will newer agp 4x gfx cards work on older agp2x 440bx mobos (first gen p3 mobos)

[Wishkar]

Looking to get a radeon 9000 or geforce4 mx440. I'm gonna pop it in my existing pentium 3 system first till i build myself a new p4 rig. My question is will these new cards work on the old agp2x bus? As i know the new i845g mobos only allow agp4x graphics cards to be plugged. I was wondering if the same considerations apply the other way round.

The other question is should i get a cheap (price and brand) mx440 64meg for £60 UK pounds, a gainward gf4 mx440 64meg retail for 70 uk pounds, ati (manufactured) radeon 9000 64meg for 80 pounds, 128meg radeon 9000 for 90 pounds, or 64meg radeon 9000 pro for 100 pounds?

are the radeons likely to drop in price over the next month also? quite fancy buying one now and using it for a week but i'm going away on holiday for a month so i can wait the week if the price is going to drop. HOwever, since these radeons are new, will the price drop by much?

 

[boi]

I have a computer running a AGP 2x mobo with a geforce4 ti4400. Im pretty sure a geforce4 mx would work fine with a 2x mobo.

 

[Rand]

Both the GF4 MX and R9000 are fully 1.5/3.3V AGP1/2/4X compliant, and so should work perfectly fine in any modern motherboard capable of supplying an adequate power flow.

If you can pull off the extra cash an R9000 would certainly be preferable over the GF4MX, it's not inherently significantly faster but the full DX8 hardware support is bound to benefit you quite a lot, and even outside of 3D performance the R9000 is simply a more well rounded graphics card.
An R8500 or GF3Ti200 are also respectable alternatives.
Any of those would be preferable over a GF4 MX.

The R9000 will likely drop slightly in price over the next month, but I doubt you'll see any significant price drops on it. Still, I would definitely recommend waiting a month if you can as the impending release of the R9700 may help to push other graphics cards down to your price point.

 

[woodcomp]

Make certain to check your motherboards manufacture website for BIOS updates regarding video issues. You do not want to buy that card to find there is a problem. At least if you check first they may have a BIOS update for your board, and then it will go smoother. Always safe to check first.

 

[BFG10K]

Most AGP x4 cards should function perfectly in older AGP x2 motherboards, just make sure that you have the latest BIOS and chipset drivers for your system.

However you should still check your motherboard manufacturer's FAQ as some older non-Intel motherboards had extremely flaky AGP support.

 

[Wishkar]

Thanks for all the help. I think i'm going to wait a month (i'm gonna be on holiday round europe for 3 weeks of that month anyway). Will probably get the 128meg version of R9000 standard since in the computer industry, the conversion rate still seems to be 1 us dollar = 1 uk pound.

GF3 ti's are still commanding 90 odd pounds and only the shitty generic brands can be found. r8500 are around 130 to 250 pounds!!! Wonder how much they'll drop when R9700s arrive...