graphics card

N

nireman

how can i find out which graphics card for my motherboard. pci,agp,pci
express etc.

Board: NEC N4-IBFGL 1.3
Serial Number: a65300f32705942
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD /223A0402 05/14/20

any help would be gratefully appreciated
 
S

Swifty

nireman said:
how can i find out which graphics card for my motherboard. pci,agp,pci
express etc.

Four of the more obvious ways:

1. Read the manual that came with the PC
2. Lookup the specifications of your PC on the manufacturer's website
3. Use something like PC Wizard to get a clue (it tells me that I have
a PCI Bus and a PCI Express bus, so I could assume I have at least
one of each sorts or slot (I have two PCI and one PCI Express)
4. Open it up and look. PCI/PCI Express/AGP are noticeably different.
 
M

Mike Hall - MVP

nireman said:
how can i find out which graphics card for my motherboard. pci,agp,pci
express etc.

Board: NEC N4-IBFGL 1.3
Serial Number: a65300f32705942
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD /223A0402 05/14/20

any help would be gratefully appreciated


Your board will take an AGP graphics card..
 
P

Paul

Mike said:
Your board will take an AGP graphics card..

Here is my shot at it.

There is a NEC N4-IBFGL for sale here.

http://www.sell.com/2PX1T

"CATEGORY: Motherboard MANUFACTURER: NEC PART NUMBER: N4-IBFGL DESCRIPTION:
NEC Galileo 845GL Socket 478 Motherboard FEATURES:

* ELITEGROUP COMPUTER SYSTEMS MotherBoard
* Use on NEC PowerMate VL4 Flex - i845GL / GV Chipset
* Supports Intel P4 FC-PGA2 (Flip-Chip Pin Grid Array), 1400 MHz to 2.6 GHz
* Supports 2 memory slots 266 Mhz DDR interface -Supports a maximum memory
size of 1 GB (using 2x512 MB memory modules)
* Intel 82845GL Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (GMCH)
* PCI rev. 2.2 specification support; 3 PCI
* Enhanced DMA controller
* Integrated on the SIGMATEL Technologies' Sigmatel STAC9750T - audio codec
* IEEE 802.3u Auto-Negotiation and 100BASE-TX support
* 2 USB connectors + 2 USB Front

If I download the 845GL datasheet, and turn to page 182:

http://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/datashts/29074602.pdf

"No AGP Interface

The 82845GL and 82845GV do not have an AGP interface."

That means, for a graphics upgrade, at least if that motherboard
description matches, there are only PCI slots for upgrade
purposes.

Also, in the PCI cards, there are full height and low profile
cards. Since the above motherboard is "Flex", it is possible
the computer case is tiny and cramped. Either the thing
has room for full sized cards, or it only takes a low profile

The PCB portion of this one is low profile - but the faceplate
is full height. Cards like this, should really ship with two
faceplates and a screwdriver, so you can change the faceplate
to whatever the computer needs. This particular one is a
6200, with a DMS-59 connector. An adapter cable turns the DMS-59
into two video connectors.

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-139-013-02.jpg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814139013

This one is a low profile card, with a low profile faceplate.
This card is longer than some of the others, which is only an
issue if super-short PCI cards are all that fit. This particular
video card even comes with a replacement full height faceplate.
The only thing I don't like here, is the card is "double wide"
at the faceplate. Short of hack-sawing off the second portion,
the card might not fit every application due to the faceplate.
The second connector may be removable - in one of the pictures,
the second connector looks to be seated on a mezzanine board with
pin header connector. So with some hackery, the card may be
convertable into a single width at the faceplate.

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-161-074-03.jpg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161074

So while the upgrade option appears to be limited to PCI,
it still takes some care to get exactly the right card.
Depending on how cramped the computer case is, there might
be only a few cards that are good options.

Paul
 
M

Mike Hall - MVP

Paul said:
Here is my shot at it.

There is a NEC N4-IBFGL for sale here.

http://www.sell.com/2PX1T

"CATEGORY: Motherboard MANUFACTURER: NEC PART NUMBER: N4-IBFGL
DESCRIPTION:
NEC Galileo 845GL Socket 478 Motherboard FEATURES:

* ELITEGROUP COMPUTER SYSTEMS MotherBoard
* Use on NEC PowerMate VL4 Flex - i845GL / GV Chipset
* Supports Intel P4 FC-PGA2 (Flip-Chip Pin Grid Array), 1400 MHz to
2.6 GHz
* Supports 2 memory slots 266 Mhz DDR interface -Supports a maximum
memory
size of 1 GB (using 2x512 MB memory modules)
* Intel 82845GL Graphics and Memory Controller Hub (GMCH)
* PCI rev. 2.2 specification support; 3 PCI
* Enhanced DMA controller
* Integrated on the SIGMATEL Technologies' Sigmatel STAC9750T - audio
codec
* IEEE 802.3u Auto-Negotiation and 100BASE-TX support
* 2 USB connectors + 2 USB Front

If I download the 845GL datasheet, and turn to page 182:

http://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/datashts/29074602.pdf

"No AGP Interface

The 82845GL and 82845GV do not have an AGP interface."

That means, for a graphics upgrade, at least if that motherboard
description matches, there are only PCI slots for upgrade
purposes.

Also, in the PCI cards, there are full height and low profile
cards. Since the above motherboard is "Flex", it is possible
the computer case is tiny and cramped. Either the thing
has room for full sized cards, or it only takes a low profile

The PCB portion of this one is low profile - but the faceplate
is full height. Cards like this, should really ship with two
faceplates and a screwdriver, so you can change the faceplate
to whatever the computer needs. This particular one is a
6200, with a DMS-59 connector. An adapter cable turns the DMS-59
into two video connectors.

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-139-013-02.jpg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814139013

This one is a low profile card, with a low profile faceplate.
This card is longer than some of the others, which is only an
issue if super-short PCI cards are all that fit. This particular
video card even comes with a replacement full height faceplate.
The only thing I don't like here, is the card is "double wide"
at the faceplate. Short of hack-sawing off the second portion,
the card might not fit every application due to the faceplate.
The second connector may be removable - in one of the pictures,
the second connector looks to be seated on a mezzanine board with
pin header connector. So with some hackery, the card may be
convertable into a single width at the faceplate.

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-161-074-03.jpg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161074

So while the upgrade option appears to be limited to PCI,
it still takes some care to get exactly the right card.
Depending on how cramped the computer case is, there might
be only a few cards that are good options.

Paul


The web site I looked at showed a pic of the mobo and there was an AGP slot
showing. My guess is that it depends what the manufacturer of the tower
specifies at the time.
 

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