BX Chipset, are the new video cards too fast for it and wasted?

[alkemyst]

I am getting ready to upgrade my video card (TNT2 Ultra) to something like a Radeon 8500, but I was wondering will my motherboard top out with a lesser card (2x agp I think is all it will do)? I will be running a Tualatin 1.1A at about 124-133FSB (1.3-1.5 GHz).

Thanks

Chris

 

[BFG10K]

AGP x2 will be fine - it'll be slower than AGP x4 but the peformance loss won't be crippling. The slowness will come implicitly from the fundamental limits of BX motherboards (ie slow processors and slow RAM).

 

[Peter]

... and of course, on Intel BX, if you run beyond its intended 100 MHz CPU bus, AGP bus will also be too fast, proportionally. Don't expect every card to be happy about this.

 

[alkemyst]

It will be at most 88.6MHz on the AGP bus I think the Radeon 8500 I want is ok with that. Some of those guys running 150MHz FSB are running their graphics cards at 100MHz (whoa!)

So will going with a Radeon 8500 275/275 still get me an increase over a cheaper 250/250 (or less) card?

 

[Doctorweir]

BX is just fine => see sig

9500 3DMarks...

only crippling factor is the system ram, but I can live with 10% less performance instead of buying a new platform

 

[JackBurton]

Dude, I had a Radeon 8500 running on a BX board (133MHz FSB), but it did not like the AGP running at 89MHz. Some people's Radeons are happy with the AGP running that fast but mine definitely did not.

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: Doctorweir
BX is just fine => see sig

9500 3DMarks...

only crippling factor is the system ram, but I can live with 10% less performance instead of buying a new platform

Yup... BX still kicks ass... my bro is running a 1.1A at 1.54GHz... 140MHz FSB... his 3DMark is 8700 something with a Radeon 8500... which is a lot better than my 6400...