Video Card Hunting

KennethLove · Oct 3, 2005

Hello all,

I've just started hunting for a new video card for my old (P3/550MHz purchased back in 1999) system. This may well sound like a stupid question, but here goes. When the specs on a card mention that it is an AGP 4X, or AGP 8X, etc., will it work in an old AGP slot (I'm assuming that it's compatible, but I don't know that for sure)? If so, how do I determine before I buy it, if my computer will properly run the card?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Ken Love

HardWareBoss · Oct 3, 2005

Why not upgrade your whole system?

emogoch · Oct 3, 2005

AGP 4x/8x cards will not work in AGP 1x/2x slots. You're going to need to keep hunting to find a GPU that'll work for you.

KennethLove · Oct 3, 2005

Money, money, money. Believe me, I would love to upgrade the whole thing, but right now things are pretty tight. So if I can get a cheap decent card that will work for my system, that's the route to go.

Thanks,
Ken

KennethLove · Oct 3, 2005

Well, that certainly answers that part of the question. Thanks for the info. I'll keep looking.

Thanks again,
Ken

Unolocogringo · Oct 4, 2005

Your P3 motherboard should be AGP 4X . Look arround for a cheap Geforce4 TI 4200 or Radion 8500.
You can find them used and real cheap. But good performing cards fot their time.

I aint signing nothing!!!

HardWareBoss · Oct 4, 2005

I'll second the TI4200.

cleeve · Oct 4, 2005

Scroo dat Ti4200!

Go used Radeon 9700 PRO! Awesome card for cheep.

It sounds like you're poor, so when you realize the P3 doesn't cut it, the 9700 PRO will still serve you well in a Sempron64 socket 754 mobo or Athlon64 Nforce3 socket 939 mobo.

________________
Geforce 6800 Ultra
AthlonXP ~3300+ (Barton 2500+ o/c 412 FSB @ 2266 Mhz)
3dMark05: 5,275

HardWareBoss · Oct 4, 2005

I forgot about the 9700Pro.

cleeve · Oct 4, 2005

I'll forgive you this time HWB, but I'm writing this incident down in my journal...

________________
Geforce 6800 Ultra
AthlonXP ~3300+ (Barton 2500+ o/c 412 FSB @ 2266 Mhz)
3dMark05: 5,275

KennethLove · Oct 4, 2005

Wow! You guys have been more helpful than I could have hoped for. Thanks to everyone for their input. It looks like I actually have some good choices for my system. Hopefully, I'll find something soon. I went to the ASUS site to see which type of AGP slot I have, but they don't have specs for my motherboard listed (apparently model P2B is too old to maintain info on), so I've e-mailed them. Hopefully I'll hear something soon and be able to have a little more working info.

Thanks again everyone!
Ken

cleeve · Oct 4, 2005

Hi Ken,

I did a little looking around; I found a review that shows a Radeon 9800 PRO (among other cards) on a P2B motherboard (Pentium 2 350 CPU!!!!):

<A HREF="http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/retro/retro2003-2.html" target="_new">http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/retro/retro2003-2.html</A>

Which I'm surprised to find, as the P2B is AGP 1.0 specification as far as I can tell...

The specs show the P2B to be 3.3volt, I know that AGP 2x is 3.3volt as well. And I know for a fact the 9700 PRO supports AGP 2x, 4x and 8x.

So unless the mainboard in that review is special (I doubt it), you should be good to go with a 9700 PRO.

On a side note, you can see how CPU limited a Pentium 2 350 is in that review... in most cases not strong enough to see a difference between the 9700 PRO or Geforce4 MX!

Your PIII 550 should fare a bit better, but the point is your CPU is probably going to limit you more than your videocard will... Your best bet on the cheap is to get a used 9700 PRO, and a used Socket-A Athlon CPU and motherboard. Socket A boards are extremely cheap, and so are used CPUs like an Athlon 1.2 Ghz.

I have an old Athlon 1.4 and 9700 PRO in a secondary box, and it actually games very well. I use it to network Star Wars Battlefront and it does a superb job at 1024x768. It's quite surprising how fast it is.

