GTX 680 Bus Support Specs

[ModdedWharfare]

I have a problem with the GTX 680. I've recently decided to upgrade my PC's GPU from my aging Nvidia 9800 GT to a Nvidia GTX 680. I've already upgraded my PC's original GPU, which was a Nvidia 8600 GT, to a 9800 GT before. However, I still don't understand if the GTX 680 would fit the motherboard my computer is currently using like my 9800 GT did before.

The specs on the GTX 680 is, as taken from the Nvidia Site:
Support:
Bus Support: PCI Express 3.0
GTX 680 Graphics Card Dimensions:
Length: 10.0 inches
Height: 4.376 inches
Width: Dual-slot

My PC (HP Pavilion Elite m9299d) has these specs (motherboard specs):
Form factor: microATX - 9.6 inches (24.4 cm) x 8.5 inches (21.5 cm)
Chipset: GeForce 7100/nForce 630i
Memory sockets: 2 x DDR2
Front side bus speeds: 800/1066/1333 MHz
Processor socket: 775
Expansion Slots:
1 PCI Express x16 slot for graphics card
2 PCI Express x1 slots
1 PCI slot
Processor:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700

So will I be able to connect a GTX 680 if my motherboard has only 1 PCI Express x16 slot and 2 PCI Express x1 slots? Currently only one of the PCI x1 slots are being used which leaves 1 PCIe x16 slot next to an empty PCIe x1 slot. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[SoloCamo]

Well heres the spec sheets -

The 9800gt is 9"L x 4.376"H

The gtx680 reference cooler is 10"L x 4.38"H

So they are pretty much identical minus the length.

Only way to tell at this point is to measure the inside of the case. On top of that, have you upgraded your power supply yet? You will need to.

Now to be brutally honest with you here, that gtx680 is a complete waste of money on that system.

Your throwing a $500 videocard in a system with low end specs that are not going to fully utilize the card. A gtx670 is overkill for that rig too and will without a doubt be bottlenecked but that is a much better choice for it and it saves you $100 with near identical performance.

Though it's a quad core, looking up the motherboard specs it's limited to single channel which really handicaps the cpu even more.

And if you still only have 2gb of ram, thats going to hold you back big time, too.

The only reason I can see justification of a 670 or 680 for this build is if you plan to build a new pc in the near future.

[ModdedWharfare]

Well heres the spec sheets -

The 9800gt is 9"L x 4.376"H

The gtx680 reference cooler is 10"L x 4.38"H

So they are pretty much identical minus the length.

Only way to tell at this point is to measure the inside of the case. On top of that, have you upgraded your power supply yet? You will need to.

Now to be brutally honest with you here, that gtx680 is a complete waste of money on that system.

Your throwing a $500 videocard in a system with low end specs that are not going to fully utilize the card. A gtx670 is overkill for that rig too and will without a doubt be bottlenecked but that is a much better choice for it and it saves you $100 with near identical performance.

Though it's a quad core, looking up the motherboard specs it's limited to single channel which really handicaps the cpu even more.

And if you still only have 2gb of ram, thats going to hold you back big time, too.

The only reason I can see justification of a 670 or 680 for this build is if you plan to build a new pc in the near future.

Uhm, thats the reason I'm asking. I need to know if the motherboard can take a GTX 680 since I'm planning on upgrading but without the need for upgrading the motherboard since I don't plan on upgrading the processor. And how do I pick a good power supply over the one I'm using now? thank you for the response. and by upgrading I mean that I'm planning to build on my current rig but still retaining the motherboard.

[ModdedWharfare]

Oh and the original plan was to retain the motherboard but boost the RAM up to at least 8-16 GB with the GTX 680. I still don't know if the Quad will bottleneck the 680 but I'm hoping the with the motherboard, along with 8gb RAM, the Quad, and the 680, I would get a significant boost to my performance.

