent fan. Moreover, I was afraid the 3850 would be too much to handle for the stock PS. My Vista graphics performance score went up from 3.3 to 5.9, but my overall score is at 5.5 (CPU and HDD limited).
The one thing that I did not find out until after I installed this card is that at native resolution of my monitor (1650x1050), it only supports 60 Hz refresh rate, and it is not the limitation of the monitor but the card itself. I find that my eyes get less tired at higher refresh rates (75 Hz).
Refresh rate and monitor capabilities are always forgotten since cards tend to be catered to gamers. Power is needed there too. To push a quality monitor, you need more power then what you think you need.
The last 21-24 inch monitors that I've installed seemed to require 8800GT/GTS or 3870's for good pleasing visual effects. And, these monitors were owned by NON-gamers.
What resolution/refresh rate were the integrated graphics set at? Almost any decent card should be able to trump either.
The last 21-24 inch monitors that I've installed seemed to require 8800GT/GTS or 3870's for good pleasing visual effects. And, these monitors were owned by NON-gamers.
What resolution/refresh rate were the integrated graphics set at? Almost any decent card should be able to trump either.
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