P5N-E SLI and PCI Express 2.0?

Currently have around £200-£300, i mostly play flight sims and whatnot, don't really play the latest games so i'm just looking for a boost to my system and was looking at the graphics card but my problem is i've read all the newer graphics cards are PCI Express 2.0 and i'm not sure if my motherboard supports this, current specs are below and any advice would be appreciated.

ASus P5N-E SLI
Intel Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHZ
4GB Corsair XMS2 DHX
XFX Nvidia 8800GTS 312MB
Corsair VX 550W
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

P5N-E SLI has PCI-E x16 1.1 slots which means any 2.0 compatible card will work.

Performance might be capped a bit but its nothing to worry about.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ashy2k7

Currently have around £200-£300, i mostly play flight sims and whatnot, don't really play the latest games so i'm just looking for a boost to my system and was looking at the graphics card but my problem is i've read all the newer graphics cards are PCI Express 2.0 and i'm not sure if my motherboard supports this, current specs are below and any advice would be appreciated.

ASus P5N-E SLI
Intel Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHZ
4GB Corsair XMS2 DHX
XFX Nvidia 8800GTS 312MB
Corsair VX 550W
Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit

---

Your system specification is almost indentical to mine.

I am in the same situation as you, the P5N-E-SLI does not have PCI-E 2.0 true, but according to reviews and posts on other forums I read it only equates to about 1% performance increase over PCI-E .1.1.

I have the same budget as you, I am going to be grabbing one of the GTX460's specifically the MSI GTX460 Cyclone, the card uses what it calls "military grade components" which apparently makes it more robust, it also has a custom cooler which according to several reviews is very effective and quiet, seems to be the best bang for buck card currently.

My only concern is with the power supply we have, though I did read a review on techpowerup the other day which said that real world gaming seems to be about 170w draw on the 460's, so it's probably not a problem.

Review of it here http://www.guru3d.com/article/msi-ge...c-1024-review/ there is a 768 version which is slightly cheaper and maybe a better choice for your slight sim endeavours.

Seems most big name retailers are out of stock on them :O

Cheers for the replies guys, i'm glad that the new graphics cards will work, just need to figure out if they'll fit in the damn case now! :(