PCI-e and PCI-e 2.0

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biolly

New Member
Hi there,

New to the forums and was looking for any help about computer parts since i don't really know much at all about them. Not sure how i can get filled in with that knowledge either, so I thought i'd ask for help instead.

So i'm thinking about upgrading my computer up a bit, really not looking to spending too much either but i'm not sure if that's possible with the "new" parts or upgrades i want. I'm looking into upgrading my Video Card, and possibly adding more RAM into what i have now to speed up the games i play (L4d2 & CS:S). At this moment i have a Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. M61P-S3 motherboard, a NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT video card, and 2048 GB of RAM. The thing is i'm not sure WHAT my motherboard can handle, and i'm afraid of overdoing it causing my motherboard to fry or something.

So my question is what's the best video card my motherboard can handle without stressing it out too much? I was thinking of getting a EVGA GeForce GTS 450, but i'm not sure if i'm even able to do that seeing that the video card is a PCI-e 2.0... Another question i have is, if i were to add 2 more sticks of RAM will it make my gaming run smoother? Meaning no need to upgrade? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
 
Well, if those games are what you play, than that video card and RAM is ample. What processor do you have? When upgrading you want to consider all of the parts and see if it's worth it. If you have a 2.2ghz dual core, a GTS 450 is going to be overkill, as your processor would be such a bottleneck. I don't suggest buying a video card that your motherboard doesn't support. It might work, but would be a waste of money. If your mobo doesn't support PCI-E2.0, than that's a good indicator that buying a 2.0 card is a bad idea with that mobo.
More RAM always improves game performance, but only if your games are pushing your RAM to its limits. CS:S and L4D2 wouldn't push your system to its limits, unless you have a weaker CPU. Also RAM is pointless to upgrade if your CPU isn't that great. Just check the recommended requirements for the games that you want to play, and if your system doesn't meet those than you can upgrade. I don't suggest upgrading to a 450 without also upgrading your RAM and CPU, and if your motherboard doesn't support PCI-E 2.0, than it's a good idea to go with a 250 or something that your mobo supports.
But if you're playing L4d2 and CS:S than you don't need to upgrade at all, unless your CPU is weak.
 
lincsman said:
Well, if those games are what you play, than that video card and RAM is ample. What processor do you have? When upgrading you want to consider all of the parts and see if it's worth it. If you have a 2.2ghz dual core, a GTS 450 is going to be overkill, as your processor would be such a bottleneck. I don't suggest buying a video card that your motherboard doesn't support. It might work, but would be a waste of money. If your mobo doesn't support PCI-E2.0, than that's a good indicator that buying a 2.0 card is a bad idea with that mobo.
More RAM always improves game performance, but only if your games are pushing your RAM to its limits. CS:S and L4D2 wouldn't push your system to its limits, unless you have a weaker CPU. Also RAM is pointless to upgrade if your CPU isn't that great. Just check the recommended requirements for the games that you want to play, and if your system doesn't meet those than you can upgrade. I don't suggest upgrading to a 450 without also upgrading your RAM and CPU, and if your motherboard doesn't support PCI-E 2.0, than it's a good idea to go with a 250 or something that your mobo supports.
But if you're playing L4d2 and CS:S than you don't need to upgrade at all, unless your CPU is weak.
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First pci-e 2.0 is fully compatible with pci-ex 1.0 so a pci-e 2.0 will run in 1.0 slot and vice versa. A gts 450 or 250 are both labeled as being pci-ex 2.0.
pci-ex 2.0 has got twice the bandwidth, meaning x16 1.0 slot will be the speed of x8 of a 2.0 slot and this is unlikely to affect performance any more than 3-5 % when using a high end gpu

It depends highly on what dual core you have as to whether a gts 450 will bottleneck it, games are only now becoming increasingly more optimized for quad cores, gts 450 is a pretty mid range card tbh
to the op the best way to proceed is to tell me what motherboard you have? and what is your budget for a video card?
 
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Thank you so much for the quick replies, my apologies for taking so long. Been really busy with work and just got home. Right now for the motherboard i'm using a GA-M61P-S3 (rev. 1.0) made by Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. and for the processor a AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.3GHz. As for the budget for a video card i'd say i would pay 250$ max.
 
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upgrade that little box to a more ample 500-600W unit then you can consider a GPU upgrade, and as was said, you wont see a hit running a 1.0 card on a 2.0 bus...its negligible.
 
FuryRosewood said:
upgrade that little box to a more ample 500-600W unit then you can consider a GPU upgrade, and as was said, you wont see a hit running a 1.0 card on a 2.0 bus...its negligible.
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Ahh okay, then better off to just upgrade everything then? I don't know if i'll be doing that.. Not sure if I didn't quite get something the others said, but didn't they say a 2.0 card will be able to run in a 1.0 bus? Quite confused on what to do now, getting mixed answers. This is what's going through my head though;

My mobo is compatible with the 450 gs, but it most likely will be overkill with what other parts i have to "support" it. Meaning if i were to get a 450 gs i'll also have to upgrade my PSU, RAM, and CPU? And even if i were to do that with my outdated mobo it'll possibly be a waste of money.

I guess that means i'll have to upgrade to something lower quality then hm?
 
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you could first try the gpu and psu and see how that pans out, and if it isnt enough the mobo, ram and cpu can be changed and everything else can be carried over, probably best to see, then go off the proverbial deep end.
 
biolly said:
Ahh okay, then better off to just upgrade everything then? I don't know if i'll be doing that.. Not sure if I didn't quite get something the others said, but didn't they say a 2.0 card will be able to run in a 1.0 bus? Quite confused on what to do now, getting mixed answers. This is what's going through my head though;/QUOTE]

A 2.0 card will run in a 1.0 slot, FuryRosewood said the same i did about it.

Your ram will be fine for now, you may want to consider an uprgrade in the future but it is fine for now, ram is very cheap btw.

all you will need to upgrade for the gpu is the psu.

Just to confirm you have a 250 watt psu? because the minimum i've found for a 8600 gt is 350 watt.
are you by any chance reading the voltage rating, like mine says 115/230 v
does yours say something like 115/250 v?
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Thanks for the replies fellas, you all have been really helpful. I'll probably first try upgrading my GPU and PSU and see how that turns out... If there's no major change i'll probably end up taking all of your advices and slowly upgrading my computer piece by piece.

About my PSU, i made a little error, mine is a 115/230 watt PSU not a 115/250 watt. Would it be a really bad thing to be running my 8600 gt at 115 watts? lol.. because i've been having it like this for quite some time now, and i noticed the performance isn't as great as it use to be a year ago.
 
well if it works it works but manufacturers recommend that you have at least 350 watts and since it is significantly lower i would imagine it wouldn't work at all. I am pretty sure you are reading the voltage not the watts.
I'm looking at my psu and it says

115/230 voltage and above it says 450 w (watts) max
115/230 volts is the different amounts it can take in from the plug socket not the watts, do you have a name/ model of the psu at all.
 
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