AGP Pro had been released in April 1999 to provide that necessary power and consequent cooling to a computer system. The AGP Pro Connector is fully backward compatible and offers additional pins at the front and the back of the connector.
Like the AGP slot, the AGP Pro slot comes in different versions, which are AGP Pro 3.3V, AGP Pro 1.5V and AGP Universal. The first two have blocking pins to prevent insertion of an unsupported AGP (Pro) card. All the motherboards with AGP Pro slot that we reviewed so far are using the AGP Pro Universal slot.
The current AGP slot can supply up to 25 W to the graphics card. With the two additional pins, PRSNT1# & PRSNT2#, the AGP Pro cards report its power requirements to the motherboard. An AGP Pro slot can provide a total of 50W or 110W.
Stay On the Cutting Edge: Get the Tom's Hardware Newsletter
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
