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[lorenzo.afw]

HI i just bough a new asus motherboard and am looking for a graphics card, i just need to know if i can install a PCIe 2.1 or 3.0 into a 2.0 bus. I'm not sure exactly how it works but i'm hoping that the card will work but not to it's full potential rather than being completely incompatible. Please let me know which scenario it is so i can shop for a graphics card.

[geek hoodlum]

Hi, can you post the exact model of your new Asus motherboard please?

[lorenzo.afw]

it's an asus P8Z68-V LX

[Computer_Commando]

You might want to try the onboard graphics first to see how it works.  It seems pretty speedy except for the most severe gaming requirements.

[Transfusion]

I don't think the Intel HD 3000 is even suitable for basic gaming, to be honest:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
The HD 3000 in the i5 2500K is on par with the old Radeon X800 XT.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/11 
If you want to reach ~50 FPS, you will have to go all the way down to 1024x768. With settings at Low-Medium.

A PCIe v3.0 graphics card is backward-compatible with a PCIe 2.0 slot.
http://www.pcisig.com/news_room/faqs/pcie3.0_faq/#EQ6

Similarly, all PCIe 3.0 cards will plug into PCIe 1.x- and PCIe 2.x-capable slots and operate at the highest performance levels supported by those configurations.

Go ahead.