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Need Help upgrading AGP card

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zcorker   09-26-2007 at 06:09:15 PM

I want to upgrade my AGP card from a card that has only one meg of video ram (32mb) to a better AGP card. My motherboard is a 3.3 volt ASUS CUSL2-C motherboard (PIII--933mhz) and I would like to know if there are any 4x graphic cards that will work with my board. I did call ATI and some of the staff felt that only a Radeon 9200 AGP would work. However, this card is only 2x and 128mb of ram. Are there any cards that will step the voltage up for older motherboards? Can I still use a 4x card even if I don't get the benefit of the full 4x?

I realize that I need to upgrade and get a newer computer. It is on the drawing board for later on.

:heink:

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runswindows95   09-26-2007 at 06:27:37 PM
- 0 +

I wouldn't even spend a dime upgrading something that old.

Reply to runswindows95
KyleSTL   09-26-2007 at 06:32:52 PM
- 0 +

3.3V, yikes. I agree with runswindows95 (which BTW, should be your name, considering your rig). At least you aren't asking about a computer with a Turbo button, or 5V AGP, or ISA. LOL

My bad, AGP is 3.3V->1.5V->0.8V. I was thinking it was 5V->3.3V->1.5V. Oops.


Message edited by KyleSTL on 09-26-2007 at 06:50:57 PM
------------------------------ Lian-Li PC-7B | XClio Greatpower 550W | P4 3.2 Prescott SL7E5 | Scythe Ninja
2GB DDR400 Corsair VS (4*512) | eVGA nVidia GF 7600GS AGP vmod 1.46/1.91 OCd 759/907
WD 160GB & 640GB SATA
WinXP MCE 2004
 Reply to KyleSTL
Cleeve   09-26-2007 at 06:34:59 PM
- 0 +

The Ati staff you talked to don't know what they're talking about.

On your motherboard, any 4x or 8x AGP card would work. All 8x AGP cards I've seen are backward compatible with 4x.

Your best bet for cheap performance would be a used 9700 PRO on ebay for cheep. Very powerful for the price, and they are the first AGP 8x cards, backwards compatible even with 1x AGP.


Then again, you should know that nothing will turn that machine into comething that can play the newest games. Your CPU will hold you back alot.

But a 9700 PRO would let you play games like quake 3 at high settings, or Half Life 2 at very low settings.... stuff 3 years old or older should run at least.

Don't dream of running Bioshock or any other graphically demanding titles tho. Time for a system upgrade if that's your goal.


Message edited by Cleeve on 09-26-2007 at 06:36:56 PM
Reply to Cleeve
KyleSTL   09-26-2007 at 06:55:03 PM
- 0 +

Quote :

Some newer cards like nVidia's GeForce 6-series or ATI's X800-series only have keys for 1.5 V to prevent them from installing in older mainboards without 1.5 V support. The graphic cores can only handle 0.8 V for AGP8x and 1.5 V for AGP4x and will be damaged by 3.3 V slots. Some of the last modern cards with 3.3 V support were the nVIDIA GeForce FX series and the ATI Radeon 9500/9700/9800(R350) (but not 9600/9800(R360)).



Found on Wikipedia. I've never tried to use new GPUs in an old motherboard, so I have no idea if it would actually work for, say, a GF 7x00 card.

Cleeve knows much more than I do, and probably has 1st-hand experience with all this stuff. He can answer it with certainty.


Message edited by KyleSTL on 09-26-2007 at 06:56:16 PM
------------------------------ Lian-Li PC-7B | XClio Greatpower 550W | P4 3.2 Prescott SL7E5 | Scythe Ninja
2GB DDR400 Corsair VS (4*512) | eVGA nVidia GF 7600GS AGP vmod 1.46/1.91 OCd 759/907
WD 160GB & 640GB SATA
WinXP MCE 2004
 Reply to KyleSTL
aevm   09-26-2007 at 07:33:25 PM
- 0 +

zcorker wrote :

I want to upgrade my AGP card from a card that has only one meg of video ram (32mb) to a better AGP card. My motherboard is a 3.3 volt ASUS CUSL2-C motherboard (PIII--933mhz) and I would like to know if there are any 4x graphic cards that will work with my board. I did call ATI and some of the staff felt that only a Radeon 9200 AGP would work. However, this card is only 2x and 128mb of ram. Are there any cards that will step the voltage up for older motherboards? Can I still use a 4x card even if I don't get the benefit of the full 4x?

I realize that I need to upgrade and get a newer computer. It is on the drawing board for later on.

:heink:



I had a P3/800MHz once and I got a major performance boost by adding RAM, from 256 MB to 512 MB. If you're really willing to spend more money on that PC you may want to check how much RAM your motherboard accepts and max it.

About the video card - listen to Cleeve. What I can tell you from my experience is that I added a $40 GeForce MX 4000 to my old piece of junk and it was able to play Diablo 2 or play movies at 1680x1050. Not very well, but it could do it. I wouldn't invest more than that in a new card for that PC.

Reply to aevm
microdol   09-27-2007 at 06:10:40 AM
- 0 +

I am almost asking the same question you are, and looking for the same type of answers. I may have found them here.

Reply to microdol
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