GeForce2 GTS and MSI Neo2 compatible?

MadCow624

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I’ve scoured the net for hours now and haven’t been able to find a simple answer to my problem. I currently have an Asus V7700 GeForce2 GTS video card and I want to upgrade to a P4 system. I’ve been looking at the MSI Neo2 mobo, but the Neo2 manual says that the AGP only supports 0.8 and 1.5, but not 3.3. If I remember correctly, the GeForce2 GTS series is based on a 3.3 AGP voltage, and therefore not compatible with the GeForce2 GTS line.

Could someone either confirm this or deny this? I really want to minimize the initial out of pocket expenses if at all possible and keep this card for a while. Also, think I could sneak by with a 250W Enlight PS on a P4 2.6 GHz system? :)


Hours of research have done nothing but confuse me more…

Thanks in advance for the help!
MadCow624
 

SoDNighthawk

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Check that the card can run in XP, any driver packs I see are specifically for win 2000 or Win 98.
The card is a 2 or 4X AGP Bus and it says nothing anywhere about the voltage settings going up to 3.3

A new P4 main board that you want to upgrade to will have a AGP diagnostic L.E.D built into the main board when you plug the card in if the light goes OUT the card will match 3.3 Volts but it will not run in 8X AGP.
If the light stays ON the card is a complete mismatch.

So if you want to save money on the original purchase then simply buy the new hardware you want then try the card if it works great. I get the feeling however that the card will not function at 3.3 Volts because as you say the manual does not mention it.

The only other thing I can recommend is to go to the manufactures web site and download the PDF file format of the instruction manual they could possibly have updated information in it that your manual does not.

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Crashman

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Former Staff
Your card should be fine, it's NOT one of the very few "AGP4x" cards that didn't support the full AGP 2.0 specification, as I recall.

So it should be fine.

As for the power supply, it's an Enlight so it probably does put out 250 real watts, but that's very close to the breaking point for that system. I'd try it, if it fails you can get another power supply later.

The problem is, does your power supply have the square ATX12v connector? Not likely. Which means that even if it does have enough output power, it likely doesn't have the right connectors.

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Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
It gets complicated since AGP2.0 spec had both 4X and 1.5v signals, but a few cards were built that didn't meet spec. One site blew an i850 board a few years back and did an investigation, listing those cards that were keyed for 1.5v signals but only supported 3.3v. Unfortunately articles that old are hard to find.

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MadCow624

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Thanks for the responses guys! It really helps a lot. I did read all of the manuals, both motherboard and video card manuals, but none were specific enough about the voltages of the video cards, except the mobo saying it didn't support 3.3V.

I tried NVidia's site to see if they have any good app notes or information on the GeForce2 GTS, but all their documentation that I could find was pretty useless.

Crashman -- let's hope I don't have to write up an article on how I blew a 865PE board :) I'll let ya all know how it turns out in a week or so. Maybe this way if someone searches the msg boards they will find an answer to their problem. And you're right... I need a new power supply, found out about the new connector as I was doing more research later on that night. Probably just gonna buy a new case from enlight or Antec with a PS built-in and pick up a second fan. Never can have too many cases lying around :)

I'm gonna e-mail Asus tech support just to see if they will respond to me... but I'm not expecting anything.

Thanks again and I will keep you informed!
Madcow624
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
nVidia might not have the answers you seek, even if they gave you one it could be wrong. Unless they have specific information easily available as to which manufacturers cheated on which cards, they'd just tell you "Of course it will be fine". As for me, I remember reading the article. And I specifically DON'T remember Asus being there. Hurcules was, and a couple smaller companies.

You see, the GeForce2 series supports 2x and 4x, allong with the appropriate 3.3v and 1.5v signals. So on your board it would automatically switch to 1.5v operation. Because yours isn't one of the oddball cards that were manufactured improperly.

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MadCow624

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Glad to hear I picked a good video card for a change... Guess going with a name brand does have it's strong points. Asus hasn't let me down yet. :)

Thanks