Likely an inexpensive fx5200 is your best bet as it wont require you to even worry about the AGP revision/voltage power supply output....

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the FX 5200 is an 8X AGP card. My MOBO only supports 1X/2X AGP. I should probably look for a used GeForce 3, or Ti 200 or a Ti 500; unless of course, I go with an ATI card. That's a whole new ballgame. 😉

It doesn't matter. AGP will downclock to whatever you've got on the board. As far as AGP voltage is concerned, you are vastly overstating any possible problem; very early AGP slots used a different slot type than newer AGP slots to prevent the different voltages from screwing up cards. Anything with a 2X AGP slot will have the newer slot type. AGP Pro is never used (it provides extra voltage, just like the molex connector most cards require because not all boards have AGP Pro capability).
I would recommend an eVGA. Their GeForceFX5200 uses passive cooling, with a nice-sized heatsink.

Thanks for the info,

I'm not sure of the voltage at the AGP slot. This concerns me. I guess that I'm going to have to open the case and visually inspect the slot configuration before I make any decisions.

FYI, Maybe this will help?

SYSTEM SPECS: (per EVEREST)

CPU: Intel Pentium III 450 Mhz. MMX
MOBO: BIOSTAR M6TZA
Motherboard Chipset Intel 82440ZX
RAM: 384 Mb. SDRAM (PC100)

North Bridge Properties
North Bridge Intel 82443ZX
Revision / Stepping 03 / C1
Package Type 492 Pin BGA
Package Size 3.5 cm x 3.5 cm
Core Voltage 3.3 V

South Bridge Properties
South Bridge Intel 82371EB PIIX4E
Revision / Stepping 02 / A0
Package Type 324 Pin mBGA
Package Size 2.7 cm x 2.7 cm
Core Voltage 3.3 V

AGP Properties
AGP Version 1.00
AGP Status Enabled
AGP Aperture Size 64 MB
Supported AGP Speeds 1x, 2X
Current AGP Speed 2x
Fast-Write Not Supported
Side Band Addressing Supported, Enabled

[b[Front Side Bus Properties[b/]
Bus Type Intel GTL+
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 100 MHz
Effective Clock 100 MHz
Bandwidth 800 MB/s

Memory Bus Properties[b/]
Bus Type SDR SDRAM
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 100 MHz
Effective Clock 100 MHz
Bandwidth 800 MB/s


Motherboard Physical Info
CPU Sockets/Slots 1
Expansion Slots 3 ISA, 4 PCI, 1 AGP
RAM Slots 3 DIMM
Form Factor ATX
Motherboard Size 200 mm x 300 mm
Motherboard Chipset i440ZX

http://www.ertyu.org/~steven_nikkel/agpcompatibility.html

Beware, I have a GF4 MX PCI and a Geforce FX 5200 that I've tried in my Parent's K63-400 Via mobo. Both bluescreen when doing 3D intensive tasks. Trying different drivers seems to change the frequency of the crashes (instead of being able to predict the crashes some crashes are random.....and some would crash just by being on the desktop). I finally just chalked it up to the POS 110W PSU, yanked out the cards and went back to integrated. Now the computer is solid as a rock! This may not have been PSU related but since the specs on the graphics cards list PSU requirements far higher than 110w I'm sure that it is,, just make sure you have enough power.

When I say early AGP slots, I mean, like, the VERY first generation, which were in P2 and earlier boards. A Pentium 3 is not very old.

well lookey here...
ftp://ftp.biostar-usa.com/manuals/M6TZA/M6TZAmanual.pdf

its your manual...
what a piece of shiiii..shhh manual. Let it be a lesson.

Intel 82443ZX
now here we have the only really relevant spec.

http://developer.intel.com/design/chipsets/da … shts/290650.htm

Now that we now what you can support...
AGP 1.0 66/133 3.3V

that means cards that support 3.3v...

we go to the ONLY place to shop online for computer stuff. At least for me.
The one, the only, the newegg.com (35 satisfied orders and counting =)

so its a matter of budget... i do believe you said $100
the most powerful card you could get from newegg is...
after double checking the actual prodcut specs...

wow... looking at this
http://www.sapphiretech.com/broschure/9550.pdf

even the somewhat recent ATI chips on sapphire cards can handle 3.3v

unless you can find a 64-bit 9800... the 9550 is the most powerful card that will work with your motherboard.

256mb of ram 128-bit $85
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp … -102-378&depa=0

There are cheaper cards but the price difference versus perfomance difference, really isn't worth it. Unless your ultra-poor, but then you wouldn't mention getting a new pc eventually.

Hope this helps. If you need any tips on any other upgrades let me know.

3.3V is what all AGP slots except for AGP Pro slots have. That's why new cards have molex connectors. yanker2112, if you'd just listen to me from the start, you would have saved ribbon13 from doing your dirty work. >.>

ribbon 13,

You rock!:happy:

Yes, I agree, the MOBO manual does suck! My concern is the voltage at the AGP slot, not the speed of the interface, as this is backwards compatible.

