"Spark" said:
I'm looking at a Asrock P4V88 Raid MB and I have a ATI 8500 card that I'd
like to put in it now until I get some more money for a new card. The board
specs say it's 8x. The ATI is 4x. Does anyone know if it's backward
compatible?
To start, there are the ATI info pages:
http://mirror.ati.com/support/faq/agpchart.html
http://www.ati.com/support/agpchart/agp.html
The ATI8500 is universal 3.3V, 1.5V. That means it will request 1.5V
from the motherboard, but will accept 3.3V operation if that is the
only voltage the motherboard support.
Since it supports 1.5V, it has a slot cut in the edge of the board
that matches up with a 1.5V key in the AGP slot. As long as you can
plug it in, it will not damage anything.
For AGP 8X, the signal levels are 0.8V, but the I/O drivers are
powered by 1.5V to do it. That means, AFAIK, that no motherboard
actually has a 0.8V power supply for AGP. It also means your 4X
card, which can run from 1.5V, will be perfectly happy on the board.
Also, from the Asrock manual:
http://www.asrock.com.tw/Drivers/Manual/P4V88_UM.pdf
"AGP Mode
The default value of this feature is set to [Auto ].
If you install an 8X-AGP card on this motherboard,you may select
[Auto ],[8X ] or [4X ] as the AGP mode.
If the installed AGP card is a 4X-AGP card,then you may set the
AGP mode as [Auto ],[4X ],[2X ],or [1X ]."
so you cqn see they were planning for cards like your ATI 8500.
HTH,
Paul
