Change agp 1.0 to 2.0 ?

[Smagma]

I was wondering if the only difference between agp 1.0 and 2.0 was the voltage and if the voltage on a 1.0 slot could be changed to be 2.0 compliant.

Smagma


Edit:

Wasn't sure which forum to ask this so I took a chnce here.

[BipolarBill]

No - it's 1.0 forever. :(

[Peter M]

Not quite.

AGP 2.0 raised the card's power budget (which is the most important change if it comes to compatibility of new cards to old boards), and added the (optional) 4x mode.

So there's not much you can do - you can't make a chipset do 4x out of thin air, and you can't reinforce the AGP power supply circuitry without seriously hacking the board either.

[Smagma]

Well, darn :(
I found this http://www.anandtech.com/guides/viewfaq.html?i=35 they seem to be saying that I can run a 2x card. what i'm trying to get at is; If a card is 2X/4X it would just drop to 2X automaticaly, but what about voltage. (my radeon 7000 has no problem there. it's in a FIC 503+) the card I'm looking at (and have the PCI version of) is the eVGA GF4 MX 440 se , on the box it says it must be in a 2.0 slot.:confused: maybe I should go to the video forum for the rest of this :t

Smagma

[BipolarBill]

I've seen AGP 2.0 cards burn up AGP 1.0 motherboards. I would suggest a motherboard upgrade.

[Smagma]

Yeah, I think that might be the way to go but it would still have to be an older BX board, being that I only have a couple of PIIs to work with right now. Someone told me that there might be some BX boards with agp 2.0 slots. I will look around.

Thanks

Smagma

[Peter M]

"Universal" AGP cards can drop back to 2x mode, implying 3.3V signalling, yes.

The time window is closing though - practically all new cards are 8x AGP, and can only fall back to 4x.

Cards and board slots are keyed so that only electrically compatible combinations do fit - there are rare exceptions though (wrongly keyed slots on mainboards, wrongly notched cards).

http://mirror.ati.com/support/faq/agpchart.html

(scroll to bottom)

If you have a compatible card, you still need to watch the power budget. (BX boards that follow AGP 2.0 will still not have 4x mode, but provide more power to the AGP slot.)

Aim low in card performance, e.g. Radeon 9000. NVidia's cards are all rather massive in power consumption. Avoid those.

[Smagma]

Well, :) I might be able to use the card I've been looking at because it has the universal type of edge. It is however a GF4, (not made by Nvidia themselves) but I might give it a shot. I'll think about it tomorrow.

Thanks for the info :D

Smagma

[Peter M]

GF4 will make it go BZZZT. Power consumption is easily twice the allowed budget of AGP 1.0. I'm pretty certain my previous warning about NVidia chip based cards wasn't in Chinese!?!

[Smagma]

No, I noticed the warning was not in Chinese :D but I thought universal meant universal. Like I said earlier, my Radeon 7000 is in a 1.0 slot and it works fine. At the manufactures web site eVGA.com I looked at the GF4 MX cards and they all had universal edges, which implies that they will use what ever voltage is given them and adjust. I have been known to make wrong assumptions though :D

Smagma

[morpheus kain]

I'm using a power hungry Geforce 2 Titanium on an old AGP 1.0 Gateway motherboard I permanently borrowed....

[Rugor]

At the risk of answering for Peter, there are three issues here.

1) Will the Card physically fit.
2) Will the Slot offer the right voltage for the card.
3) Will the Slot provide enough amperage to feed the card.

Given an Nvidia card's fairly high power requirements, a Universal AGP 1.0 slot may be compatible with the physical slot, and able to offer the reqired 1.5v signal but still not be able to provide enough power. Two out of three is not good enough in the long term.

[Smagma]

morpheus Thats interesting, I wonder if the GF2 has lower power requirments or do all GFs need lots of power. How long have you had it in there ?

Rugor I see, not enough amps, thats why I asked how long morpheus has had that card in. Could I check the amps with a multimeter ? Which contacts would I need to check ? Would I be able to get a true reading without a card in the slot ?

Peter I'm really am not ignoring you. I've just looked at other sites with info and they mostly lean towards the "it could work", including the ATI site. If I decide to try it with the GF4, I will post with results, fried :eek: or not. I will also look into a 9000 as it looks like I would have better luck with an ATI card. That brings up the issue with win2k and gameing, I had 0 luck with my 7000 but I heard that some of the new cards worked. I will ask over in video.

OH yeah, I have more machines that I don't have access to right now. I've been useing them to learn 2000 server, but wanted to keep the ability to game and it just didn't work. So, two HDDs one with 2k server and another with 98. it's a pain. dual boot with 98 and 2k server is not recommended. The point is eventually I will have all my machines in one place again and continue with learning 2k server. I only have one machine with the power to be a server and play games so I need a card that will work in 2k OK, raved on long enough, thanks to all.

Smagma

[morpheus kain]

It's been in here for a year or so and it's been overclocked like a beast the entire time. GF2's demand ALOT of power from the MOTHERBOARD because they were relatively poorly design and their architecture is poorly designed and requires a pretty decent VCore to clock well. If the card will revert to 2X agp speed don't worry about it man just go for it.

[Smagma]

Weelll ... I did it :D

I should have looked alot closer at the manufactures web site before posting, Sorry guys.

It turns out that all of eVGAs cards will detect the voltage and adjust to the slot they're in. I did have to dig into the FAQs for that info. It would have been nice if it were on the box.

Any way I've been messing with it all afternoon and I love it.
Got it OCed to 350 core and 450 mem - played a large ut map with everything cranked up... 800 x 600 - 4x AA - 2x anistropic plays very smooth :D gonna try 1024 x 768 next

Have a great day

Smagma

edit : thats at 32 bit color

[morpheus kain]

:) Enjoy smagma.