Am I able to run a 7600GT AGP with my setup?

[whhau]

Hi,

Wonder if anyone can give me any advice.

My Radeon 9700 Pro has died on me (Had artifacting for about a week and now it wont boot up unless in safe mode). I was wondering if I could run a 7600GT agp on my agp 4x 1.5v only motherboard. I was thinking of the Leadtek 7600gt, but on the company website it states agp 8x.

I know my 9700 pro was 8x too but it supported agp 4x 1.5v.

I have tried to google as much information as possible but i still get a lot of conflicting info.

Basicially some say the 7600GT agp 8x will run fine on 1.5v agp 2.0. However some say that agp 8x needs 0.8v so my motherboard will fry the card. Some say will it will work but not run in a stable way etc etc.

What is the real answer and if the 7600GT agp is not the card i should go for what would be the best agp 4x card?

My setup is pretty old but sufficient for what I do. (Although I might need to upgrade my PSU if my mobo will support the graphics card)

Pentium 4 2.53 Northwood
Asus p4b533-v Motherboard
1 mb pc2700 kingston ram
generic 350W PSU
win xp sp2

thanks for help/advice given

 

[cleeve]

Should work, methinks.

Even the upcoming X1950 PRO AGP would likely run on your mobo as well.

 

[purdueguy]

It's vendor specific. This Leadtek 7600GT says it's 4X & 8X, so it would run fine in your system. This XFX 7600GT says it's only 8X, so it would not.

Make sure the card specifically says 4X/8X on it.

Hmmm...I looked at Leadtek's website and it specifically mentions only 8X while Newegg has 4X/8X. I'd call to make sure the card would work in your system. Nothing like contradictoring information.

Wait until the X1950Pro comes out at the end of the month. Your system won't use it's capabilities but it might drive down the price of current cards.

Have you looked at an X850Pro? It might only be SM2.0 but it's an all-around better card. Here.

 

[cleeve]

What AGP 8x card won't work on AGP 4x as well?

I was under the impression all 8x cards were compatible with either voltage.

 

[whhau]

I am based in the UK so can't order it from newegg, and the x850pro is a very hard card to find over here.. I can only find the x800pro but that costs more than the 7600gt..

 

[purdueguy]

I got this here.

Edit: Pasted the wrong info. Should of been the following:

AGP 3.3V Card 3.3V slot Supports only 3.3V signaling. Available speeds 1x, 2x.

AGP 1.5V Card 1.5V slot Supports only 1.5V signaling. Available speeds 1x, 2x, 4x.

Universal AGP Card Double slotted Supports 3.3V and 1.5V signaling. Available speeds 1x, 2x at 3.3V and 1x, 2x, 4x at 1.5V.

AGP 3.0 Card 1.5V slot Supports only 0.8V signaling. Available speeds 4x, 8x.

Universal 1.5V AGP 3.0 Card 1.5V slot Supports 1.5V and 0.8V signaling. Available speeds 1x, 2x, 4x at 1.5V and 4x, 8x at 0.8V.

Universal AGP 3.0 Card Double slotted Supports AGP 3.3v, 1.5V, and 0.8V signaling. Available speeds 1x, 2x at 3.3V and 1x, 2x, 4x at 1.5V and 4x, 8x at 0.8V.

From that website it has a matrix which sums it up very nicely. It states that you can have an AGP 3.0 that will fit in an AGP 1.5V Mobo but won't work. It needs to be a Universal 1.5V AGP 3.0 or just Universal AGP 3.0 but I never saw one of these or at least that I remember.

That's why I said to make sure the card specifically mentions 4X/8X.

Sorry, but I can't give a specific example as I never physically ran into this problem. This is just from reading.

 

[purdueguy]

What kind of crap is Leadtek's website. I'm trying to download the manual from the link on the left side and it gives me Chinese letters. The other link to the manual on the bottom of the page just sends me back to the top of the same webpage.

Nice. Very Nice. NOT!

 

[cleeve]

I know about the motherboards, but I was under the impression that all 8x AGP cards support 1.5v for older mobos.

Has anyone actually experienced - or at least heard directly from - someone with an 8x AGP card that wouldn't work in a 4x mobo?

I guess the best thing to do would be to email the manufacturer's tech support before purchasing...

 

[purdueguy]

I clicked on the "Contact" link and once again Leadtek takes me to a page with some Chinese garbage on it.

I called but they were sooooo busy they told me to leave a message. I didn't bother.

Edit: Added this part to the message.

