Pci-e 3.0 ATI 6850

[vatosx1]

Hi guys, im new to the forums, well newly signed up, have been veiwing for a while now.

I am upgrading my desktop in the next week or two and was just after some advice.

Ok, at the moment my pc is as follows:

CPU : core2duo E7500 o/c to 3.6 ghz
M/B : GB GA-EP45-UD3
GPU : Powercolour HD6850 DDR5
PSU : Vantec Ion2 600w
RAM : 4g kingston 1333
HD : 1TB Seagate + 500g
MONITOR : Asus 21.5" LCD
CASE : Thermaltake V3 with 3 fans

Im looking to upgrade to quad core and run dual GPU's via crossfire, so obviously i need to change, well basically everything lol..
I mainly use it for gaming (BF3 at the moment) so i want something that will run a bit quicker for me, but im on a bit of a budget.

Was looking at getting an i5 2500k 1155pin CPU (its within the budget)
and hopefully use my ATI 6850 and buy a second one, heres where im stuck.. Most mobo ive looked at have a Pci-e 3.0 and a Pci-e 2.0, so, can i still use the 6850 (supports 2.1) in a 3.0 slot? If not, can i get a 6950 and run it with the 6850 with crossfire? looking at this mobo Asus P8Z68-V GEN, or could you maybe suggest a diff mobo that will do the trick, i probably will o/c it a little but nothing too drastic.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any help and i hope i posted in the right place

 

[MattNo5ss]

to OCForums!

PCIe slots are forward/backwards compatible, so you'll be fine with 2.0 or 3.0.

That CPU and mobo will work well, but don't forget the DDR3 RAM. Lucky, RAM is dirt cheap nowadays so grab you a 2x4GB kit for less than $50.

What resolution are you running?

 

[vatosx1]

oh cool, thanks for that.
Running 1920x1080 at the moment, yea ram has dropped alot lately so ill get away with that part quite nicely.
Hopefully the new rig wont crash so much while gaming, i think it may be slow bus speed or something maybe partly cpu aswell.
Also, is it worth getting a SSD aswell?

 

[MattNo5ss]

In BF3, I know I always have crashes due to not enough RAM if I have only 4GB and no pagefile. Enabling the pagefile or installing more RAM would fix the issue for me.

SSDs are nice, and make a noticeable difference as far as loading times. So, if you have the money to spare, then I'd get one.