________________
Geforce 6800 Ultra
AthlonXP ~3300+ (Barton 2500+ o/c 412 FSB @ 2266 Mhz)
3dMark05: 5,275

Rugger · Oct 4, 2005

<A HREF="http://www.google.com" target="_new">Google it</A>
Google is your Friend...just like Bunny is your friend...

(\__/)
(='.'=)This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into
(")_(")your signature to help him gain world domination.

Rugger · Oct 4, 2005

Or you could let Cleeve do some research for you! :lol:

(\__/)
(='.'=)This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into
(")_(")your signature to help him gain world domination.

Rugger · Oct 4, 2005

Bunny is still your friend...

(\__/)
(='.'=)This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into
(")_(")your signature to help him gain world domination.

cefoskey · Oct 4, 2005

Dont worry about what some of the guys here said....your motherboard will run most any agp 4X/8X card with no problem. I have run ATI Radeon 9200's on machines with Pentium 233MMX and AGP 1X/2X slots many times at my old job. The older voltage slots are usually keyed and the newer cars physically wouldnt fit.

I agree your best bet on that system is a GF4 Ti4200

"Who is General Failure, and why is he reading my drive?"
P4 3.0C HT, Intel D865GBF, 1GB Crucial PC3200 DDR, 2x WD 36GB Raptor 10kRPM, BBA Radeon X800XT PE, SB Audigy, Hauppage WinTV

KennethLove · Oct 5, 2005

Again, I can't thank you enough for all the time you've put into this. All of this info gives me more hope for my old system than I thought possible.

Thanks,
Ken

KennethLove · Oct 5, 2005

Cleeve has achieved Godhood in my little corner of the world, but I'm glad that Bunny is still my friend.

Ken

KennethLove · Oct 5, 2005

Thanks for reassuring me about the AGP slot. I had been banging my head on the wall about that for a while. So the main thing to worry about then is whether or not the card is too new?

Thanks,
Ken

Crashman · Oct 5, 2005

Are you purposely trying to mislead the man? Most 8x/4x cards are 8x/4x/2x.

Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!
Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!

Crashman · Oct 5, 2005

Most P3 boards back then used the BX chipset, AGP2x.

Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!
Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!

Crashman · Oct 5, 2005

I'm sorry for all the misinformation. Your board is AGP2x. Cards that support 2x include the 9800 and 9800Pro (but not usually the 9800XT), 9500 and 9500 Pro, 9700 and 9700 Pro, 9200 series and lower. Most nVidia cards also support 2x mode, and when nobody seems to know, <A HREF="http://www.sysopt.com/features/graphics/article.php/3532496" target="_new">this article at SysOpt</A> explains what to look for. Basically, 4x/2x and 8x/4x/2x cards have two key slots, while 8x/4x cards only have one.

Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!
Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!

KennethLove · Oct 5, 2005

Thanks for the link to that article! That's great info to know. I just got an e-mail from ASUS this morning verifying that it's a 3.3 volt 4X slot, which explains how Cleeve found the 9800 Pro on the P2B board upthread.

Thanks again,
Ken

Crashman · Oct 5, 2005

No, the P2B is a BX board, BX is 2x only. Reread that article

There is no such thing as a 3.3v 4x slot. 4x is 1.5v only, 2x is 3.3v only, 8x is 0.8v only. But an 8x/4x slot is compatible with both voltages because it supports both standards, and an 8x/4x/2x CARD is compatable with all THREE voltages because it automatically adapts to all THREE standards.

Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!
Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!

KennethLove · Oct 6, 2005

You know, I read the article completely after I posted to you. And I realized at that point that the ASUS guy had something wrong. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he just mistyped it.

Ken

Video Card Hunting

Distinguished

Splendid

Distinguished

Distinguished

Distinguished

Illustrious

Splendid

Illustrious

Splendid

Illustrious

Distinguished

Illustrious

Splendid

Splendid

Splendid

Distinguished

Distinguished

Distinguished

Distinguished

Polypheme

Polypheme

Polypheme

Distinguished

Polypheme

Distinguished

Share this page