How can I tell if I have an AGP slot without opening up my case?

[EvilFlow]

Can I tell if I have an AGP slot without opening up my case by accessing system info. under win2k/xp?

 

[shathal]

Pretty easy .

Install WCPUID from HERE and run it. Given that you've got the chipset drivers for the board installed, you should be able to find out under the "CHIPSET INFORMATION" tag what AGP-speed your mobo supports (and also what mode your GFX-card runs in at the moment).

Obviously, you can figure out what happens if you haven't got an AGP port. Equally, you just need to look for a PCI-AGP controller or something like that in "SYSTEM DEVICES" under device manager.

Alternatively - say what board you have. We'll either know or be able to find out.

 

[bacillus]

hmm, why are you afraid to open up that tower & have a peek??

 

[ronin100]

well, first you take the side panel off.....oh wait....never mind

 

[obenton]

Motherboard BIOS would have a setting to assign IRQ to AGP, or not.

 

[shathal]

Not always - some motherboards do that through PCI #1 - which shares the IRQ with the AGP port. So that's not a guarantee.

 

[MikeO]

You could drill a big hole on the sidepanel and... umm... with a flashlight.. duh. Nevermid. Maybe it's better NOT to do this.

 

[Boogak]

Go into your bios. See if you have standard AGP settings like "initialize AGP or PCI video card first" or "AGP aperature size".

 

[shathal]

AGP Aperture size may not (or as a matter of fact *IS NOT*) settable or viewable on certain motherboards/chipsets...

 

[Noriaki]

<< Pretty easy .

Install WCPUID from HERE and run it. Given that you've got the chipset drivers for the board installed, you should be able to find out under the &quot;CHIPSET INFORMATION&quot; tag what AGP-speed your mobo supports (and also what mode your GFX-card runs in at the moment).

Obviously, you can figure out what happens if you haven't got an AGP port. Equally, you just need to look for a PCI-AGP controller or something like that in &quot;SYSTEM DEVICES&quot; under device manager.

Alternatively - say what board you have. We'll either know or be able to find out. >>

What if you have an integrated AGP device but no external AGP slot? It will still show the AGP specs for your integrated video, that doesn't mean you can use it.

Chipsets like the i810 or Via KL133 for example.

 

[thorin]

Look under your display properties and tell us what type of Video card you are using. We'll tell you if it's agp or not.

Thorin

 

[RanDum72]

Or you can download SisSandra 2001 and it gives you info on what kind of chipset your mobo has, the video card, etc..

 

[SickBoy5000]

If you are running windows, you should be able to see if there are drivers for your AGP slot in device manager. That's another way.

 

[sandorski]

I'm no expert on integrated video, but wouldn't integrated video show up as an AGP device, thus making it difficult to determine whether an AGP slot exists without actually opening the case and taking a gander?

One way to determine whether an AGP slot exists, is to check out the mobo on the net or looking at the systems config listing. More info on the system is needed. Such as, computer manufacturer, model#, etc.

 

[randomlinh]

why do you want to avoid opening up the case?

 

[damocles]

Is this too extreme?

Seriosuly though, I don't know your circumstances but opening up a case is pretty simple. Would you prefer help on how to do that? (if there isn't some other reason why you don't want to open it)