Super easy question

[snakeplyr]

I haven't wanted to ask anyone this for fear of sounding stupid. I have a PC running an AMD processor and a geforce video card. It's hard to find mobos with that combination. Most mobos that I like have an AM3 socket but an ATI Radeon video chipset. I don't do SLI so one PCI-E 2.0 slot is enough. Will my geforce card work on these mobos even though they are ATI chipsets?

Here is a link to a random mobo just like the ones I'm talking about. This is not the one I want, just the first good example that I found.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5235299

Thanks in advance

[crunchie]

There are no stupid questions, so don't worry yourself on that score :).

An ATI card will work on an nvidia chipset mobo and an nvidia card will work on an ATI chipset mobo.
The only thing you cannot do is crossfire or SLi.

[jbennet]

Yes, crunchie is correct. You can use any card with the PCI Express socket, you just cant do SLI on an AMD motherbaord, or crossfire on an Nvidia one. Ive got an geforce on an intel chipset myself.

And its not stupid question, indeed, its a very common one.

[snakeplyr]

Thanks guys.
If I buy an AM3 CPU for my current AM2+ mobo, I will still use my DDR2 RAM right? It is AM3 compatible through the BIOS update.

[crunchie]

Yes, that's right. Which one you buying?

[snakeplyr]

Phenom II X2 550 3.1GHz 80W BE
(my mobo only gets cpus up to 95W)

[crunchie]

Nice choice. You may be able to unlock the other two cores :).

[snakeplyr]

Thank you.
I thought that was only possible with certain Gigabyte mobos.

[crunchie]

I think a few mobo's can do it, but it depends on the bios version. Later ones tend to lock that option out.

[snakeplyr]

I've been reading a lot of reviews on the Phenom II X2 and Athlon II X2. It seems that the Athlon II is not far behind the Phenom in game performance. I might go for the cheaper Athlon.

[jbennet]

if i was going to spend that much on a pehnom i would get a core2 instead.....

[crunchie]

Phenoms have the larger cache :)

[snakeplyr]

I'd have to replace my motherboard for that jbennet. I like AMD. Core2's are nowhere close to $76 like the athlon is. The Phenom II X2 is $102. The lowest Core2 Duo is $120 plus the mobo I'd have to buy.

Yeah the athlon doesn't have L3 cache at all.