AGP 4x/8x on a Mobo that supports 2x/4x

[jagga]

Hi guys. I have a pretty old motherboard(4yrs old). Its got a ATI Radeon 7500 (64mb) in it now. I am getting ready to buy the Dell 24inch monitor (1920x1200 resolution). In the case that my RADEON 7500 can't sufficiently drive that new monitor; I was looking at new video cards. I noticed that almost most of them are AGP 4x/8x format. Would that work in my motherboard which can handle AGP 2x/4x?

Thanks!

 

[timzak]

It depends. You have to first take a good look at the AGP slot in your motherboard and compare it to the AGP card you intend to put into it. The easiest thing to do is do a Google search on AGP slot and find some good photos online that describe each revision (Wikipedia probably has something good). That way you can figure out your board's slot and from there, buy an AGP card that is compatible with that slot. The simple answer is that there ARE AGP 4x/8x cards that will work in an AGP 2x slot, but the more complicated answer is, it depends. I know for a fact I have a GeForce 3 Ti-200 (I think this is 4X or 8X) that works in an AGP 2x (Intel 440BX chipset) slot. But I don't think a newer-generation video card would work in that slot because the pins and gaps on the slot are in different locations.

Good luck.

 

[o1die]

It all depends on the voltage requirements. I personally wouldn't put a 1.5 volt agp 4x or 8x card in a 3.3 volt agp 2x slot. On some Intel boards, this can permanently ruin the board.

 

[tcsenter]

From your other thread on this topic:

If your motherboard supports AGP 4x then its AGP2.0 1.5V compliant.

Virtually any AGP 8x/4x graphics card is backwards compatible with AGP2.0 1.5V motherboards. Radeon 9550, Radeon 9600, GF FX5500, and GF 6200/A are all viable budget DX9 AGP cards that should work fine @ AGP 4x.

I just build a cheap system from an old VIA KM266 AGP 4x board. I tested a Radeon 9600 128MB AGP 8x card in it with no problems @ AGP 4x (3DMark2001SE, 3DMark2003, PCMark2004, PowerDVD, et. al.).