Need to know if a graphics card is compatible

[Ben Witney]

I am considering upgrading my graphics card from an NVIDIA GeForce 9500 gt http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-9500-gt/specifications

to an NVIDIA GeForce GT 610. http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/GT610SL1GD3L/#specifications

I currently have asus p5vd2-mx motherboard http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P5VD2MX/.

A quick response would be appreciated .

 

[Supernova1138]

That's not an upgrade I'm afraid, it's actually a slight downgrade in terms of raw performance. The only advantage the GT 610 has over the 9500GT is DirectX 11 support, and the GT 610 isn't anywhere near powerful enough to take advantage of DirectX 11 features.

To answer your question, the GT 610 will work with your motherboard, but I strongly recommend you save up more money and aim for something better, probably a GTX 650 at minimum if you want to stick with Nvidia. Anything less than that might not really be worthwhile as an upgrade over what you have right now.

 

[SnowyGamester]

Supernova is right. The way cards in the main NVidia line are named is the lower number in each series (e.g. 610) is entry level and much less powerful while higher numbers (e.g. 680) are the much more powerful cards (with letters on the end signalling various differences, usually varying levels of superiority), with each series being separated by 100 (e.g. 500 and 600 series) or 1000 for older cards (e.g. 8000 and 9000 series). The 610 may be a more modern card but it is far from powerful, while the 9500gt is certainly an old model but was fairly high end for it's time. It is a meagre upgrade at best and isn't worth wasting money on - you're much better off spending a bit more and getting something more substantial. Something like a 650 or 660/ti (or even a 560/ti) would make much more of a difference.

Compatibility with your board is really a non-issue (since PCI is backwards and forwards compatible - anything will work in anything), though an insufficient power supply or bottlenecking with an underpowered CPU are still concerns. If you consider getting a more substantial upgrade hit us with your CPU and PSU specs so we can give a better answer.

 

[Ben Witney]

Thanks, i had been lead to believe it would be an upgrade, I will take a look at your suggestions

But since i have your attention, i would really like to upgrade my outdated as hell computer, but i kinda have to do it to a budget(about $100AU for the graphics card), would the GeForce GT 640 2GB or the GeForce GTX 650 1GB GC be a more substantial upgrade?

 

[AWAR]

-

Definitely the GTX 650. Video ram size is not important unless you are running multiple monitors or ultra high resolutions.
Generally what you need to be looking for in Nvidia cards is the second digit, for example a 560 is better than a 610, a 480 better than a 560 and so on.

 

[SnowyGamester]

Definitely the GTX 650.

Second. The 650 has higher clock speeds so better performance and the additional VRAM isn't worth sacrificing that. You can compare the specs of the two here [http://tech2.in.com/reviews/graphics-cards/galaxy-geforce-gtx-650-gc-review/465092/specifications#story] and here [http://tech2.in.com/reviews/graphics-cards/zotac-geforce-gt-640-review/316222/specifications#story] - the exact specifications may vary depending on the brand you go for, though the gc is only manufactured by Galaxy so there's only one possible configuration for that one.