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  3. Will the motherboard in my decade old desktop pc work with any new graphics card?

Will the motherboard in my decade old desktop pc work with any new graphics card?

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  • smokeydope@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
    smokeydope@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
    [email protected]
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    Do I need to worry about upgrading motherboard with GPU if its old or will it work okay just buying a new GPU?

    O max_p@lemmy.max-p.meM B S thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.orgT 10 Replies Last reply
    7
    • smokeydope@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

      Do I need to worry about upgrading motherboard with GPU if its old or will it work okay just buying a new GPU?

      O This user is from outside of this forum
      O This user is from outside of this forum
      [email protected]
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      I do believe this question is gonna require more information, like what model motherboard...

      smokeydope@lemmy.worldS 1 Reply Last reply
      2
      • smokeydope@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

        Do I need to worry about upgrading motherboard with GPU if its old or will it work okay just buying a new GPU?

        max_p@lemmy.max-p.meM This user is from outside of this forum
        max_p@lemmy.max-p.meM This user is from outside of this forum
        [email protected]
        wrote on last edited by [email protected]
        #3

        If it's PCI Express (as opposed to regular PCI), then it pretty much should work.

        What may happen however is that the slot will run at a slower speed, so if you put a 5090 with a Core 2 Duo you will struggle to keep the GPU fed with enough data to fully load up the GPU while your CPU is pegged at 100%.

        It'll run though.

        EDIT: You can also have issues with the legacy BIOS and your newer card not shipping a BIOS ROM to initialize it on boot, but once it gets into the OS it should activate. If you have an iGPU it should output there until the OS starts.

        S F 2 Replies Last reply
        8
        • max_p@lemmy.max-p.meM [email protected]

          If it's PCI Express (as opposed to regular PCI), then it pretty much should work.

          What may happen however is that the slot will run at a slower speed, so if you put a 5090 with a Core 2 Duo you will struggle to keep the GPU fed with enough data to fully load up the GPU while your CPU is pegged at 100%.

          It'll run though.

          EDIT: You can also have issues with the legacy BIOS and your newer card not shipping a BIOS ROM to initialize it on boot, but once it gets into the OS it should activate. If you have an iGPU it should output there until the OS starts.

          S This user is from outside of this forum
          S This user is from outside of this forum
          [email protected]
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          Don't forget the PSU. You go with a power hungry gpu, and you have an older psu that's say 400w, you're not getting clean power.

          1 Reply Last reply
          9
          • smokeydope@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

            Do I need to worry about upgrading motherboard with GPU if its old or will it work okay just buying a new GPU?

            B This user is from outside of this forum
            B This user is from outside of this forum
            [email protected]
            wrote on last edited by [email protected]
            #5

            Assuming PCIe, you'll be limited to the bus speed of whatever version your motherboard has, but otherwise you should be able to get video fine as long as you get your drivers configured correctly.

            smokeydope@lemmy.worldS 1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • smokeydope@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

              Do I need to worry about upgrading motherboard with GPU if its old or will it work okay just buying a new GPU?

              S This user is from outside of this forum
              S This user is from outside of this forum
              [email protected]
              wrote on last edited by [email protected]
              #6

              IMO it really depends on if you can upgrade your CPU as well. I have a 12 year old dell precision that maybe (probably not?) could handle a newer CPU (32gb of ram), but there is no way that I know of to upgrade the CPU to a current generation; thus, it is stuck with a CPU that's too weak even for a 1070Ti.

              Look here to find upgrades that will let you get the most out of that old motherboard. IDK if it will be much though. I upgraded the CPU on mine in hopes that ~8% gain in performance would do much... it didn't.

              Here's a good resource as well. They focus on used systems it seems and helped me find the strongest (yet still shitty) CPU that I could get for my ancient motherboard.

              1 Reply Last reply
              1
              • max_p@lemmy.max-p.meM [email protected]

                If it's PCI Express (as opposed to regular PCI), then it pretty much should work.

                What may happen however is that the slot will run at a slower speed, so if you put a 5090 with a Core 2 Duo you will struggle to keep the GPU fed with enough data to fully load up the GPU while your CPU is pegged at 100%.

                It'll run though.

                EDIT: You can also have issues with the legacy BIOS and your newer card not shipping a BIOS ROM to initialize it on boot, but once it gets into the OS it should activate. If you have an iGPU it should output there until the OS starts.

