Vid card for older system

[RangerCharlie]

Well now, seems my system can only support AGP 1.0 (Elite P6BX-A+ PII600 512MB)so I am finding it difficult to get a new card. Currently I have a CL TNT 16mb AGP card and want something better to handle the newer games out.
Any suggestions on what to get that will work with my system?

[Matridom]

maybe an original GeForce or a Voodoo3.. i'm not sure what AGP standard they use. you'll have to look around for something used though

[Darren Wilson]

The original Radeon cards supported AGP 1X (I used to have mine on a BX chipset board). The 64Mb Radeon DDR is still a very good card.

[RangerCharlie]

Digging a little more I have found that my board is AGP 1.0 compliant which supports 1x/2x.
Now most new cards are AGP 2.0 (4X), but some still support AGP 1.0 (2X). Now if the card will work, what features will be missing/different if I am only able to run it in 2X mode than 4X mode?

[Radical Dreamer]

I would suggest taking a look at <a href="http://www.tigerdirect.com" target="_blank">www.tigerdirect.com</a> and trying a pci card out, they have even the GF 4 MX's in PCI. I know that the PCI does not have the bandwidth that the AGP might have, but you will probably get more bang for your buck

[Lycia]

It was my understanding that the current AGP cards, with AGP 4x support will be backwards compatible with AGP 2x/1x...Honestly I doubt you will be missing much as far as features are concered, the 1x/2x/4x is for bus speed..

[Radical Dreamer]

[quote]Originally posted by Lycia:
<strong>It was my understanding that the current AGP cards, with AGP 4x support will be backwards compatible with AGP 2x/1x...Honestly I doubt you will be missing much as far as features are concered, the 1x/2x/4x is for bus speed..</strong><hr></blockquote>

Yes, that is true, but beside the 1x2x4x there is also version 1.0 and version 2.0 and the difference there is with voltage. Macgyver hooked me up with the difference between the 2 a while back. check out my topic called agp 2.0

[Lycia]

[quote]Originally posted by Radical Dreamer:
<strong>

Yes, that is true, but beside the 1x2x4x there is also version 1.0 and version 2.0 and the difference there is with voltage. Macgyver hooked me up with the difference between the 2 a while back. check out my topic called agp 2.0</strong><hr></blockquote>


Ah crap, forgot about the voltage crap....using newer mobos, "you" tend to forget about that stuff.... :)

[RangerCharlie]

Looks like the best thing I could find was a GF2 MX400 64mb PCI.
Don't know if this is going to be an improvement or not.
Everything else has to be AGP 2.0 or better.

[Darren Wilson]

[quote]Originally posted by RangerCharlie:
<strong>Looks like the best thing I could find was a GF2 MX400 64mb PCI.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

Go for the original pre-number (not 7000/7200/8500 type) Radeon 32/64Mb DDR which is backwards compatiable with the BX chipset & AGP 1.0 specs. Like I said before the one the is in my machine now (as I type) was in the Gigabyte GA6-BX2000 i440BX based board running perfectly (even though it meets AGP 2.0 specs as well). The little bit extra bandwidht is worth it and you won't be stuck with a PCI card that willonly bottleneck a faster machine later on if you decide to upgrade the motherboard.

[Zerotech]

I'm running with an FIC VA-503+ socket-7 motherboard and have had BIG problems getting video cards with any oomph to run without locking the system.
GeForce256 DDR = NO WAY!
TNT2 Vanta = Sorry, OpenGL locks.
TNT2 M64 = see above
TNT = supposed to be compatable, can't find them anymore.

For the last couple of years all I could get to work was a 16MB Matrox G400 (non-Max). FIC recommends nothing over 16MB and only the Diamond Viper V550 as far as TNT cards go.
I finally found a 32MB Voodoo4 card for only $40 at a show. It's a definite improvement and the strongest card I've found that will run in an AGP 1.0 slot. Most cards 32MB and above are AGP 2.0.
Granted 3dfx is gone, but voodoofiles.com has some excellent third-party drivers and it could be a quick, cheap hold-over until you can upgrade the whole system (much as I myself am doing).