1.5v AGP - wassat? Budget graphics card recommendation

StockportGerbil

Hi!
I have upgraded my PC with a AS-Rock 939 Dual-SATA board processor and memory. The reason for picking that board is it supports both AGP and PCI-e so I can stuff my ancient AGP card in and if it appears to be a bottle neck / as I feel rich again then I can upgrade the thing.

Unfortunately the board comes with dire warnings about it only being compatable with AGP 1.5v devices and the AGP slot (at first glance) appears to be round the wrong way.

Has / did the physical and electrical standard for AGP change when I wasn't looking?

Assuming it did, are there any recommendations for budget graphics cards suitable for this board? I am toying with the idea of a Radeon X700 for £45 or so, but was put off when reading a write up of oblivion (an RPG for pities sake) that it needs at least an X800. I don't play many games but would at least like my new PC to be capable of running them! :-)

Thanks

Kevin

espresso

See here for an explanation including some pictures for identification.

:rolleyes:

StockportGerbil

Thanks for the link - am I therefore correct in the belief that any AGP 4x card is a 1.5v one? What about 2x AGP cards, I thought I had some knocking around the house and they'd be the old standard?

Thanks

Kevin

T4i

Yes, AGP 2x/4x Universal Graphics card with AGP 1.5 Volt slot.

StockportGerbil

Hi!
Given I'm on a rather tight budget now I'm toying with the idea of getting a ATI 9800SE from these folks http://www.retekdirect.co.uk/acatalog/Video_Cards.html and softmodding it up to a 9800 pro, would this be a better bet than buying the x700 pro?
Thanks again
Kevin

Mark_LJ

The only 9800SE listed there has a 128bit memory bus so although it will mod it isn't the best card for modding. They did have the 256bit bus ones in but obviously sold them. The 9800AIW listed might mod to a higher standard though and you get the multimedia features as well.

The X700pro is a better card for newer games but bear in mind its PCI-E not AGP, although the AsRock will do both.

The X800 is an excellent piece of kit and in PCI-E guise is rather cheap secondhand.

T4i

ATI Radeon 9800 SE 128MB Video Card
Ref: ATI9800SE

- Core clock - 277 MHz
- Memory clock - 270 MHz (540 MHz)
- Memory Interface - 128 bit
- Rendering pipes - 4
- DirectX version - 9
- AGP - 8x

---

Powered by ATI Radeon X700 PRO VPU - 425MHz
256MB-128bit GDDR3 memory - 860MHz
Eight parallel pixel pipelines
Six vertex shader pipelines
Rialto: PCIe to AGP convertion chip, makes AGP possible

X700 will pi** all over the 9800.

StockportGerbil

Folks :-
Thanks for the advice.
I've ordered an X700Pro for £53 all in, which I think is the best compromise for me.
Regards
Kevin