Thanks for the links and the info! I have found two other links that may help others with a similar quandary.

ATI AGP

Speed is always backwards compatible,
for example, a 4x device must be able to run at 2x and 1x.
The signalling voltage is the only incompatible part.

http://www.ertyu.org/~steven_nikkel/agpcompatibility.html
and
http://www.ati.com/support/faq/agpchart.html

AAH, so nice to hear from someone who offers words of encouragement along with some very useful information 😀

Thanks....

P.S. Snover, It is DOSFREAK's post that concerns me. Thanks for your input! 😁

The i440 is a much better chipset than the POS Via in my parent's Compaq. You *shouldn't* have any problems. Just make sure that your PSU is enough to handle whatever card you get and that you can return the card or sell it if it doesn't work out.

Dos,

Ah, now to figure out what kind of power supply is inside my box. 😳

If it isn't good enough, heres a hint for a PSU upgrade...

Antec TruePower 550 $100
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp … -103-910&depa=0

Not as good as a PC Power and Cooling 510w, but decent, reliable, and half the price. Oh and if you are wondering why the 550w Antec isn't better than the 510w PCP&C take a look at this link

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/pdf/Turbo-Cool_510_vs.pdf

Since your board takes old SDRAM you'd have to replace CPU,MB,and RAM at the same time. At least if you want something quality.

I'd suggest
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe $87
Corsair CMX512-3200XLPT $124 (if you got the cash get 2)
AMD Athlon XP 2700+ Thoroughbred $101

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp … -131-478&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp … -145-521&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp … -103-342&depa=0

Sure its the generation of hardware going out, but for $312 it's quite a bit of computing power. The drivers for all these are mature, and the pcb's have been thoroughly tested and refined.

You'll want to download the latest drivers for your new sapphire and if you getting a set with the CATALYST Control Center you'll want the lastest .NET 1.1 Framework too. XP drivers and .NET Framework -->

http://ati.com/support/drivers/winxp/radeonwd … xp.html?type=xp
http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/a/c/ … 06/dotnetfx.exe

<3

Ideally, youll still want a decent air-moving psu... because it would be the only fan in your system. Good ol Vapor-phase keeping your cpu at a toasty -35 degrees celsius, and utterly silent.

😜

http://www.asetek.com/main/page.asp?sideid=469

firefox users will need to have user agent switcher set to IE6 to see that page.

Besides...
http://www.silenx.com/productcart/pc/viewCat_ … p?idCategory=20
SX-460LX 460w 0 dBA Luxurae PSU - Now Shipping! $279.95
For that price I could get a 660w Fortron industrial multivoltage PSU (passive cooling),modularize it and put it in the bottom of the case and use the ATX psu space for a water cooling system's radiator which would also cool the psu.

Yeah, I know. Sparkle PSUs are now using a 12cm fan that blows through the supply from the bottom. A nice design, and pretty quiet. WRT sound, multiple fans spinning at lower speeds will be quieter than only a few fans (or 1 fan) spinning at much higher speeds. The ATX spec, really, is not designed for only 1 fan. DO NOT NEGLECT YOUR HARD DRIVES WHEN COOLING. I've seen many a hard drive fail from overheating. Lots of people don't take into account the huge amount of heat that the hard drives generate.

(I've never seen a site have a server-side scripting error because the person viewing it doesn't use IE...that's just plain sad.)

For that.... you have these wonderful things...

Vantec Vortex for permanent installs with no water.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp … -888-110&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp … -888-111&depa=0

Vantec EZ-Swap MRK-200ST SATA
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp … -122-105&depa=0

Vantec EZ-Swap MRK-102FD IDE
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp … -122-003&depa=0

And for those with water cooling...
http://www.frozencpu.com/images/products/deta … /ex-blc-128.jpg

those are what i have on my striped raptors at my home pc... which i haven't seen in over 3 months... My landlord comes to my work to get the rent. 🤣. I can't wait for this project to get over.

I am not going to get a full-tower case so that I can have 4 drives in enclosures and 2 CD drives. Also, the fans on hotswap bays like that are NOISY because they are very small and need to spin very fast to generate good airflow.

Since I have a genuine need to run fast pc's I always use fulltowers.

But even in a mid tower setup you could use water blocks...
http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/sc … enu_search.html

And those Vortex on low are relatively nice and quiet compared to a single 80mm fan.

My next workstation upgrade is going to be a RAID0 of SSD's
http://www.m-systems.com/content/Products/product.asp?PID=34
http://www.m-systems.com/content/Products/product.asp?PID=15

Ultra silent drives there...

How the hell do you have that kind of money... I'm jealous...

ribbon13,
Here's an e-mail response that I received from SAPPHIRE concerning the 9550.

Your AGP only support 2X so you are only limited to R7000 and R9200 series cards. […]
Show full quote

Your AGP only support 2X so you are only limited to R7000 and R9200 series
cards.

Tech

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