A rec. on upgrade to video for P2b 1.4G ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Retroed Bob
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Retroed Bob

I need a suggestion on what video card to upgrade to for my P2B's
(running 1.4G Tat's).

I need to get to 32mb for some games. The games are nothing too
intense in terms of speed, but they demand 32mb & 3D. I don't want to
spend a ton of money on it since the system is a bit dated, but I do
need good game support and (obviously) compatibility.

Thanks,
Bob
 
Retroed Bob said:
I need a suggestion on what video card to upgrade to for my P2B's
(running 1.4G Tat's).

I need to get to 32mb for some games. The games are nothing too
intense in terms of speed, but they demand 32mb & 3D. I don't want to
spend a ton of money on it since the system is a bit dated, but I do
need good game support and (obviously) compatibility.

Thanks,
Bob
Click to expand...

About all I can help you with, is physical compatibility. I don't
know if the P2B board has any limits caused by Vagp power limits
or not. I think I have an ATI8500 plugged into mine and it worked
fine.

These ATI web pages show that virtually any recent ATI card would
work, as they have universal AGP connectors on them (work at both
1.5V and 3.3V). (I have to use archived copies of these support
pages, because I cannot find them at ATI any more.)

http://web.archive.org/web/20040206173956/http://mirror.ati.com/support/faq/agpchart.html

http://web.archive.org/web/20040215033251/http://www.ati.com/support/agpchart/agp.html

If you were running the processor clock at 133MHz, the AGP would
be at 89Mhz (2/3 setting), and that might rule out a 9700 or 9800.
At some point, the ATI designs stopped at 75MHz, at least I've seen
reports of cards that didn't like higher than that. "P2B" has run
older cards at 100MHz, so it is possible to push the older cards a
lot farther than the newer ones.

I cannot find a list for Nvidia cards. Their knowledgebase simply
punts on the issue, and says their AGP 8X cards can run at 8X or
4X. There is no mention of 3.3V backward compatibility.

The best reference I've found so far, is here:

http://www.chaintech.com.tw/tw/eng/product_list.asp?MPSNo=14&SPSNo=43

If you click on the video card product list on the left, you'll
see pictures of the cards on the right. Some of the cards have two
slots cut in them (universal 1.5/3.3V operation) and others have
only the 1.5V slot. The high powered, very recent, 1.5V only cards
will not plug into the P2B motherboard. The most powerful card
on that page, is a vanilla 6600, which still has the universal
connector show.

In terms of future proofing, the best bargain as far as I'm concerned
is the Nvidia FX5200. Universal connector, almost complete DirectX 9
support. The 64MB versions tend to be fanless, and I use one in my
A7N8X-E, to make my quietest computer. There are also 128MB and
256MB versions of the FX5200, and those offer 128bit memory inter-
connect, versus only 64bit memory interconnect on he 64MB version.
But when using 128bit interconnect, the FX5200 ends up with a
fan plopped on it.

In terms of DirectX support, you have to go higher in the ATI food
chain, to get as much hardware support. Cards at a similar performance
level to the FX5200, are DirectX 8.1 compatible.

The best summary page I've got, is here. This page will tell you
what hardware DirectX is supported by each card, for ATI and Nvidia.
If you click the numbered links, it will also tell you which Vertex
and Pixel shader versions are in hardware.

http://www.benchmark.pl/artykuly/zestawienie_GPU_2/skala_wydajnosci.html

HTH,
Paul
 
Retroed said:
I need a suggestion on what video card to upgrade to for my P2B's
(running 1.4G Tat's).

I need to get to 32mb for some games. The games are nothing too
intense in terms of speed, but they demand 32mb & 3D. I don't want to
spend a ton of money on it since the system is a bit dated, but I do
need good game support and (obviously) compatibility.
Click to expand...

A used Radeon 9000 (non-Pro), preferably from a manufacturer who didn't
skimp too much on output filters (e.g. Sapphire, HIS/ENMIC), would be
pretty much perfect for this task - decent 3D performance, no noise, and
you get DVI, too. (One of my Sapphires is running at 89 MHz AGP with no
trouble, BTW.) Of course you could also put in a GF4TI4200 (about the
fastest kind of card that would work and not be a waste performance wise
in the 1 GHz class), but that would be overdoing it here. Fanless
FX5200s are usually ones with a 64-bit memory interface only, and these
are left in the dust by Radeon 9000s or 9200s (non-SE, i.e. 128-bit
memory interface) in terms of 3D performance (plus I think they run
hotter, too); their DX9 support is pretty much worthless anyway, since
DX9 effects tend to require more GPU horsepower than the FX5200 can
deliver. It's a pity that modern ATIs like the 9600 no longer work in BX
boards, that chip would have been perfect. A passively cooled GF6200 (if
it exists) might be interesting provided it still works in our oldies.

Stephan
 
On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 13:30:35 +0100, Stephan Grossklass


thanks boys, I'll have to digest some of this info to understand it. A
follow up question: I've noticed that a lot of the newer boards (your
previous posts notwithstanding) indicate AGP 2x,4x,8x - but the P2b
manual makes no mention of this factor. What ?x is the P2B board, and
do I need to worry about backwards compatibility for this with the
newer boards ?

Thanks,
 
That would be because this board only has an original AGP slot, which would
equate to AGP 1x, as far as I can tell from the manual on the Asus website.
 
That would be because this board only has an original AGP slot, which would
equate to AGP 1x, as far as I can tell from the manual on the Asus website.
Click to expand...

Would and AGP 2x card run ?
 
Retroed said:
On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 13:30:35 +0100, Stephan Grossklass


thanks boys, I'll have to digest some of this info to understand it. A
follow up question: I've noticed that a lot of the newer boards (your
previous posts notwithstanding) indicate AGP 2x,4x,8x - but the P2b
manual makes no mention of this factor. What ?x is the P2B board, and
do I need to worry about backwards compatibility for this with the
newer boards ?
Click to expand...

I'm fairly sure the P2B series is 2x AGP.

I run low-end GF4 (4x) cards in all my P2B series boards - they are
cheap used, can be had with 32MB or more, will tolerate a 100Mhz AGP
clock without problems, and will run all the games my family plays.

Might work for you too.

P2B
 
DD said:
That would be because this board only has an original AGP slot, which would
equate to AGP 1x, as far as I can tell from the manual on the Asus website.
Click to expand...

No, it's an AGP 2X slot. (No Intel chipset, at least, ever supported
only AGP 1X.) Any board will work as long as it supports 3.3V bus
voltages, which almost all NVIDIA cards still do (the 6600GT cards are
the only ones I know which don't support 3.3V).
 
OK boys... help me understand the summary of all these posts,
correct me if I am wrong. I need a card that:

- supports 3.3v
- supports AGP 1.0
- Supports AGP 2X

Have I got that right ?

Thanks,
Bob
 
Bob said:
OK boys... help me understand the summary of all these posts,
correct me if I am wrong. I need a card that:

- supports 3.3v
- supports AGP 1.0
- Supports AGP 2X

Have I got that right ?

Thanks,
Bob
Click to expand...

From the 440BX Northbridge datasheet page 3:
ftp://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/datashts/290633.htm

‹ Supports single AGP compliant
device (AGP-66/133 3.3V device)
‹ AGP Specification Rev 1.0 compliant

The 66/133 means 1X/2X.
You got it right.
Your AGP slot also has a single key inserted in the 3.3V position.

Paul
 
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