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Stray Dog Joined: 23 Feb 2002 Posts: 5 Location: USA

OK I LOOKING AT ATTEMPTING TO BUILD A SYSTEM.I'M LOOKING AT A MOTHERBOARD THAT OFFERS 2X AGP. WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN. I SEE THAT 4X IS TOP OF THE LINE. QUESTIONS FOR YA.

1) CAN I RUN A 16MB AGP CAARD ON A 2XAGP PORT? WILL THIS DECREASE PREFORMANCE.

SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS.

AJ

EEps · Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2002 11:20 pm Post subject:

If you want the max capability of yer video card, find a better MB chipset that supports 4X AGP. BTW, what MB are you looking at? Maybe we could help you find a better MB? Or at least have the opportunity to help you spend yer money...

BamZipPow
...how things get done
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EEps · Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2002 11:37 pm Post subject:

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote color=#ff9900>
OK I LOOKING AT ATTEMPTING TO BUILD A SYSTEM.I'M LOOKING AT A MOTHERBOARD THAT OFFERS 2X AGP. WHAT THE HECK DOES THAT MEAN.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote color=#ff9900></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote>

Like CD-ROMs, there was an original speed for the AGP slot (1x). Subsequent revisions have doubled the maximum data rate for each revision of the AGP bus with the current available set at 4x. The upcoming AGP set will be 8x. All current modern video cards are capable of 4x AGP. Obviously, you want to get a mobo that will give you maximum capability of you video card as well.

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote color=#ff9900>
1) CAN I RUN A 16MB AGP CARD ON A 2XAGP PORT? WILL THIS DECREASE PREFORMANCE.
<hr height=1 noshade id=quote color=#ff9900></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote>

you could...but you will only get half the performance of the card. If you have seen the card in question in action, you might be in for a disappointment when you put it in the mobo that you are considering. There shouldn't be any problems but you know how hardware is. Sometimes they just don't like to work together very well. Give us more specifications on the hardware yer trying to put together...

BamZipPow
...how things get done
[img]http://ianwolven.net/lwd/doggie/postsleft.php?ID=971 [/img] Freaking posts before my next dogspot...

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2002 12:59 am Post subject:

If you run an AGP4X video card at 2X, you won't lose half of your performance. I'd guess 15% or less in most cases. With very fast GPUs and 64MB of RAM, most modern video cards are bottlenecked by the memory bandwidth on the card, not by the AGP transfer rate.

http://www.tomshardware.com/mainboard/00q1/000214/index.html

Stray Dog Joined: 23 Feb 2002 Posts: 5 Location: USA

I haven't zeroed in on any particular board yet. I do know that it needs to be inexpensive ( the wife only will let me spend so much) I just want to build a nice system that I can run Red Faction,Hitman,UT, Ghost Recon,Madden 2002..I have all of the above games however I have a sorry &^% Computer 600Mhz Celeron, 128M the motherboard doesn't have a AGP port. So I was thinking thats the problem. (Is it?)

I've wondered is it the processor or is it board that makes the games run like crap.I went out purchase a 32meg TNT2 card in hopes of improving preformance. That didn't work.

All help, All advice.
TIA

AJ

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2002 12:23 pm Post subject:

Be careful!
There are voltage differences between different versions (2x and 4x I think) of AGP. You can blow the card or mobo if the card and slot aren't compatible.
Most setups are OK as they run on both systems but occasionally you get a card & board combo that won't play, then POOF, one or other or both die.

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2002 2:43 pm Post subject:

AGP comes in 3 flavors of voltage: 3.3V (original AGP), 1.5V (introduced with AGP 2) and "Universal" (can work with either 3.3V or 1.5V).

With a properly-designed motherboard and video card, the worst that should happen is that an old 3.3V-only card won't physically fit in a new 1.5V-only AGP slot. There is an arrangement of tabs and slots that keeps things straight. However, a few unscrupulous (and/or stupid) fly-by-night asian video card manufacturers violated the design rules and built some 3.3V-only cards with the slots cut out for a universal card. If you happen to plug one of these off-brand bastard cards into a 1.5V-only AGP motherboard, you can burn things up.

Most modern video cards are "universal"--they work in either 3.3V or 1.5V AGP slots. The Voodoo5-5500 in my second PC is an exception--it is 3.3V only (though the Voodoo4 is universal). Most modern motherboards have been "universal" until recently. Intel's original Pentium4 motherboards were the first that I know of to appear without support for 3.3V AGP. They are 1.5V only. As the old 3.3V-only video cards continue to disappear, more new motherboards may drop support for that voltage.

Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2002 4:05 pm Post subject:

How much of a budget do ya have?

Personally, I'd suggest the Asus TUSL2-C for the board if you're gonna stick with an Intel system and the socket 370 platform.

----
SJF
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