[SoloCamo]

Uhm, thats the reason I'm asking. I need to know if the motherboard can take a GTX 680 since I'm planning on upgrading but without the need for upgrading the motherboard since I don't plan on upgrading the processor. And how do I pick a good power supply over the one I'm using now? thank you for the response. and by upgrading I mean that I'm planning to build on my current rig but still retaining the motherboard.

The motherboard has an available pci-e slot, as far as I've known there are no compatibility issues with it. In fact, check this out to give you a comparison as well;

Ivy Bridge PCI-Express Scaling with HD 7970 and GTX 680 Review | techPowerUp

As far as the power supply goes, what one is in their now, the original?

Also, you are not going to get 8gb - 16gb of ddr 2 in that rig without spending a fortune. And even so, I believe 8gb was the limit of the mobo and the cheapest ddr 2 for two, 4gb sticks will run you $150 while 8gb's of ddr3 cost as little as $40...

Add on top that your going to need to drop a good $50-$100 on a decent power supply and now you are up to at bare minimum of $700 on an old system. You are spending more than double of what the system is worth, yet not getting the performance you should be.

Honestly, if you still feel you absolutely need to upgrade this system, spend a little now and bump your memory to 4gb (that alone will help dramatically and is much cheaper) such as this; Newegg.com - Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 Desktop Memory Model KHX8500D2K2/4G

and get a card such as the amd 7850 (or if you can wait, a nvidia 660ti which will be out very soon and be fast for the price)

And even a power supply like this will be fine;
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Also, this will help you out when changing the power supply as it shows your case,

https://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...697280&lang=en


Now none of the above HAVE to be the ones you pick, but it gives you a good general idea of where to go.

In all seriousness, for the cost of the gtx680, or for that matter a 670, you can upgrade your gpu, memory and power supply to something that is WORLDS better than your current 9800gt.

Hell, even $100 video cards these days are literally about twice as good if not more than a 9800gt.

[ShyguyXPC]

8GB is overkill, 16GB is a waste honestly. 4GB would be plenty, though for the price 8GB might still be feasible, but DDR2 isn't as cheap as it once was.

Your CPU will be bottlenecking that card some, at the very least, if not more.

If your Quad was closer to 3GHz or higher it might not be as bad, but I have to agree with Solo, dumping a $500 current gen card into that aging system is really a waste.

for the cost of current Gen hardware, I'd just save up some more and put towards the $500 already for the 680.

$150-200 for a Current Intel Quad, $50 for 8GB DDR3, $100-150 for a decent mobo with SLI and Crossfire Support, $60-75 for a decent PSU with enough power to potentially run 2x 680's, $100 for a new copy of Windows 7 64-bit. Would be another $500-600 extra, but you could migrate your old HDD and CD Drive to the newer system, or even for $100 just get replacements for those as well. A good case would be $50.

Anyways, at least that way you'd have a case and mobo with the room, expansions, USB 3.0 support, Faster SATA III Support, With an Intel Ivy Bridge Quad core, and a Z77 Chipset board, you'd have PCI Express 3.0 support as well.

You could maybe upgrade to something lower end right now, along with the PSU, and then save up the rest for a better system later, something like a Geforce GTX 550 Ti or GTX 560 for the time being, either of these 2 cards would be at least double your 9800GT in performance, and then some.

[SoloCamo]

You could maybe upgrade to something lower end right now, along with the PSU, and then save up the rest for a better system later, something like a Geforce GTX 550 Ti or GTX 560 for the time being, either of these 2 cards would be at least double your 9800GT in performance, and then some.

Seems I was editing while you were posting this, but yes, in a nutshell I agree here and we both said the same essentially in our posts

Throw in lower midrange gpu now, and a new psu and you will feel a great performance increase in itself. And if so inclined, bump the ram to 4gb for 50 bucks and your games will run worlds better.

Trust me, I went down this road, I spent money upgrading an older system, less than a few monthes later I realized my mistake and saved up and built the system in my rig and it was well worth it instead of essentially throwing money on high end parts on a system that cannot fully utilize them.