[Bowler]

I have an Asus P5E Deluxe Motherboard that accepts PCI E x 16 cards. I presently have a video card installed in the slot that works fine, however the fan on the card has started to make squeeling noises that drive me crazy. No amount of compressed air seems to help. The cord on the fan is disconnected now, but I want to replace the card itself. In searching, I find that there are PCIE x 16 1.0, 2.0 etc. Are the 2.0's backward compatible etc? I am not a gamer and just need a decent video card at a decent price. I am ronning Windows 7 Professional. Processor rated at 3.4 gb and 4 gb of RAM. My question is... What can I, and what can't I use in that slot? Second question... I see that different cards have different memory capacities. How much difference would I see with a 256 versus a 1Gb card? Thank You

[Jaymzkerten]

I'm not entirely sure, but I believe that the ASUS P5E boards are using 2.0 ports on them, even though it doesn't specify it. Even if it is not, a 2.0 card would work fine in a 1.0 port, but it won't operate at its best performance. The older port would limit the card to the bandwidth of the port. You could think of it kind of like a sports car on a highway -- the sports car *will* drive fine on the highway, but the 65 MPH speed limit isn't allowing it to go to its full potential like it could on a race track.

Another alternative if you would like to save yourself some money, if the video card itself is working fine you could just purchase a replacement heatsink/fan assembly for the card you already have.Link Text