PCIe Version 1 cards?

[Triple B]

OK, so I'm using a computer that came from work and in PC Wizard, it reads the following for the PCIe info:

Bus PCI-Express :
Device : G35/G33/G31/P35/P31
Version : 1.0
Port : 2
Physical Slot : #0
Slot Populated : No
Link Width : max. x16
Link Speed : 2.5 GB/s

I have no clue when it comes to the new standard of video cards with PCIe. The last PC I built had an AGP card in it. So, what does that above info mean with regards to me purchasing a low-cost card? This system is Win XP, E7400 @ 2.8ghz with 2 gigs of RAM. I'm just looking for something with Shader Model 3 support that I can use to practice with the UDK. Any advice?

EDIT: I guess my main question is, can I buy a PCIe 2.0 card or will that not work?

 

[jojo69]

I think PCIe is back compatible, you might bottleneck if you were going to run a real hotrod modern card but even then I think it would work, you just wouldn't get the full potential of the card.

 

[Triple B]

Thanks, I just looked it up and apparently I should be all set. It won't run as efficiently or quickly as it would in a 2.0 system but whatever. I'm not looking for anything amazing out of this system, I just want to be able to mess around with UDK and Blender. I think I'll pick up a 6670 tomorrow:

http://microcenter.com/product/3775...on_HD_6670_1024MB_DDR3_PCIe_21_x16_Video_Card

$50 AR isn't bad at all.

 

[jojo69]

and a good match for your needs I think

 

[Ebernanut]

It looks like that has an Intel chipset so you should be fine but you might want to double check to make sure it doesn't have the VIA chipset that had problems with PCIe 2.0.