Compatible Graphic Cards

I found myself that it was quite interesting that E521 motherboard likes DDR2 memory interface Graphic card.

There was a time when I have installed Sapphire X1550 into my system(with AMD 5000+ CPU) and my vista worked tremendously well although the Vista Index score only showed 4.1 on graphic card performance.

It might be possible that E521 motherboard likes DDR2 rather than modern DDR3 and DDR5 graphic cards.

But it is always better to get the better graphic card even it is not suitable for E521.

(Oh, by the way, please don't trust Vista Index Score system. It is possible that they are putting this function for the marketing purposes. The score shows nothing but mere numbers. Most people may buy a new hardware just because their score is not high enough. It is 100% possible for Microsoft to put list the model numbers of all hardwares on the market to determine the score. (the same goes to online benchmarking site as well) Please notice that Microsoft has a BIG share in this world. (not as big as google but still has a lot))


I can recommend some graphic cards for E521. It is always best if you can afford a modern expensive graphic card especially if you play heavy games.

If you don't play any games, then:

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD4350 512MB GDDR2

In fact this is cheap enough for a little upgrade.

I highly recommend the followings:
XFX ATI Radeon HD 4770 512MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI PCI-Express
Asus ATI Radeon HD 4670 1024MB DDR3
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD4670 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI PCI-Express - Retail
ANY brand of ATI HD4850 512mb to 1024MB GDDR 3
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD3850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI HDMI PCI-Express
Gigabyte HD4870
Asus HD4850 512Mb GDDR 3 PCI Express
HD4890 Vapor-X (you need to cut the back of the case)
XFX HD4890 (you need to buy Noctua heatsink for this)
(I have a the HD3850 so if you want to buy this from me, please email me to notify.)


Gigabyte 9800GTX
Nvidia 9800GT
Asus GeForce GTS 250 SLI 512MB GDDR3
Nvidia 8800GT






Actually, you can install almost all graphic cards except for the double slot ones and the dual GPU ones UNLESS you cut the back of the E521 case. They are simply too big that you can not install them on E521 straight away without using some cutting tools.

Also,for the double slot ones, you need to change your current heatsink to Noctua one that I have suggested (please go to table of content) otherwise you need to cut half of your current heatsink!!!

Crossfiring and SLI is not possible with E521.


Currently, there are problems with ATI drivers. The 2D rendering is bad and there is a heat problem as well. It is always best to go to your brand's website to download the drivers. This issue will come up especially if your OS is Linux (apart from Ubuntu series)

It might be better to go for Nvidia this time.


BEFORE you upgrade your Video cards, it is recommended to upgrade your PSU that has a 6pin PCI express power cable. If you do not insert this cable into your new graphic card, the system doesn't boot. It also beeps(longer one) until you power off your E521. IF your double slot graphic cards require two of PCIe cable, don't worry the additional cable is usually included in the box.


If you buy ASUS graphic cards, you will get the software called Gamer OSD where you can capture and record your game movie into Mpeg 4 format. This kind of utility is useful if you don't intend to pay for the other software that captures the game video such as the software called ''Frap''.





Please contact me if you encounter any problems.

(This part will be updated if necessary)