Graphics Card Compatability

[Webby2020]

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.

[Vezina]

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Furthermore keep in mind that your mobo is quite an outdated one and so must be the CPU.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.

[Webby2020]

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.

[Vezina]

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-DDR 2 is outdated and slower that DDR 3 and not cheaper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 

[Webby2020]

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?"

[Vezina]

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.

[timmib]

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

[Webby2020]

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.