ASRock 890GM Pro3 R2.0 motherboard Graphics Ugrade Help

[ZeitgeisterNL]

Hi guys i've been researching the net for a week now but have no clear answer to my question.
I am lacking graphic power in my desktop system so wanted to upgrade. Right now my system is the following:
ASRock 890GM pro3 R2.0 ARM3+ mobo
Xilence 750w gaming psu
PC casing with 2x 14cm front and back led fans
Amd phenom II X4 840 processor
4x4GB DDR3 kingston RAM
Onboard Radeon 4290HD graphics
Asus 26" hd led monitor
LG 42" LG LW4500 3D led tv
Windows 7 ultimate x64

What i want to achieve with my graphics upgrade:
DirectX 11 3D gaming at max resolution
3D blu ray/ .MKV video playback

I have about $150-$250 to spend.

Some questions:
1- does my 4x4gb ddr3 ram mean that i'll have to get a ddr3 graphics card?
2- what is the max my mobo can handle in graphics
3- are the 2x 14cm fans plus the fan on the newly bought graphics card enough to keep my system cool?
4- is there any hybrid crossfirex setup with my onboard radeon 4290hd better than, lets say, a dedicated 2gb videocard?
5- i have a pci-e 2.0 x16 slot, is that the same as pci-e 2.1?

After a week i'm frustrated as hell coz customer care at amd or asrock couldn't give me any answers and wikipedia and forums only got me so far. Thanx in advance for the help guys.

[dJabba]

1: no, the memory of the gfx card has nothing to do with your systems.
2: it comes more down to your PSU then your mobo, and a 750W you got pretty much anything open up to dual gfx cards (not checked out your boards pcie slots, but assuming you got atleast one 16x PCIe slot)
3: shouldn't be any problem at all
4: I'd just disable the onboard and get a decent hd6870 with a slight factory OC and modified cooler (I'm quite happy with my HIS IceQ). I would get one with 2gb ram though
5: x16 is the speed of the slot, 2.0 is the generation. There isn't really any difference between 2.0 and 2.1, and the cards are up and downwards compatible. Pick the card you like best.

[profJim]

1. DDR3 motherboard ram has absolutely nothing to do with video card ram type.
2. Your motherboard should easily handle any pci-e video card you want to buy. I'm not familiar with your power supply, but if it is halfway decent (i.e. not a cheap unit), you are OK. Some video cards in your price range will require two 6-pin pci-e connectors.
3. Adequate case cooling partially depends on your normal room temperature. With proper interior cable management, you'll improve the air flow and cooling. Most 140mm fans I've seen are quieter and have a lower maximum speed compared to many 120mm fans. I have two 140mm fans in my case and their airflow is similar to 120mm fans that run at ~ 1200 rpm. If you overclock your video card for better performance, it will generate more heat with heavy gaming. With a top mounted power supply, it is also exhausting some warm air out of your case.
4. I'm not familiar with hybrid CrossfileX setups.
5. An AMD pci-e 2.1 should be fully compatible when installed in a system with pci-e 2.0 motherboard slots. FWIW, my N460GTX Hawk cards are pci-e 2.0 and they perform great with my "ancient" N650SLI-DS4 motherboard that uses pci-e 1.x video slots.

Most mid-range video cards require two slots due to how thick they are. I pretty sure that mid-range single slot cards don't provide as much cooling as double slot cards. Are both of your white pci slots empty?
How large is your computer case? Some mid-range graphics cards are much longer than others.
If you post links to the specifications for your computer case and fans, we can better help you with cooling advice.

Have you download any user manuals for video cards that you are interested in?
Have you checked your motherboard manual or the ASRock website to see if either one discusses hybrid CrossfireX support?
There is a lot of useful information the many user manuals.

[ZeitgeisterNL]

Thanx for the help so far guys.
To answer a few questions for profjim:

1- pc casing and psu:

http://www.recom.nl/data/rc-pws-evo.jpg

SPS-XP700.(135)R3


2- mobo:

ASRock > Products > 890GM Pro3 R2.0

3- Yes both white pci slots are empty, i've not added anything to the mobo, with exception of 3x4GB ram to make it 4x4GB

4- No i haven't downloaded any manuals coz it took me a while with amd customer care to figure out that any hybrid crossfirex setup with my onboard graphics wouldn't be as good as a dedicated card.
Also i got confused with ddr3 gddr3 pci-e 2.0 x16 pci-e x1 etc etc. Wiki and google are my best friends are am wanting to learn more about this stuff, but the more i read it got uber confusing.
If i understand correctly, i can plug in a gddr5 based card in the pci-e 2.0 x16 slot, and by your answer i gather i can take a dual graphics card and slot it in the 2 white pci slots?

For Jabba and anyone else with an outspoken opinion hehe, i've done a little online shopping and have come up with 3 potential candidates:

1- Newegg.com - XFX HD-687X-CNFC Radeon HD 6870 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

2-Newegg.com - EVGA 02G-P3-1559-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

3-GeForce GTX 550Ti - Club3D [EN]

I don't know if this site PassMark Software - Video Card Benchmarks - Video Card Look Up is reliable in it's benchmark tests but it looks like the XFX radeon 6850 is a winner??

[profJim]

Sorry for the confusion with "dual slot" video card. This type of card takes up the area above 2 motherboard slots, even though the card is inserted into only one slot. Installing one of these cards in your pci-e slot, the white PCI slot next to the pci-e will be covered by the video card and you wouldn't be able to use that PCI slot. If you had a PCI sound card installed in the bottom white PCI slot, the sound card would almost be touching the "dual slot" video card's cooling fan. With my SLI setup, my audio card restricts the air flow to one of the video card's cooling fans because they are so close together.

A single slot video card is about 1/2 as thick and you could install a PCI card next to a pci-e single slot video card, but this wouldn't be optimal for cooling.

I'll check out you computer case later, but it looks like you can add one or two fans in the top of your case. Does you psu draw cooling air from the bottom of the case? I won't install bottom mounted power supplies with the fan facing upwards. It's too easy to drop a screw into the psu and much more dirt/dust will collect in the psu.

More later tonight.

Just for fun check out the photo of some ultra high end video cards in MSI N460GTX Hawk (1GB) Overclocking Results, post #137.

[wazza300]

If your planning on 3d gaming then choose NVIDIA card,if not go for an
ati card

What are the GTX 560 and ATI 6950 prices like?

[ZeitgeisterNL]

If your planning on 3d gaming then choose NVIDIA card,if not go for an
ati card

What are the GTX 560 and ATI 6950 prices like?

there 150 for 1Gb and 200 for 2Gb, in euros

Oke so i want 3d gaming but on a passive 3d cinema LG TV, which i've just found out, isn't gonna work apparently.
My asus led monitor is 6mnths old and am not gonna replace it obviously.
I'll stick to the N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II OC 2GB and replace my monitor in the future when making an extra few quid in overtime or something.
The playstation 3 is kickass with my LG LW4500 in 3d, especially uncharted 3, so i was a bit dumbfounded my tv couldn't be used as 3d monitor by my pc.
Oh well should've done my homework better....

thanx again everyone

Thanx a lot everyone, i'm placing my order today

[wazza300]

Aslong as your happy with that card,I do think nvidia do better 3d but if thats not top of your list then the 6950 is a great card for the price,post back when you get it on how it performs

[wazza300]

I'm sure your tv would display 3d if you connected it through hdmi? And not rgb/dvi ports