Video Card Selection

[Glenn9999]

I was getting ready to look at ebay for a video card for this older machine I have that has an AGP 4x port, but surprised I still find newer cards (like at Newegg) that are AGP4x/8x. Does anyone have any experience with anything in this regard? What would be the more higher-performing chipsets/cards that I should consider in this case? Since it is an older machine, would any performance I might get out of a video card be limited by the CPU or any other part of the computer, or would I get a good upgrade out of it? I would think I would since right now it has a GeForce4 MX class card in it...

Any thoughts?

[Tripredacus]

Be careful! Not all AGP are created equally. I found this out the hard way when I realised my Voodoo 5500 wouldn't go in my D850MV board. There are more than one kind of AGP slot. Be very certain you get the right one or else you just have an expensive paperweight.

Different AGP slots on ToW

[Glenn9999]

Be careful! Not all AGP are created equally. I found this out the hard way when I realised my Voodoo 5500 wouldn't go in my D850MV board. There are more than one kind of AGP slot. Be very certain you get the right one or else you just have an expensive paperweight.

Different AGP slots on ToW

Okay, so find out the slot type by how it is sectioned out (the docs for the board really don't say anything specific other than "AGP 2x/4x") and then match it and I should be fine, whatever choice there is?

[Tripredacus]

Yes or you could just look at the actual slot on the board. Then compare against whatever pictures are of the video card.

[gUiTaR_mIkE]

Please confirm my findings before-hand, this is what my documentation shows:

Note: Your motherboard may be capable of faster AGP that is achieved thru a BIOS update so the 2x/4x may only be a BIOS limit.

If in fact the slot is capable of only 2x/4x, this looks to be an AGP v2.0 motherboard, and the slot should be keyed short slot towards the rear/bracket-side of the motherboard for a 3.3 volt slot. If it's keyed towards the front long slot bracket-side this should be a 1.5 volt slot. If your AGP slot is not slot'ed' it should be a universal slot (not likely).

Like I said, just a guide, please confirm ahead of time but it sounds like you have AGP 2.0, either 1.5 volt or 3.3 volt or ....

I'm not sure if it will make a difference over what you have but a good chipset was the ATI Radeon Pro. I have the ATI Radeon 9600 Pro AGP 3.0/8x/1.5 volt card and it has worked great for a long time. I'm not a gamer though.

[puntoMX]

Since it is an older machine, would any performance I might get out of a video card be limited by the CPU or any other part of the computer, or would I get a good upgrade out of it?

There are great deals on eBay for 40 to 50USD that give you: Socket 775 CPU with 65 or 45nm CPU dual cored, onboard video that support aero in windows 7 (GMA950/3000/3100 or even "better"), 2GB of DDr2 RAM, PCI-E, SATA and so on.

I would look for that and go from there unless you like the nostalgic machine you have now, I know, it's cool to tweak and upgrade old stuff but in this case I think you might be better off getting something used . Need help? Ask .