GPU Fit

[Berne]

Hi,
Will the Rad X1650 PRO PCI EXP 512MB GPU fit? I dont know enough about the fittings of PCI GPU's. The board ( Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L ) has got a PCI Exp 16 slot...will this GPU fit into it?

I hope so,

Regards,

Berne:hmm:

 

[CurseTheSky]

Yes. A PCI-E card is a PCI-E card. You just want to stay away from PCI (non-express) and AGP cards.

There are different PCI-E slots, such as shorter X1, X4, and X8 slots; generally you want to avoid these as PCI-E X16 slots have the highest bandwidth and thus offer the greatest performance from your graphics card. Here's a picture for reference. I heard that X16 devices will work fine in X8 and smaller slots, though their performance will be lessened. I haven't tried this myself, but again, from what I've heard, they will physically fit.

There are also different PCI-E versions: 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, and 2.1 (with 3.0 coming up in a year or two). Newer versions offer higher bandwidth (IIRC, PCI-E X16 1.0 is equivalent in bandwidth to PCI-E X8 2.0), but this shouldn't be a concern unless you're using some of the latest and greatest graphics cards. Newer cards are backwards compatible with older slots, and vice versa. So a PCI-E 1.0 graphics card will work fine in a PCI-E 2.0 slot.

Finally, if you're new to PCI-E or graphics cards in general, remember that there is a small tab at the end of the slot which locks your card into place. You'll need to push this tab in order to remove the graphics card when it's time.

 

[Berne]

Hi Curethesky,
It now seems this particular card will fit my new motherboard, thank you for your time and advice. Im now much more savvy on PCI.

Regards,

Berne