                F This user is from outside of this forum
                F This user is from outside of this forum
                [email protected]
                wrote on last edited by [email protected]
                #7

                Ironically, high end cards usually only have small penalties for having a previous gen PCIe. On a full x16 lanes, there's usually bandwidth to spare. Although you wouldn't want to put a RTX 5090 on PCIe 3.0. It was the RX 6500 XT with its mere x4 lane count that took a significant hit running on PCIe 3.0 instead of 4.0. That was not a good limitation for that market segment since the low end is where people are most likely to try to avoid upgrading motherboards/cpus.

                max_p@lemmy.max-p.meM 1 Reply Last reply
                1
                • B [email protected]

                  Assuming PCIe, you'll be limited to the bus speed of whatever version your motherboard has, but otherwise you should be able to get video fine as long as you get your drivers configured correctly.

                  smokeydope@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                  smokeydope@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                  [email protected]
                  wrote on last edited by [email protected]
                  #8

                  This is the motherboard I have it says it's a 'generation 3' but duesnt say what gddr vram it supports. I would like to put in a Intel arc card with gddr6 gram

                  B 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • O [email protected]

                    I do believe this question is gonna require more information, like what model motherboard...

                    smokeydope@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                    smokeydope@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                    [email protected]
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    Here's some more info. This is the motherboard I have it says it's a 'generation 3' but duesnt say what gddr vram it supports. I would like to put in a Intel arc card with gddr6 gram

                    M D 2 Replies Last reply
                    0
                    • smokeydope@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

                      This is the motherboard I have it says it's a 'generation 3' but duesnt say what gddr vram it supports. I would like to put in a Intel arc card with gddr6 gram

                      B This user is from outside of this forum
                      B This user is from outside of this forum
                      [email protected]
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      The bus speed just translates to how quickly data can be transferred through the mobo to your card to be processed/rendered. I'd just pop it in and configure it, then run a benchmark program, which will tell you where your bottlenecks are. In terms of functionality there's no reason it shouldn't work, but don't expect newer AAA games to run at full spec.

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      • smokeydope@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

                        Do I need to worry about upgrading motherboard with GPU if its old or will it work okay just buying a new GPU?

                        thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
                        thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.orgT This user is from outside of this forum
                        [email protected]
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        look for this in you PDF of the mother board

                        PCI-E 3.0 x16 slot

                        now go to your favorite web store and look for PCI-E 3.0 x16 gpu

                        max out the ram and make sure you have a fast M.2 hard drive, power supply unit PSU should probably be 500+

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • F [email protected]

                          Ironically, high end cards usually only have small penalties for having a previous gen PCIe. On a full x16 lanes, there's usually bandwidth to spare. Although you wouldn't want to put a RTX 5090 on PCIe 3.0. It was the RX 6500 XT with its mere x4 lane count that took a significant hit running on PCIe 3.0 instead of 4.0. That was not a good limitation for that market segment since the low end is where people are most likely to try to avoid upgrading motherboards/cpus.

                          max_p@lemmy.max-p.meM This user is from outside of this forum
                          max_p@lemmy.max-p.meM This user is from outside of this forum
                          [email protected]
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          I had more in mind like an AM3 platform with an FX CPU, or equivalent old Intel platform.

                          Really starts depending on what you run on that GPU, like it'll render Furmark just fine at full tilt but a modern open world game will probably struggle with asset pop-in and stutters because of both bandwidth and the CPU not issuing draw calls fast enough to keep up with the GPU.

                          1 Reply Last reply
                          0
                          • smokeydope@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

                            Do I need to worry about upgrading motherboard with GPU if its old or will it work okay just buying a new GPU?

                            malreynolds@slrpnk.netM This user is from outside of this forum
                            malreynolds@slrpnk.netM This user is from outside of this forum
                            [email protected]
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            You'll be fine, make sure it's a x16 card (vasty majority are), stick it in your x16 slot. Make sure you have enough power, some are pretty thirsty these days (it's usually on the specs sheet for the card and on your power supply in the case)

                            You can also upgrade the CPU to AMD Ryzen 3000 series (e.g. 3900X, pretty cheap second hand) by upgrading the BIOS here for a nice performance uplift. Get to at least 16Gb RAM (DDR4, also cheap).

                            Later, you can recycle this as a home sever or swap to a motherboard that supports Ryzen 5000 series (also cheap these days), which will take all your present hardware and enable CPU upgrade to say 5800X3D to make it a gaming beast (at least for a couple of years).

