There are three options :
1) Higher end FX series (Ultra stuff, regular ones usually don't come with external power).
2) GeForce 6 with universal AGP (not exactly easy to find, however those cards have lower compatibility with DOS/Win98 than FX series)
3) Radeon 9500/9700/9800 that are based on R300 or R350/R360 core (again, lower compatibility with early Win98 stuff, but way faster than FX series)

Get GF4 MX if you that worried about power - won't be fastest thing out there (+lacks DX8 support), however it's HIGHLY unlikely to blow up your motherboard.

agent_x007 wrote on Yesterday, 21:28:

There are three options : 1) Higher end FX series (Ultra stuff, regular ones usually don't come with external power). 2) GeForce […]
Show full quote

There are three options :
1) Higher end FX series (Ultra stuff, regular ones usually don't come with external power).
2) GeForce 6 with universal AGP (not exactly easy to find, however those cards have lower compatibility with DOS/Win98 than FX series)
3) Radeon 9500/9700/9800 that are based on R300 or R350/R360 core (again, lower compatibility with early Win98 stuff, but way faster than FX series)

Get GF4 MX if you that worried about power - won't be fastest thing out there (+lacks DX8 support), however it's HIGHLY unlikely to blow up your motherboard.

GF4 MX series are VERY reliable DX7 cards and lower power draw, I like using them too.

That said I mostly use FX5900 series cards in my "high end" retro systems.

If you want more performance I would look at a Radeon 9600 non-Pro. They don't have external power but they are extremely power efficient and consume something like 12 watts... which is probably less than most AGP cards made after 2000. They are a bit more common as an OEM card (Dell, etc.) and are significantly faster than a Geforce4 MX or FX 5200\5500. This video shows some good examples of how much faster they are for early 2000s games:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJezgtPubBs

If you are strictly playing pre-2000 games though, a Geforce4 MX of some kind is probably fast enough and likely more compatible with some titles that are more touchy. I would do some research first regarding any specific games you intend to play.

Some quadro models seem to have their power tuned to less than equivalent home desktop models. However, some of the later ones might have weird omissions in DOS modes.

agent_x007 wrote on Yesterday, 21:28:

There are three options :
1) Higher end FX series (Ultra stuff, regular ones usually don't come with external power).

3) Radeon 9500/9700/9800 that are based on R300 or R350/R360 core (again, lower compatibility with early Win98 stuff, but way faster than FX series)

Having an additional power connector changes nothing. One of the core phases gets powered from this connector (+5V), and the other from the AGP slot (+3.3V). The schematics are available online, so you can easily verify this.

Get GF4 MX if you that worried about power - won't be fastest thing out there (+lacks DX8 support), however it's HIGHLY unlikely to blow up your motherboard.

Yeah. Especially the cheap variants with a linear regulator, which dissipates more heat itself than the core it powers. An energy-efficient MX440 is only possible on Nvidia's reference design.
It looks just like the image in the TechPowerUp database.

agent_x007 wrote on Yesterday, 21:28:

There are three options : 1) Higher end FX series (Ultra stuff, regular ones usually don't come with external power). 2) GeForce […]
Show full quote

There are three options :
1) Higher end FX series (Ultra stuff, regular ones usually don't come with external power).
2) GeForce 6 with universal AGP (not exactly easy to find, however those cards have lower compatibility with DOS/Win98 than FX series)
3) Radeon 9500/9700/9800 that are based on R300 or R350/R360 core (again, lower compatibility with early Win98 stuff, but way faster than FX series)

Get GF4 MX if you that worried about power - won't be fastest thing out there (+lacks DX8 support), however it's HIGHLY unlikely to blow up your motherboard.

There are high end Geforce 4 cards that take Molex power IIRC.

Lylat1an wrote on Yesterday, 21:21:

I've become paranoid about a graphics card drawing too much power from my new-to-me motherboard.

What would be a good candidate for DOS/Windows98 games that gets power from the PSU instead of the AGP 3.3v slot?

Not really something you need to worry about, the AGP slot itself can only supply so much and there are no AGP GPUs that would ever exceed this limit that don't also have an external power connector.

But if you want one and have the cash .. and AGP Voodoo 5 5500 or high end GF4 or high end FX series cards all have power connectors, also ATI 9600, 9700, 9800 and x700, X800 and X850 cards all have Molex power.

My choice for you would be a good MX440 that has excellent DOS and Win98 compatibility or if you want a little more grunt a GF4 TI card which also has amazingly good DOS compatibility.

If you see a MX460 in your hunt grab that over the MX440, the 460 is a beefed up MX440.

GeForce2 GTS or Ti are also good in this regard. They get power from 5V rail and 3.3V rail. Shouldn't bee too hard on your board.
Check this article - https://hw-museum.cz/article/15/graphics-card … r-consumption/2 I measured many AGP cards.

havli wrote on Today, 06:07:

... Check this article - https://hw-museum.cz/article/15/graphics-card … r-consumption/2 I measured many AGP cards.

^ Wow, that chart is just awesome! Thank you very much for sharing. 👍 👍 👍

Voodoo 5500 AGP has a molex too. It is, however, not agp4x (1.5V) compatible.

TELVM wrote on Today, 08:02:

havli wrote on Today, 06:07:

... Check this article - https://hw-museum.cz/article/15/graphics-card … r-consumption/2 I measured many AGP cards.

^ Wow, that chart is just awesome! Thank you very much for sharing. 👍 👍 👍

https://www2.vgamuseum.info/images/zaatharen/ … xle-128_fhq.jpg
Now, an FX5500 on linear regulators — that’s impressive.It probably draws around 50 watts. 😀
Like I said, 99% of people don't even know what a proper MX440 looks like.
And it looks identical to an FX5200