Hi guys. I currently own a Sapphire X1900GT video card that is running on an ECS NFORCE6M-A mainboard. I'm thinking of getting a Sapphire HD 4870 1G GDDR5 PCI-E QP video card. I have a few questions: 1: Will it fit in my PCI-E slot? 2: Will it work with my mainboard? 3: Will I see a noticable upgrade in performance between the 2 cards? 4: Is the HD 4870 already DirectX 10 or is it "DirectX 10 ready" as so many cards claim to be 5: I'm currently running Windows Vista 32 bit. Will the new card work with it? Will it work if I decide to upgrade to Windows 7 in the future? Thanks in advance.Paul Biderman

The answer to all of your questions is yes.The questions you may need to ask are: will it fit in your case, and is your PSU capable of powering a 4870/does it have the appropriate connectors.

The answer to all of your questions is yes.The questions you may need to ask are: will it fit in your case, and is your PSU capable of powering a 4870/does it have the appropriate connectors.

Those were also questions I was concerned about. The X1900GT doesn't have anything in the slot next to it, so width probably won't be an issue. But it barely fit length wise and ends up butting up against the IDE cables and such. As for the PSU, it's a Purepower 500 PN which I believe is an ATX 500W PSU so I think it will work.Thanks for the quick response.

Length would be the primary concern for high-end graphics cards. The 4870 is 9.5" long. If your X1900 GT is cramped, a 4870 is going to be even more so. Also, your PSU is *not* adequate. It only has one PCI-e 6-pin power connector, the 4870 needs 2. Also, it just doesn't deliver enough power on the +12V rails. Sounds to me like you'll need a new PSU and case to do this upgrade.

Length would be the primary concern for high-end graphics cards. The 4870 is 9.5" long. If your X1900 GT is cramped, a 4870 is going to be even more so. Also, your PSU is *not* adequate. It only has one PCI-e 6-pin power connector, the 4870 needs 2. Also, it just doesn't deliver enough power on the +12V rails. Sounds to me like you'll need a new PSU and case to do this upgrade.

That's what I was afraid of. Can you recommend a DirectX10 card that will work with my system and hardware? BTW, I'm running Vista 32 bit. I'm also thinking of converting to 64 bit because if I buy it I can get a voucher for a free upgrade to 7 when it comes out. But I'm just not thrilled about doing a full install again, and I'm concerned some software won't work on a 64 bit OS.

An 8800 GT/9800 GT would be a good fit. This card from Gigabyte looks like it will offer the most performance while working within the constraints of your PSU and case. I've been using Vista 64 since SP1 came out, which I specifically waited for as prior to SP1 Vista in all variants was rather troublesome for many users. The only application which I have run into that simply did not work was Oblivion. RivaTuner requires a specific version to work properly, but that is the only other app which has been any more troublesome in 64-bit than 32-bit Windows.

An 8800 GT/9800 GT would be a good fit. This card from Gigabyte looks like it will offer the most performance while working within the constraints of your PSU and case. I've been using Vista 64 since SP1 came out, which I specifically waited for as prior to SP1 Vista in all variants was rather troublesome for many users. The only application which I have run into that simply did not work was Oblivion. RivaTuner requires a specific version to work properly, but that is the only other app which has been any more troublesome in 64-bit than 32-bit Windows.

You rock man. Thanks for the advice.

You're welcome. Good luck with your upgrade, hope you enjoy.

4: Is the HD 4870 already DirectX 10 or is it "DirectX 10 ready" as so many cards claim to be

What cards claim to be it "DirectX 10 ready" and are not?If the video card is DirectX 10 capable, the OS is Vista or Windows7 and the application was written to take advantage of DirectX 10 features, then you

Before DX10 even came out most cards were saying "DirectX 10 Ready" but in reality they didn't run DX10 even after it came out. Anyways.....I ended up with this card: http://www.frys.com/product/5833063?site=s...CH:MAIN_RSLT_PGCouldn't pass up the price after rebate with that amount of memory. I hate Frys, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Before DX10 even came out most cards were saying "DirectX 10 Ready" but in reality they didn't run DX10 even after it came out. Anyways.....

That