Videocard Compatability with the Motherboard

[Bubblehead]

Will an Asus Radeon HD 7770 PCIe 3.0 x 16 work with an Asus M5A99FX PRO R2.0 motherboard with PCIe 2.0 x 16 expansion slots?

[Icy]

Yeah that combination should work... My graphics card is also PCIe 3.0 but my board (MSI 970a G46) only has PCIe 2.0 slots on it. Despite this issue, my GPU and motherboard are working wonderfully together. Good luck with that combination, it will serve you well.

[Bubblehead]

Strange but when I first built this PC I had video problems. I took it to a PC tech shop and they found my video card was not compatible with the motherboard although they said it could be problem with the OS (Win7 Ultimate 64 Bit). when they installed a different video card, the problem went away. So I bought the present HD 7770 PCIe 3.0 x 16 video card and it worked - for awhile. Then I lost my video once more. I took it to another PC shop and I was told that my problem was with the HD 7770 video card. He tried installing an HD 7790 PCIe.30 but no joy. But when they replaced it with a GTX video card (PCIe 2.0), it worked. So what's up? The tech told me that it could be the expansion slot problem BUT you guys and others told me it was OK for a PCIe 3.0 video card to work with a motherboard with PCIe 2.0 expansion slot. So could it be imcompatability with the OS instead. So the proof is in the pudding. He installed back a Nvidia GTX video card and there was no problem. What does the bible say about this.

[OldAirmail]

The fact that you had re-occurring problems with the AMD based video cards makes me think that it's a problem with your drivers or conflicting programs.

I've had both types of problems in the past. And as you found out, sometimes the easiest way to "fix" something is to keep replacing parts until it works again.


TrackIR5 kept having problems with my video card. In the end NaturalPoint updated the TrackIR5 software and now everything works very well together.

[Bubblehead]

I guess there's nothing wrong with a GTX card having the same strength and since it works fine with it I'll have it installed but noting what transpired with this problem for future reference. In the meantime I'll hang on to my Radeo HD 7770 as there may not be anything wrong with it and I may able to use it if I decide to replace the mobo. BTW do I have to reload OS if I replace the mobo?

[OldAirmail]

"I guess there's nothing wrong with a GTX card having the same strength..."

Computer parts and how people decide what is "best" is an interesting subject. Some people swear by NVIDIA/GeForce cards.

I have nothing against them and would be willing to try one.

But so far, except for the AMD Radeon/TrackIR5 problem, I felt that I've gotten a reasonable amount of power and versatility from the Radeon cards at a very good price.

The main attraction for me was that the AMD Radeon system had "Eyefinity", a 3 monitor function built into the card. Some NVIDIA cards now have the ability to run 3 monitors too, and I'd like to compare their setup against the Eyefinity system.



As to hanging on to the HD 7770, I'd return it if you can. While that's a better card than my Radeon HD 6870, graphics cards get outdated quickly. I don't usually start looking at new cards for 2+ years.


Now there is one very good reason to keep it. If you plan to run your flight sim on two computers, this would be a great card to use as it was made to run extra monitors.



"BTW do I have to reload OS if I replace the mobo?"

Everyone will tell you that a fresh install is the best. But over and over I've moved my OS to a new board with only minor problems.

The best way to do it is to keep everything the same.

If possible, use the same hard drive, same video card, same DVD drive, and the same memory (not usually possible).

What will happen is that Windows will recognize that new/different drivers are needed, so keep you Window disks handy. Windows 7 is much better at handling the change than Windows XP was, But even then you probably aren't going to run into many problems.

Aside from having the OS disks on hand (and maybe the drivers for your other hardware) the most important thing is to know how to start windows in "SAFE" mode. Making a backup doesn't hurt either.

I used to delete my video card drivers and set Windows to basic video before I moved it to a new motherboard. I don't think that it's all that important nowadays.



Once your hard drive etc. has been moved to the new motherboard you can conceder replacing other parts such as the video card or hard disk. DON'T DO IT ALL AT ONCE!

Needless to say, Microsoft will want you to "authenticate" your version of Windows. That last is just for your benefit of course.

[OldAirmail]

I can no longer edit the post above, so I'll add this here.

Side Note - Problems from incompatible hardware/software can occur with totally dissimilar adddons.

I love TrackIR, and consider it absolutely necessary for getting the most out of a flight sim.

Because of that opinion I never thought about buying OpusFSX. I had read a year or two ago that they had problems working together.

Why??? I don't know.

One, OpusFSX, is all about weather. The other, TrackIR, is about turning your head to look around the cockpit & sky.


At any rate, they both work perfectly together now.

[OldAirmail]

Bubblehead has started another post about his problems, but I'll reply in his original post.

"The monitor turned black and whenever I start hearing four short beeps after the boot up beep."

The "repair shop" that you took your computer to sounds like they're idiots.

The beeps that you hear when a computer starts up are called "post codes" (power on self test).

I just got done transferring files (aircraft, effects, gauges and sound) in my FSX and now I get this message

ERROR

Error ID = 25
(null)

OK.

What did I do wrong

Transferred from where to where?

Did you also transfer the files from C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX?

(For that matter, when you tried to re-install FSX did you delete the files from C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\FSX?)


Transferred how?


You're making it hard to help you.

[Bubblehead]

I think I better let this settle down a bit. It seems that we're intermixing subject matters here. My problem with Error ID=25 has nothing to do with the thread I just submitted about Video card Compatibility with the mother board.

[OldAirmail]

My mistake, then.

I thought that you were still trying to get around your video card problem by transferring your FSX instillation to a new, or rebuilt, system.

As transferring/copping files from one setup to another doesn't work in most cases ....

Me bad

[Bubblehead]

The Error ID=25 issue has been resolved thanks to Gary. The Video compatibility issue also has been resolved - finally. Please read my thread under Hardware titled "Bizarre Almost Spooky Situation" last I checked on it there lots of hits but no answers yet. By the way the tech who worked on my PC was competent. As I pointed out when I first submitted my thread that there was one single beep (which as the post beep) but then it was followed by four short beeps which indicated trouble.

[OldAirmail]

And yet he said that the card wasn't backward compatible?

He didn't check the post code for your motherboard?



We all can make mistakes, and I've made more than enough of them. Enough to recognize the futility of continuing.

Sorry to have upset you.

[Bubblehead]

Please read my thread under Hardware entitled "Bizarre Almost Spooky Situation" and see what you think of it.