Old BX board and agp

[BadNewsBears]

Hi all. I am just looking for a little advice/help with my aging abit be6 II version 2.0 motherboard. I recently got a lcd with dvi and would like to utilize the dvi in on it. At this point, I need a new graphics card and would like to use the agp slot. Thing is though, it is 1x/2x with a 3.3 volt spec. Is there anything out there that I can still purchase new(like newegg etc) that will work with no problem? I know that if nothing is available, I have go to pci, but most of those slots are taken!! Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

 

[AndyHui]

Any non-AGP 8X card should do; ie AGP4X.

AGP8X cards don't support the 3.3V spec anymore.

 

[BadNewsBears]

Are you sure? I put in my sons Visiontek Geforce 3 ti200 which I believe is agp4x. It (I think the 3.3v voltage) killed the card. I am really leery now about what is what. Thanks for your reply

 

[Hammerman]

Bumpity

 

[ChefJoe]

My Abit BE6-II 2.0 board has an ATI Radeon 7000 / Radeon VE in it... runs fine with that. They're cheap cards in the FS/FT forum... may still be avail at newegg.

 

[Hammerman]

That is agp with a dvi out? I shall take a peek. By the way, I went to the abit site and did some sluething. Seems that the board is totally dedicated at 3.3 volts with no universal voltage ( like 1.5 v and 3.3 v ) Put in an agp card with 1.5 v requirement, all it gets is 3.3 volts. Anybody???? Does the abit be6 II vers. 2.0 agp slot have options in the bios for voltage adjustment to 1.5volts or is there no switching it?? Do the 4x cards have the ability to soak up 3.3 volts and live to tell about it?? I know, lots of questions.... Thanks in advance.

 

[Hammerman]

BTW, I was using my sons login to start the thread. This is still the same person...

 

[BadThad]

I've been wondering that myself. What are we to do with our BX mobos? Fortunately for me, I have some old AGP and PCI cards I've been using....but I'm still wondering.

 

[Hammerman]

I guess the bottom line is that the agp slot is 3.3 volts and that is it. Will the newer cards that use the agp UNIVERSAL slot (both 2x and 4x) auto detect or withstand the fact that it will recieve 3.3 volts and 3.3volts ONLY????? Thanks for the info if you can provide it!!!

 

[Peter]

8x cards aren't backward compatible to 2x/1x (3.3V signalling) anymore. Most 4x cards used to be, but not all of them. Just look at the card's edge connector - universal cards have two notches in the connector blade, to fit AGP slots with either keying.

Also mind the card's power consumption - old mainboards don't have as strong a power supply rail toward AGP as newer ones do. So don't go for the high performance cards, these draw too much power (and would twiddle thumbs waiting for the slow CPU you have there anyway).

A Radeon 9000pro or 9200pro is usually a safe bet - low power consumption, and more rendering speed than any P-III can use. Watch it, some 9200 cards are 1.5V-only.

 

[pspada]

That is correct, the 8x AGP slot (an off red or purple, these days) has a key that will not allow you to plug a non-compliant card in. I was going to connect an older RAGE 128 AGP card, but as it did not have the slot for the key, I was unable to insert it, and had to use a TNT2 card instead. Saved me burning out the card and possibly mobo.

 

[Hammerman]

Yeah, those new cards are not keyed to fit the older slots.

 

[Peter]

They are keyed to not fit. Mind the difference