[Khallas]

Hello, it's me again ;p

The vid-card drama continues. So first some history.

I had a 6800GT card which broke. I got a newer 8600GT card, which sucked. Then we went and got a HD3850 card, which should rock. Didn't really though. So first guess was that our PSU wasn't strong enough. So we got a new PSU, cooler master 520W, to solve the problem. It didn't work.

Obviously all drivers have been updated, bios updated etc. But when nothing worked I got suspicious about my PCI-e slot. Maybe the fact that the HD3850 is PCI-e 2.0 causes compatability problems with my old P5GD1 Pro MoBo? Or perhaps the PCI-e slot got damaged?

Looking on google I find some references with PCI-e 2.0 card compatability issues in PCI-e 1.0 or 1.0a slots. Even on tomshardware a forum thread about PCI-e 2.0 HD3850 card not being compatible with the 915P chipset (which is what the Asus P5GD1 Pro is). But most are forum threads on communities and not many of them. No official Ati, Intel or whatever site discussing this issue with compatability on the older chipsets, like the 915P. I'd expect a "known problem" info somewhere on the site of Ati, Intel or Sapphire (card manufacturer). Or is the HD3850 too new and the P5GD1 Pro so old that nobody has tried this whacky combo before?

So is it a safe bet that I should go for an older card like nVidia 7series or radeon X1650 Pro or 1950 pro or somesuch? 1950 pro is hard to get over here :S and nVidia 7900 only in GS version. Although the 7900GS should still beat 6800GT in performance, if I interpret the Tomshardware VGA charts correctly.

For completeness system info:
Intel P4 3GHz
Asus P5GD1 Pro MoBo
Cooler Master 520W realpower PSU
1GB TwinMOS P400 dual RAM
Sapphire HD3850, 256 MB DDR3