PCI express compatibility?

[thomas2878]

Guys,
I think i just killed the video card in my HTPC.
So I want to upgrade vid card but not the rest of the pc.

my current motherboard is
ABIT KN8 SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD
two PCI Express x16

Can I put a PCI Express 2.0 x16 card into a PCI express x16 slot?

Thanks

 

[masteryoda34]

Yes, PCI-E 2.0 slots and cards are backwards compatible with PCI-E 1.0 cards and slots.

EDIT: In order to get PCI-E 2.0 bandwidth both ends need to be PCI-E 2.0. If one device is PCI-E 1.0, then it will run at "normal" bandwidth. (Which is plenty 98% of the time.)

 

[thomas2878]

If I get a pcie 2.0 card like a radeon 4850 and plug it into a pcie 1.0 slot..
Do you think the HDMI output can carry 7.1 sound + video?

Or would that be something that pcie x 16 doesn't support?

 

[masteryoda34]

It should be fine.

AFAIK, the only situation where PCI-E 2.0 is necessary is when you have multiple GPU's on a single card.