Using an old graphics card on a new mother board

I will be getting my ASUS P8Z77-V Z77 MB ATX 2400 (O.C) SLI Crossfire motherboard today that will be running the Intel Core i7-2600K. I have an old EVGA GeForce 8800GT and was curious if I could use it on this board. I've been out of this for quite a while and don't really know how old components work with new ones. What are the considerations when placing older components into newer boards? Will the on-board Intel® HD Graphics (CPU embedded) display surpass the capabilities of said card?

KiloJKilo

Posted 2012-04-18T16:10:15.310

Reputation: 149

Answers

As long as the graphic card uses a PCI-E Slot, which I assume it does, you will have no problem using it on that board. Unless it is a monster card with extraordinarily great length or cooler.

The embedded GPUs in the Intel chips are not that bad, they can play HD movies without a problem, but for gaming I would not reccommend using them. If you do not play with your computer you should take into account that a GFX-card like the 8800GT will use up a lot of additional energy, so it might be relevant on your electric bill at the end of the month.

Baarn

Posted 2012-04-18T16:10:15.310

Reputation: 6 096

thanks. I don't really plan on playing games at this point as I use my 360 for that, but HD movies are definitely a must. It will fit into the case as it supports up to about 13 inches, and the 750W PSU will be enough. What you said about the PCI-E slot was my biggest concern. Thanks for addressing that. – KiloJKilo – 2012-04-18T16:29:33.930

I am using an i3 with the HD2000, and it plays HD movies without a problem (on linux, but should make no difference). – Baarn – 2012-04-18T16:32:29.680

There might be some issues with getting the drivers for the old card if it is really 'that' old. But as Walter suggested, so long as the motherboard has a slot that has the same form factor as the graphic card you should be good to go.

Stephen R

Posted 2012-04-18T16:10:15.310

Reputation: 208

I use the card in a Nvidia 680i LT SLI right now that I bought with the card. They are both circa 2007 made and I still get notification of updates for the card, so that should be good. – KiloJKilo – 2012-04-18T16:31:07.500

You definitely have PCI-E slots on the motherboard. One of the slots is a x16 channel and the other is x1. I imagine an Nvidia card from that time frame should be ok to use in a new machine but you can probably check on that through Nvidia or whatever operating system you are using documentation. – Stephen R – 2012-04-18T16:35:28.553