Advice on new video card

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frustrated
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Frustrated

I have a Voodoo 3500 TV video card. Unfortunately, it has only 16mb of
memory and I have several apps that will not run with this card.
(Plus, the company has gone out of business.)

I have a Gigabyte 71XE motherboard. The AGP slot will accept a 66/133
mhz video card. (3.3 volts.) I also have an Athlon 600Mhz processor.

I want to get the ATI Radeon 9200 card with 128mb of memory. Although
this card will run at 8x, it looks like it will also run at 2x (3.3
volts) on my system.

I have two questions.

1. Will this card work ok on my system?

2. Can I just disable the Voodoo card and install the Radeon? This
would be in case the Radeon doesn't work and I need to reinstall the
Voodoo. (The Voodoo was a real pain to install initially.)

Thanks!
 
I have a Voodoo 3500 TV video card. Unfortunately, it has only 16mb of
memory and I have several apps that will not run with this card.
(Plus, the company has gone out of business.)

I have a Gigabyte 71XE motherboard. The AGP slot will accept a 66/133
mhz video card. (3.3 volts.) I also have an Athlon 600Mhz processor.

I want to get the ATI Radeon 9200 card with 128mb of memory. Although
this card will run at 8x, it looks like it will also run at 2x (3.3
volts) on my system.

I have two questions.

1. Will this card work ok on my system?
Click to expand...

Yes, providing your power supply has enough reserve power. It is
backwards compatible to your motherboard.

Something else to keep in mind is that any apps/games/etc needing over
16MB of video memory may not run too well on a 600MHz system.
2. Can I just disable the Voodoo card and install the Radeon? This
would be in case the Radeon doesn't work and I need to reinstall the
Voodoo. (The Voodoo was a real pain to install initially.)
Click to expand...

You didn't mention the operating system, but yes you can "try" just
removing the Voodoo card, though if it was that much trouble you still
might not be assured of it reinstalling easily again, but was it the
actual video driver that was the problem or the TV decoder driver and
software?
 
I am pretty sure an 8X card will run at whatever speed the AGP slot is.
In the device manager, you can disable hardware devices. Disable your voodoo
card before replacing it. If it all works ok then you can remove the driver.
 
Yes, providing your power supply has enough reserve power. It is
backwards compatible to your motherboard.
Click to expand...

I hadn't given much thought to the power supply. I suppose I could
disconnect the scanner from the USB port. That would relieve some of
the drain on the power supply.

How much more power will the Radeon draw than the Voodoo card?
Something else to keep in mind is that any apps/games/etc needing over
16MB of video memory may not run too well on a 600MHz system.
Click to expand...

I wondered about that. I haven't worried too much about heat in the
past because I've got the fan on the CPU and an extra fan on the
Voodoo card. I guess heat could be a problem, plus the fact that the
processor is not going to be as powerful as the newer ones.

You didn't mention the operating system, but yes you can "try" just
removing the Voodoo card, though if it was that much trouble you still
might not be assured of it reinstalling easily again, but was it the
actual video driver that was the problem or the TV decoder driver and
software?
Click to expand...

I'm using Win98se. I also have 640mb of RAM.

You're right. It actually was the driver for the TV and the software
that was difficult to install. If I had an additional AGP slot, I
would just use the video cards as primary and secondary.

I suppose the only way to know if the Radeon will work is just to
uninstall the Voodoo and install the Radeon.

Thanks.
 
I hadn't given much thought to the power supply. I suppose I could
disconnect the scanner from the USB port. That would relieve some of
the drain on the power supply.
Click to expand...

IF it's a USB-powered scanner it's drawing a max of 2.5W... not enough
to make much of a difference. If the scanner has it's own power
supply (as most decent scanners do) then it's using even less power.

How much more power will the Radeon draw than the Voodoo card?
Click to expand...

Probably not a lot since the Voodoo was a high-end for it's time and
the Radeon a low-end, but could be 15W.... more significant is that
it's all on the 3.3V (or 5V regulated down) rail. You'll just have to
try it and see, monitor voltages.

I wondered about that. I haven't worried too much about heat in the
past because I've got the fan on the CPU and an extra fan on the
Voodoo card. I guess heat could be a problem, plus the fact that the
processor is not going to be as powerful as the newer ones.
Click to expand...

True, any time power can be an issue, along with that comes heat...
the power has to go somewhere. I wouldn't expect problems though if
your case is set up well, neither the CPU or video card are
(relatively) hot running.

I'm using Win98se. I also have 640mb of RAM.

You're right. It actually was the driver for the TV and the software
that was difficult to install. If I had an additional AGP slot, I
would just use the video cards as primary and secondary.
Click to expand...

Well you could get a PCI video card, but running two is of course even
more power demand and heat.

I suppose the only way to know if the Radeon will work is just to
uninstall the Voodoo and install the Radeon.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Yes, it's "supposed" to just plug in and work.


Dave
 
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