Low-profile PCI and AGP video card list.

[Cheetah8799]

I'm trying to compile a list of low-profile PCI video cards that are fairly decent. I am currently using a PowerColor Radeon 9100 AGP low-profile card in my main system, but my newest "backup" system will need a better video card if I ever attempt to play any games on it... It doesn't have any AGP slots though, so I need to dig up a good PCI card.

Why low profile? Because it takes up less space! Actually, I am using the AOpen H340D model cases, which are fairly thin desktop style cases. Therefore I need to find low-profile cards to put in them.

If anyone knows of any other low-profile video cards, please post them and I'll add them to the list.

PCI Cards:
ATI Chipset
PowerColor Radeon 9000 64M PCI link
PowerColor Radeon 7500 64M PCI link

nVidia Chipset
PNY GF4 MX440se 64M PCI Newegg.com link MFGR Link
XFX GeForce4 MX440se 64MB PCI TigerDirect Link

AGP Cards:
ATI Chipset
PowerColor Radeon 9200 128M! AGP link
PowerColor Radeon 9100 64M AGP (I don't have a link for this, but I own this model. I think they are discontinued...)
FIC A91L Radeon 9000 64M AGP link
FIC A92L Radeon 9200 64M AGP 8x link
Gigabyte GV-R7500L Radeon 7500 64M AGP 4x link
Gigabyte GV-R7032T Radeon 7000 64M AGP 4x Link
Gigabyte GV-R7064T Radeon 7000 128M AGP 4x Link
Gigabyte GV-AV32DG Radeon 7000e 64M AGP 4x link
Connect3d Radeon 7000 64M AGP TigerDirect Link

nVidia Chipset
AOpen GF4 MX440SE-V64 (A4) AGP link
AOpen GF4 MX440SE-V64 (A8) AGP link
MSI GF4MX440se 64M DDR AGP link
MSI GF4MX440se 64M SDRAM AGP link

 

[Peter]

As has been reiterated manier times, high performance chips cannot be brought to PCI because of the low power allowance in PCI slots.
Currently there are low profile Radeons up to 9200. The brandnew stripdown of the 9600 chip, the 9600SE, with its low low clock, might also appear on PCI cards, and "thanks" to its half-width memory bus also fits LP cards.
That's the main caveat about all the LP Radeons - with the inability to place RAM chips above the main chip, you never get 128-bit memory bus, just 64. They are quite a bit slower than their full height counterparts.

 

[Peter]

Oh, and for the list, there are more, but practically identical, LP Radeons from the various other ATi partners. Start with ATi's "Partners" page and browse.

 

[Cheetah8799]

I know the high performance chips won't run as PCI, but it's still nice to know what will. And if any of the manufacturers do manage to make them as low-profile AGP cards, that too would be valuable information for someone like me who is sick of having huge tower computers to deal with. It's harder than you'd think to track down these low-profile cards, and if other people know of some that I don't, it helps to spread the information.

I'll check out those ATI partners to see what I can find. Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[mindless1]

Originally posted by: Peter
As has been reiterated manier times, high performance chips cannot be brought to PCI because of the low power allowance in PCI slots..................That's the main caveat about all the LP Radeons - with the inability to place RAM chips above the main chip, you never get 128-bit memory bus, just 64. They are quite a bit slower than their full height counterparts.

Well if it's been reiterated many times, then it needs to stop. There's no technical reason why a PCI card can't use a power adapter just like some AGP cards do. They could also use BGA chips and very tight component placement to get full memory bus, but they'd likely have to add a couple more layers to the PCB.

The primary issue is manufacturing cost and the target market. Also, gamers aren't typically those who try to squeeze a high-heat card into a tiny case that already has marginal cooling, plus it's fairly hard if not impossible to find a higher-capacity power supply in a low-profile case.

 

[Cheetah8799]

Don't some of the latest greatest cards on the market have external power inputs? I think what Peter was saying though is that the PCI bus just can't handle the amount of data that the AGP bus can. That's why the super-fast chipsets can't be used in PCI cards. EDIT: Maybe I'm wrong, I don't know a whole lot about PCI/AGP bus speeds....

Manufacturing cost is probably a big problem when making low profile cards. There just aren't enough people like me who want super small computers. The SFF systems like Shuttle and MSI are still big enough to take the full size cards, but it's a pain in the butt to use anything else. Plus if you blow a motherboard on those you have to find an exact replacement because there aren't many flexATX boards out there. That's why I am using the microATX cases, more replacement parts available at lower prices...

 

[Peter]

We've had that discussion already. Extra power connector, plus all the regulation gadgetry that goes with it, makes sense to do on the high end, where cost and board real estate doesn't matter.

If you're making a midrange or low cost card, extra circuitry costs money. And on an LP card, the power regulation circuitry simply won't fit.

The data moving on the bus is hardly what limits 3D rendering speeds. All the data within a certain scene are typically held in the graphics card's own memory. Just look at how little impact going from AGP 1x to 8x actually has.