Also, from that site:

Unfortunately, the technical specifications for a video card rarely use these terms properly (if at all) to describe the video card. They usually just list the fastest AGP multipliers it supports: "8X, 4X", or "4X". From that information and the voltage slots on a picture of the video card, you can often figure out exactly what it is. I've seen plenty of video cards listed as "AGP 3.0 cards" when in fact they are actually Universal 1.5V AGP 3.0 cards. I've also seen cards listed as "AGP 8X,4X 1.5 volt only" when there is really no such thing. What they are trying to tell you is that it's a Universal 1.5V AGP 3.0 Card and doesn't support 3.3 volts. It is required to support 0.8 volts if it supports 8X.

So, maybe all of the AGP 8X cards are in fact Universal 1.5V AGP 3.0 cards. That would explain a lot.

 

[whhau]

I went to the Leadtek website and sent them an email about it.. Had to go to the european website based in the Netherlands.

But thanks for trying purdueguy.

 

[georgelawton]

itll work fine

 

[purdueguy]

Well, I didn't read far enough down on that website I mentioned.



Based on this, any 8X card should work.

There's more verbage on the website which I won't repeat here.

 

[Dr_asik]

My experience:

I used to have a 9600 on a P4S800, a motherboard that runs AGP up to 8X, but 1.5Volts only.
I have upgraded to an X800XL, a card that requires 0.8V to run at 8X. I simply had to adjust it to AGP 4X and it works fine. AGP 4X is always 1.5V.

So I don't see why it wouldn't work in your case with a 7600GT which is a similar card.

 

[pauldh]

What AGP 8x card won't work on AGP 4x as well?

I was under the impression all 8x cards were compatible with either voltage.

Same impression here. AFAIK, all AGP 8X cards are actually 4x/8x.

 

[whhau]

Cheers all for replying..
Thanks for the advice/help

 

[siddu]

hi...

i have asus p4vp-mx mobo,obviously with agp 4x slot...

i have the same problem of ur's...

i just want 2 make sure whether ATI 9700 is working fine in ur system...

 

[whhau]

My 9700 pro was working fine. I have had it since it first came out.. so 4 years ago!

I had the Sapphire version which was a universal agp card (supporting even agp 3.3v - agp 1x 2x ???). Not sure if all 9700 pro were like that though.

 

[siddu]

thing is that, i want 2 buy a 9700 pro...

as i already used mx 4000 which is agp 8x card...which worked fine unlike FX5800 ultra which gave me frequent problems( my computer frequently got restarted)...

now i am going 2 buy 9700 pro...

so i need some help from u...

did u have any problems using this card...?

can it run all present generation games at high resolution(with good graphics)..?

i need some help from u ...whether this 9700 pro will make a good buy...

i hope u'll help me out...

 

[whhau]

9700 pro is an old card.. a good card, but nonetheless an old one. It can run games like battlefield 2 and Half life 2 on 1024x 768 but you wont be able to max out the settings but the quality is still ok. Just make sure you got at least 1 gig of ram.

I had no problems with using the card, except of course when it started to artifact, hence my need to find a new card.

not sure what you budget is but you might want to spend a little more and get yourself a slightly better card. maybe nvidia or x850pro or 7600gt

 

[georgelawton]

It's vendor specific. This Leadtek 7600GT says it's 4X & 8X, so it would run fine in your system. This XFX 7600GT says it's only 8X, so it would not.

Make sure the card specifically says 4X/8X on it.

Hmmm...I looked at Leadtek's website and it specifically mentions only 8X while Newegg has 4X/8X. I'd call to make sure the card would work in your system. Nothing like contradictoring information.

Wait until the X1950Pro comes out at the end of the month. Your system won't use it's capabilities but it might drive down the price of current cards.

Have you looked at an X850Pro? It might only be SM2.0 but it's an all-around better card. Here.

You should really not give advice since you dont know what your talking about. 8x AGP is backward compatible. I also disagree that the 850pro is better than a 7600gt. I'd assume since the OP doesn't even know what works with his computer, that he wont be doing any bios or volt mods hah, so the 850pro with its amazing 12 pipes really stinks. I'd send him to no less than a x800xt/xl or 6800gt - preferring the xt/gt, as the lowest x800/6x00 series that would be better than a 7600gt with sm3......

 

[cleeve]

the 850pro with its amazing 12 pipes really stinks.

That's a little harsh, George. The X850 PRO is still one of the top ten best AGP cards you can get...

 

[whhau]

I havent bought my card yet.

Gearge, Can you explain why you think the x800xt or 6800gt would be better for me than x850 or 7600gt?

Thanks