Graphics card and mainboard - which are compatible?
Not all graphics cards are compatible with every motherboard. Connections, space and energy supply are crucial. Good graphics cards are very expensive due to their high computing power. If it is not compatible with your mainboard, in the worst case you have to change the mainboard, processor and operating system in order to be able to use the full range of functions. We can save you this with this practical tip. We'll show you how to find out if a graphics card is compatible with your current hardware.
How to determine whether the graphics card fits the mainboard
To determine whether a graphics card you want fits your current motherboard, you have to ask yourself three questions and consider a few more considerations:
- Is the correct connection available?
- Is your motherboard big enough?
- Is your power supply sufficient?
Connection: Check compatibility of graphics card and mainboard
The main sticking point when it comes to the compatibility between graphics card and mainboard is the bus, i.e. the physical connector for data exchange:
- Today's graphics cards require the bus standard PCI-Express, also called PCIe. This slot is available in the sizes × 1, × 2, × 4, × 8 and × 16. Your graphics card usually needs a free slot of at least the same size as the card itself.
- Graphics cards with PCIe 3.0 also work on motherboards with PCIe 2.0 or 2.1. You could only have a slight loss of performance here. However, PCIe graphics cards are not compatible with AGP or PCI slots.
- You can find out which connections your mainboard has using the operating instructions. If you don't have them at hand, use the freeware CPU-Z and our instructions for recognizing your hardware properties.
- Some mainboards are designed for particularly compact towers. Also check whether your tower has enough space for the graphics card and some air for its fans.
- Big and the somewhat smaller midi towers offer enough space for all common graphics cards, even if you have a lot more hardware. So-called ATX mainboards are usually used here, which usually provide enough space for large cards.
- The space in desktop computers is much smaller. Pizzabox and Nettop cases basically do not offer space for most graphics cards.
- Make sure that your graphics card not only fits into the case, but that the fans of the power supply, graphics card and the case fan are not blocked.
Power supply: Power supply feeds the graphics card
Since graphics cards are sometimes the most powerful unit of your computer, you consume a lot of power accordingly. The power supply is the job of the power supply, but of course you have to make sure that a correspondingly strong power supply fits into your case next to your graphics card and the mainboard, without blocking the fans.
- Most graphics cards indicate the consumption in watts and the recommended energy supply. They often state: "maximum power consumption".
- Simple PCI Express connectors deliver up to 25 watts, the PCIe × 16 connector delivers a maximum of 75 watts. If your graphics card requires one to three additional connections, you can calculate with 75 watts more each and get 300 watts.
- Of course, these values are never achieved in simple operation. Rather a tenth is needed in idle mode. But with complex games and video editing, or if you use your graphics card for physical modeling or other demanding calculations, you will achieve the maximum power consumption.
- With the included drivers, you can often cut the maximum energy consumption and thus reduce performance. The Freeqare ATITool also has this function and works for both ATI and many NVidia cards.
- In order to estimate how much watt your power supply unit needs and what you have to consider when buying a new one and how to install a new power supply unit, you will find further practical tips.
Graphics card and motherboard compatibility tips
The following tips will help you to check the compatibility between the graphics card and the mainboard even without specialist knowledge, or if you do not want to unscrew your housing to see which connections are available on your mainboard. We also explain to you that you are ultimately replacing a graphics card:
- A little trick to test the compatibility: Enter your current mainboard and your desired graphics card in one of the many online PC configurators. These check the hardware for compatibility and warn you if the two do not match.
- Another consideration: New graphics cards often have a very large amount of RAM. If you have a 32-bit operating system, the additional RAM of the GPU could reduce the available RAM.
- If your processor is 64-bit capable, you could switch from 32 to 64 bits in this case. If your processor is not able to do this, consider whether you can do without some RAM or whether it is worth buying a new processor and possibly buying a new motherboard.
- We will of course also show you how to replace a graphics card in a special practical tip.
- If your mainboard has an on-board graphics card, you sometimes have to deactivate it in the BIOS. A practical tip will help you with this.
If you experience compatibility problems, it may be appropriate to buy a new mainboard. We will show you in a practical tip how to install it. If your old graphics card is just too loud or it gets too hot, you can use our tips to change settings or clean the graphics card to avoid having to buy a new one.
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