New Old Video Card

[DAVIDARC]

It looks like I may have to replace video card. (been thing about this for sometime). I currently have a GeForce GT 610. I will need to find a video card that uses PCI Express 2.0. I would like to find out, in dealing with outdated video cards what is someplace to go shopping. I have casually looked on Amazon and for this I do not want to use Ebay. More to the point where should I NOT go shopping. Who are the stay away from sites?

[unbongwah]

I currently have a GeForce GT 610. I will need to find a video card that uses PCI Express 2.0.

Why? PCIe is forward- and backwards-compatible. You might have to tweak your BIOS settings - I remember having to set PCIe mode to Legacy to get a then-new card (Radeon RX 570) to work with an older MB - and its bandwidth will be limited by the older PCIe version; but you should still be able to use a modern GPU. Or do you mean your motherboard doesn't have an PCIe x16 slot on it?

[DAVIDARC]

Why? PCIe is forward- and backwards-compatible. You might have to tweak your BIOS settings - I remember having to set PCIe mode to Legacy to get a then-new card (Radeon RX 570) to work with an older MB - and its bandwidth will be limited by the older PCIe version; but you should still be able to use a modern GPU. Or do you mean your motherboard doesn't have an PCIe x16 slot on it?

Thank you. I had no idea that modern PCI cards are backwards compatible with PCI 2.0. I will keep that in mind when shopping.

[Buddha5440]

Thank you. I had no idea that modern PCI cards are backwards compatible with PCI 2.0. I will keep that in mind when shopping.

As unbongwah said, don't worry about the PCIe version or, more to the point, mainly look at PCIe 4.0 as this will be more future-proof if you end up getting a newer mobo/CPU.

Basically just look for the best GPU you can find in your budget (try to make sure it uses GDDR6/6X (not 5/5X) or HBM/HBM2 as they are much faster than older VRAM tech).

[DAVIDARC]

As unbongwah said, don't worry about the PCIe version or, more to the point, mainly look at PCIe 4.0 as this will be more future-proof if you end up getting a newer mobo/CPU.

Basically just look for the best GPU you can find in your budget (try to make sure it uses GDDR6/6X (not 5/5X) or HBM/HBM2 as they are much faster than older VRAM tech).

I assume you are talking about the video card memory. Unfortunately those video cards are out of my price range (for that level of card I would rather just by a new computer to replace the home brew hand me down mashup i have). I did get a better card, and MSI Geoforce 730 with 4 gig. Better that the Geoforce 610 with 1 gig I had. Christmas Amazon gift cards are wonderful. Game is sharper and smoother.