Official GIGABYTE Forum
Questions about GIGABYTE products => Motherboards with AMD processors => Topic started by: Webby2020 on May 13, 2013, 12:29:27 pm
-
Hi folks. I'm a bit out of my depth in this area.
I was going to upgrade my, (now rather dated,) NVidia 9800 GT to a new 600 series card, probably a GT 640. However,I have been advised against it as I was told my motherboards BIOS probably would not support it.
I am currently using a GA-M52L-S3P (rev 1.0) motherboard and have just updated the BIOS using @BIOS.
So my question is, what NVidia cards can this board support?
Thanks in advance.
-
Those warning relate to the PCI-E version of the board and video card used.
If the VGA BIOS is smartly made you will have no issues ,but if it s not you may not see any image.
It all depends on the manufacturer of the video card.
Get the card from a store where you can send it back if it doesn t work.
You should also take a look at the AMD video cards as well ,who knows which ones may work better :)
Furthermore keep in mind that your mobo is quite an outdated one and so must be the CPU.
Adding a new video card in a weak environment may not bring performance increases.
Overall i would say you need to upgrade mobo + CPU + video card.
-
Thanks for the speedy reply.
Upgrading the Graphics Card, (and doubling the RAM,) are stop-gap measures until I can afford to replace everything. Frankly, by the time I have got a new MOBO, CPU and Graphics card, I may as well build a new rig.
I'm running an AMD Phenom 9650 Quad-Core 2.3GHz at present, and I think it will hold up ok for a nother year or so. I'm not after amazing performance or anything. And as I said, it's a stop-gap.
-
I think the strategy is not right :)
If the video card still works you would gain more from upgrading to a new FM2 motherboard + some quad FM2 APU/CPU.Sell what you have add the money for the new video card and switch to USB 3.0 ,SATA 3 ,PCI-E 2.1 and so on in a blink of an eye.
This is why :
-Getting a new video card that will be fed with data by that lazy CPU will mean no gains of performance.
-DDR 2 is outdated and slower that DDR 3 and not cheaper
-FM 2 uses less power
-FM 2 is a socket that will last so you can upgrade to a better APU if needed in the next years.
On short don t be surprised if by upgrading to a new video card and more DDR 2 RAM you will only waste money with no substantial increase in performance ,with the risk of the new card not to work.
If you add more sticks of DDR 2 RAM you will also notice a drop in memory frequency (due to the lazy IMC in the Phenom) which will make the more amount of RAM useless as well :)
-
My entire budget is in the £80 mark. I cannot do all that with that meager budget. I intend to replace everything asap, but that is going to take time. as I said, it's a stop gap.
My initial question still remains though, "What cards are compatable?"
-
Select a store that allows you to send back the product with no questions asked ,buy what you want and see if it works.
If in my crap country i can find such stores i am sure you can do it in the UK too :)
If it doesn t work send it back and wait until you get the money to get some APU based rig ,the best value available.
-
Greetings,
Regarding the gt 640 card, I found this reference. Read down about half way to the nvidia discussion.
http://www.overclock.net/a/the-final-answer-to-the-controversial-pcie-x16-version-compatibility
eg, your card should work on the 1.1 pci-e 16 interface your mb probably has
Be well,
Kim
-
Thanks Timmib. That was the sort of answer I was after.
Finding a supplier in the UK that will allow me to return a component that is not faulty is extremely difficult. Basically, if the part is ok, they wont accept it back. So when I buy a part, I want to know for sure it will work.