Will the RX 6950 XT work with my Z97 Motherboard?

[Asaster]

Hello dear community,
I bought my computer many years ago with a GTX980, but noticed now that it's no longer able to run high graphics with the newest games so I wanted to buy this graphics card:

https://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/16GB-XFX-Radeon-RX-6950-XT-Speedster-MERC-BLACK-GAMING-DDR6-Tri-retail_1459523.html

Or this one

https://www.mindfactory.de/product_info.php/16GB-PowerColor-Radeon-RX-6950-XT-Red-Devil-16GB-DDR6-Triple-retail_1452953.html

Now my problem is I have a rather old motherboard which is the MSI Z97 GAMING 7:

Specification Z97 GAMING 7

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de.msi.com

As for the latter graphics card, I wasn't sure if the PCI x16 4.0 would fit to the motherboard.
But honestly idk if either of them fit to my motherboard.
My power supply is also not crazy at 700W.
So I wanted to ask you if they would fit into my motherboard or if I should get a new one, and if so I'd be thankful if you could send me links to motherboards/ power supplies that are good quality and fit my situation. Thanks a lot!!

Best regards,
Asaster

 

[liquidplasma]

The GPU says it has PCIe 4.0 but it will still work on 3.0 just fine.

 

[GerKNG]

PCIe is backwards compatible.
the only thing you'll miss out is resizeable BAR (Smart Access Memory) and your PSU might on the absolute edge. (RDNA2 Graphics Cards have nasty transients!)

install the card, use seperate power connectors (no daisy chain) and try it out.
if your system crashes under load the only issue might be your PSU.

 

[P4-630]

Now my problem is I have a rather old motherboard which is the MSI Z97 GAMING 7

Another problem will be your whatever CPU you have in that motherboard being a major bottleneck for this high-end GPU.....

Your other problem will probably your 700W PSU....

 

[Asaster]

PCIe is backwards compatible.
the only thing you'll miss out is resizeable BAR (Smart Access Memory) and your PSU might on the absolute edge. (RDNA2 Graphics Cards have nasty transients!)

install the card, use seperate power connectors (no daisy chain) and try it out.
if your system crashes under load the only issue might be your PSU.

Thank you a lot and to all the others who answered, just one question, could you send me a link to a separate power connector that I could buy for this card? Thanks!!

 

[Deleted member 223428]

The power supply is probably going to be an issue. The Red Devil you have listed above recommends 900w as a minimum.

 

[GerKNG]

could you send me a link to a separate power connector that I could buy for this card?

i guess you didn't understood what i've meant with that.
with seperate power connectors i mean this:

 

[Toothless]

Get a new power supply before anything else. You don't want to risk your shiny new card

 

[Dr. Dro]

It will work, provided your power supply is up to par. However, you should keep in mind that there is no processor on that platform that can push this GPU to its full performance - be that an i7-4790K or i7-5775C. These processors are based on 9 year old technology at this point, and you're effectively just shifting the bottleneck from the graphics card onto your poorly performing processor.

Unless you're buying this card on a significant discount and planning a platform upgrade beforehand, you should buy a slower GPU and a new system platform instead.

 

[Imperator]

Unless you're buying this card on a significant discount and planning a platform upgrade beforehand, you should buy a slower GPU and a new system platform instead.

I totally agree to this point of view.
You will face soon the limit of the system (mainboard + CPU) - cause the video card won't have any trouble to run any game.

 

[Ruru]

I totally agree to this point of view.
You will face soon the limit of the system (mainboard + CPU) - cause the video card won't have any trouble to run any game.

Agree as well. Even something like a 2080 Ti or equivalent card would be practically bottlenecked by any 4c/8t CPU.

 

[mb194dc]

I have a 4790k @4.6 with a 6800xt and at 4k max detail the cpu bottleneck is not a big dea for my use case. I get at least 60 fps in everything I play.

At stock it'd be more an issue I think.

 

[Toothless]

I have a 4790k @4.6 with a 6800xt and at 4k max detail the cpu bottleneck is not a big dea for my use case. I get at least 60 fps in everything I play.

At stock it'd be more an issue I think.

You're at 4k, you wouldn't see the issue.

I went from a 4790k at 4.7 to a 3700x and got a bump with my 1080ti at 3440x1440. Honestly anything on DDR3 is too old and will hold back your 6800XT, and anything OP is planning.

 

[Hofnaerrchen]

Based on what games you are playing at a given resolution and given detasils - we have no information on that - you will run into a cpu bottleneck very fast with anything about 6600nonXT/6600XT class or comparable. There are quite good videos about that topic available. Maybe you should think about upgrading your DDR3 based MB/CPU first. AM4 (same is true for socket 1700) might be end of life but the 5800XD is currently selling for 360€ if you don't want to spend quite a lot more on a future proof - but expensive - AM5 system. Then you can think about replacing your aged GPU by a mid-class RTX 4000 or RDNA3 GPU next year. They will probably be at least equally fast compared to the 6950XT.