Compatibility question.

[Fefster]

I have to buy a GPU for a friend of mine(had a gts 250)and i'm leaning towards an XFX 6870.Only question is:he has an msi p35 neo2 mobo with pci-express 1.0a.Will that give him compatibility problems with the 6870(pci-ex 2.1)?

 

[mnewsham]

if it is a full size x16 slot it SHOULD still run fine, slower then a pci-e 2.0 x16 but should run x8 speeds.

 

[Fefster]

that SHOULD doesn't sound too convincing . Forgive my ignorance,should i go for a pci-ex 2.0 gpu or is it the same thing?What bothers me is actually the possibility of getting a card that doesn't work at all.

 

[mnewsham]

PCIe 2.0 cards are also generally backward compatible with PCIe 1.x motherboards, using the available bandwidth of PCI Express 1.1. Overall, graphic cards or motherboards designed for v2.0 will be able to work with the other being v1.1 or v1.0.

That help to convince you? Direct from wiki

 

[Fefster]

I saw the wikipedia page and they don't mention anything about pci-ex 2.1 compatibility.I have also heard about radeon 5*** series graphics not working on some pci-ex 1.0 mobos.

 

[mnewsham]

graphic cards or motherboards designed for v2.0 will be able to work with the other being v1.1 or v1.0.

2.0 and 2.1 are basically the same thing as far as connectors and speed are concerned