                            1 Reply Last reply
                            0
                            • smokeydope@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

                              Here's some more info. This is the motherboard I have it says it's a 'generation 3' but duesnt say what gddr vram it supports. I would like to put in a Intel arc card with gddr6 gram

                              M This user is from outside of this forum
                              M This user is from outside of this forum
                              [email protected]
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              Most people aren't responding to the specifics of that board, but even though it's old it's still PCIe x16 and will work with a lot of modern cards. The cards of it's era were things like the nvidia 1660 or any of the AMD Radeon 6000x series would be fine. As others have said you'll need to ensure your PSU is able to provide enough power, and that your cpu might not be able to provide enough data. So anything past that era might be pointless.

                              486@lemmy.world4 1 Reply Last reply
                              0
                              • smokeydope@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

                                Do I need to worry about upgrading motherboard with GPU if its old or will it work okay just buying a new GPU?

                                R This user is from outside of this forum
                                R This user is from outside of this forum
                                [email protected]
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                You mention in one comment that you want to use an Intel Arc. Those require resizeable BAR support on the mainboard/CPU. Search the manuals of your Mainboard/CPU. If it isn't mentioned, then the GPU will not work

                                486@lemmy.world4 1 Reply Last reply
                                1
                                • R [email protected]

                                  You mention in one comment that you want to use an Intel Arc. Those require resizeable BAR support on the mainboard/CPU. Search the manuals of your Mainboard/CPU. If it isn't mentioned, then the GPU will not work

                                  486@lemmy.world4 This user is from outside of this forum
                                  486@lemmy.world4 This user is from outside of this forum
                                  [email protected]
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #16

                                  I am pretty sure that this is not true. While Intel Arc GPUs really should be paired with a mainboard with resizable BAR for performance reasons, they will still work without it, although with pretty bad performance.

                                  R 1 Reply Last reply
                                  2
                                  • M [email protected]

                                    Most people aren't responding to the specifics of that board, but even though it's old it's still PCIe x16 and will work with a lot of modern cards. The cards of it's era were things like the nvidia 1660 or any of the AMD Radeon 6000x series would be fine. As others have said you'll need to ensure your PSU is able to provide enough power, and that your cpu might not be able to provide enough data. So anything past that era might be pointless.

                                    486@lemmy.world4 This user is from outside of this forum
                                    486@lemmy.world4 This user is from outside of this forum
                                    [email protected]
                                    wrote on last edited by [email protected]
                                    #17

                                    and that your cpu might not be able to provide enough data.

                                    That also depends on the settings and resolution you plan on playing with. The higher the visual settings and resolution, the more demand is on the GPU. So when you plan to play on very high visual settings at a high resolution, a higher end GPU might make sense even with an older CPU.

                                    1 Reply Last reply
                                    0
                                    • 486@lemmy.world4 [email protected]

                                      I am pretty sure that this is not true. While Intel Arc GPUs really should be paired with a mainboard with resizable BAR for performance reasons, they will still work without it, although with pretty bad performance.

                                      R This user is from outside of this forum
                                      R This user is from outside of this forum
                                      [email protected]
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #18

                                      Intel mentions requiring support on their quickstart guide: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000091128/graphics/intel-arc-dedicated-graphics-family.html

                                      486@lemmy.world4 1 Reply Last reply
                                      1
                                      • smokeydope@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

                                        Do I need to worry about upgrading motherboard with GPU if its old or will it work okay just buying a new GPU?

                                        P This user is from outside of this forum
                                        P This user is from outside of this forum
                                        [email protected]
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #19

                                        Probably it'll be fine, with a few exceptions.
                                        But probably it won't be worth the money unless you're getting a low end card

                                        1 Reply Last reply
                                        1
                                        • smokeydope@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

                                          Do I need to worry about upgrading motherboard with GPU if its old or will it work okay just buying a new GPU?

                                          J This user is from outside of this forum
                                          J This user is from outside of this forum
                                          [email protected]
                                          wrote on last edited by [email protected]
                                          #20

                                          Your decade old motherboard may or may not accept a graphics card but your decade old cpu will have a hard time running any modern games. Putting an expensive video card in there would be like buying custom rims for a junk car. If you provide more details like exactly what motherboard cpu you have. What kind of games you wanna play you can get more pointed support

                                          smokeydope@lemmy.worldS 1 Reply Last reply
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