PCI-E x16 2.0 card in a 1.0 slot

[fcguy]

I have a P5kpl-cm mobo (not the best but it was free). I want to put a video card in to allow for gaming as the on-board video is, needless to say, not cutting it. The thing is it appears as if my board has PCI-e x16 .... 1.0. From what I have been able to find out searching you CAN put a 1.0 card in a 2.0 board. However I have found little to no information on the reverse .... putting a 2.0 card in a 1.0 mobo. The offering of 2.0 cards vs. 1.0 cards on new egg (382 vs 26 respectively) leads me to think you can use a 2.0 card in a 1.0 mobo (as there would still be a fair market segment for legacy equipment).

 

Anyone got a solid answer.

 

Oh... and because I hate making two posts even if I have one question ... I plan on going with three monitors as I multi-task like crazy when I do school work ... and wonder what games might support those three monitors, or even allow me to game on one screen and queue music/surf the web/IM your mom on the others. I have another slot issue though. I only have one x16 slot. I am left with a x1 slot or PCI. Though both ports don't lend themselves to gaming video cards I wanted to see if anyone had an opinion on what might work better (either for one monitor, allowing the x16 card to run two, or for two, allowing the x16 card to focus on one monitor.) I'll make a post on this some other time I think with a pole... closer to when I'll actually have that many monitors.

[Crazy_Nate]

Yes. You can. I have. It works great! You might find you have a little trouble with bandwidth if you try putting a 5890 into a PCIe x16 1.0 slot, but that's about it!

[CowKing]

i got the same mobo and yes you can put a 2.0 in a 1.0 board

as for the multi-monitor thing there's Supreme Commander which allows for 2 maps to be put on 2 different monitors, but you'll need a monster system for it to run decently

[IVIYTH0S]

Yes. You can. I have. It works great! You might find you have a little trouble with bandwidth if you try putting a 5890 into a PCIe x16 1.0 slot, but that's about it!

anything GTX 295 and lower won't be an issue

 

i got the same mobo and yes you can put a 2.0 in a 1.0 board

as for the multi-monitor thing there's Supreme Commander which allows for 2 maps to be put on 2 different monitors, but you'll need a monster system for it to run decently

SupCom is indeed a good example, though I think anything from a 9800GTX+/4850 and up could run the dual screen flawlessly. (naturally a quad core really helps). My machine with the 8800GTX nearly could handle it completely smooth.

My main monitor was 1680x1050 and second was 1280x1024. I believe it was with this processor too but I'm uncertain

Edited November 28, 2009 by IVIYTH0S

[NuComer]

i have a HD4870 in 1.0 slot and its working wonderfully, so yeah, go right ahead man

[N.E.A]

pci-e 1.0 x16 = pcie-2.0 x8 you wont lose any performance except with the latest cards..

[The Smith]

If you want to game on 3 monitors, I suggest taking a look at ATI Eyefinity, which you can use with any game. There are only a handful of games that support multi-monitor natively.

[fcguy]

Thanks guys!. This is good news. If I upgrade my mobo I'll see even better performance from a 2.0 card. Time to go shopping. If anyone is still reading this thread I'm looking for best bang for buck.