pugs30th 0 Posted December 13, 2005 I need a card for an older computer...every card I look at says 2x/4x or 8x. But does not indicate if it will work in an older board with the 1.0 spec. I have downloaded some of their manuals and still cant find anything. Looking at Geforce MX 4000's. I wont be playing any games with it...Will any brand work or only certain ones? Or none? Share this post Link to post
Sampson 0 Posted December 13, 2005 What you are looking at is the AGP spec. When a board says that its AGP is 1.0, it really depends. Some will run a 2X card; others won't. An MX card as you are considering ought to run on AGP 1.0 that has support for 2X. However, I wouldn't waste my time trying to mate an AGP card to an old motherboard; your choices are too limited. If you have a free PCI slot, buy a PCI card (do not confuse this with PCI-e). nVidia and ATI still make the PCI cards that run just as fast as the equivalent AGP card, even those that are 4X, and there are quite a few to choose from. If your bias is toward nVidia and you don't intend to play games (at least you have no expectation of high framerates) but would like DirectX 9.0c support, you can get an FX5200 in a PCI version. Any PCI based card will run in that old machine so you don't have to worry if it will work or not. Share this post Link to post
pugs30th 0 Posted December 13, 2005 Yah, it is a 1x/2x 1.0 slot(3.3 volt). I would like to stick with the AGP slot for video as my PCI slots are limited. I may go to a 5200 if it is not much more and would work in the system. I know most PCI cards will work in a slot as long as you can plug them in. They are keyed 5 volt or 3.3 volt however a 32 bit card will go in a 64 bit slot and work. Just wondering if AGP is the same way. If a card is keyed to fit in a 3.3 volt slot does that mean it will work there? Manufacturers only seem to say if they are 2x or 4x or 8x...but nothing about what actual AGP spec the card is compatible with...grrrrrr ;( Share this post Link to post
Sampson 0 Posted December 13, 2005 The MX will work with your AGP then if it is 1X/2X. AGP cards will only fit into the AGP slot. If yours is a Pre-P4 machine (and I suspect it is) your machine given that it can only support 2X will only power a 2X card no matter what the voltage it may be capable of. Put a 4X in there and welcome a black screen. the FX5200 AGP is 4X and won't work. Be realistic, just how many more PCI devices are you going to put into that machine? If you have a PCI slot free, slap a PCI card in it. The FX5200 PCI will run like a dream (well, it will be a solid card that will run your applications trouble free). Keep in mind that your motherboard included the AGP slot because when it came out AGP was the "wave of the future" and you would have had it as an expandable option. But, the fact was, that your motherboard was meant to really run a PCI card. Tell you what. Look at the placement of the AGP slot and its proximity to your RAM. Depending on the amount of RAM you have installed (and you should max it out since Windows is RAM hungry) the real weakness of the MX is the fan. It is an intermittant fan that is supposed to cycle on and off. If your slot it close to the RAM, it is going to run hot and the fan will run constantly, which it is not supposed to do, nor was the AGP 1.0 designed to sustain. I like the MX and ran it in a PIII machine with W2K. It ran just fine - right up to the day the fan failed (six months later). I put a PCI card in four years ago - it is still running. Share this post Link to post
