Graphic card compatibility

[Thom81]

Hi,

I am new here, and had a look for this question but couldn't see it so i apologise if you've seen it before..

I have just bought a new motherboard and processor and need a new graphics card to replace the rather slow onboard one.

my specs so far are:
motherboard: GeForce7050M-M
processor : AMD Phenom 8450 Triple-Core ~2.1GHz
memory: 2gig ddr2
OS: Windows Xp Home

i have been looking at the ATI Radeon HD 4870 1024MB card but am unsure about compatibility issues?
- The spec says it takes '2 slots', does this mean 2 pci-express slots or just the space that 2 would use? Also it needs 2 pcie power connections.. Which ones are these and how do i know when my power supply is 'full' (preferably before things start melting in there..)
- It says it uses directx 10.. does that mean you need vista to run it?
- it uses PCIexpress 2.0. all my motherboard manual says is that it has a 'PCI Express x16 graphics card slot'

thanks for listening, sorry if any of those questions are really stupid

 

[Cinders]

Two slots means that the fan is so big that the card will take up two slots, but the card will plug into a single PCI-E slot.

DirectX 10 will only come into play if you have Vista otherwise the card will use DirectX 9.0C

PCI express 2.0 is compatable with PCI-E 1.0. The first generation of PCI-E is so fast none of the newer video cards really need PCI-E 2. They simply are not fast enough to saturate the PCI-E 1.0 bus yet.

Your video card will need a high powered power supply with two six pin PCI-E plugs.

Something like this.

 

[Thom81]

thanks, thats great

i think i got lost somewhere along the way.. there used to be only 2 choices for graphics cards: 3dfx and nvidia.. ahh back in the day..

 

[Cinders]

No problem