Asus P3B-F (440Bx): What's the fastest video card that it will run?

[RadRacer]

I have an old Asus P3B-F overclocked at 1 GigHz.

I really like it and just want to change the video card, I currently
have a GeForce2 GTS 64Mb.

will the board support a ATI Radeon 9800 Pro?

If not, what are my option (mainly for gaming)?

 

[Stephan Grossklass]

I have an old Asus P3B-F overclocked at 1 GigHz.

Whoa - and I always thought it would top out at 150 MHz... ~

I really like it and just want to change the video card, I currently
have a GeForce2 GTS 64Mb.

will the board support a ATI Radeon 9800 Pro?

That's most likely keyed for 1.5 V AGP and wouldn't fit.

If not, what are my option (mainly for gaming)?

Since a 1 GHz CPU doesn't have *that* much horsepower anyway, a
GF4TI4200 should be plenty. (BTW, even a lowly Radeon 9000 would be more
powerful than your current card.) If you really want DX9 features, a
Radeon 9500/9700 (Pro) would work with the transfer mode set to AGP 1X
(probably won't take much AGP o/c either). Particularly with the latter,
good case ventilation and a decent power supply are recommended.

Stephan

 

[DaveW]

Your board can NOT use the potential of a 9800 Pro. Wrong AGP bus, and too
much of a difference between the CPU speed and the 9800's.

 

[Roland Scheidegger]

That's most likely keyed for 1.5 V AGP and wouldn't fit.

Actually, no, 9800pro (both 128MB and 256MB versions) are still keyed
for 3.3V operation (9800XT and 9600 series is not however). 3.3V
operation is only half-official though it seems. YMMV.

Since a 1 GHz CPU doesn't have *that* much horsepower anyway, a
GF4TI4200 should be plenty. (BTW, even a lowly Radeon 9000 would be
more powerful than your current card.) If you really want DX9
features, a Radeon 9500/9700 (Pro) would work with the transfer mode
set to AGP 1X (probably won't take much AGP o/c either). Particularly
with the latter, good case ventilation and a decent power supply are
recommended.

Yes, it's really a pity the 9600 cards (which would really make sense in
these old boards in contrast to the high-end cards) can't be used -
there would be no need for good case ventilation, no need for decent
power supply...
If you prefer nvidia, you could use up to their fastest card, the
5950Ultra - also overkill and also needs decent power supply (if you get
a 2-slot version you probably don't need to have good case ventilation
since it has its own exhaust fan, though of course you'd lose the first
pci slot).

Roland

 

[P2B]

Actually, no, 9800pro (both 128MB and 256MB versions) are still keyed
for 3.3V operation (9800XT and 9600 series is not however). 3.3V
operation is only half-official though it seems. YMMV.


Yes, it's really a pity the 9600 cards (which would really make sense in
these old boards in contrast to the high-end cards) can't be used -
there would be no need for good case ventilation, no need for decent
power supply...
If you prefer nvidia, you could use up to their fastest card, the
5950Ultra - also overkill and also needs decent power supply (if you get
a 2-slot version you probably don't need to have good case ventilation
since it has its own exhaust fan, though of course you'd lose the first
pci slot).

Roland

I assume overkill in this context means the chipset/processor is unable
to fully utilise the video card's performance capability.

What is the fastest nVidia GPU which wouldn't be overkill on a BX board?
I assume the BX chipset is the bottleneck, or are FSB/CPU clock speeds
still relevant to video performance when using a Ghz+ processor?

I'm only considering nVidia for my P2Bs as no other vendor's chips
consistently tolerate a 100Mhz AGP bus Every Asus/vNidia card I
have, from Riva128 to GF4MX440, works flawlessly.

P2B

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

Actually, no, 9800pro (both 128MB and 256MB versions) are still keyed
for 3.3V operation (9800XT and 9600 series is not however). 3.3V
operation is only half-official though it seems. YMMV.

Are you sure about that? Looking at the specs on ATI's site shows that
the 9800 Pro supports 1.5 volts and .8 volts. The 9700 Pro does support
3.3 volts however.

 

[Roland Scheidegger]

Are you sure about that? Looking at the specs on ATI's site shows that
the 9800 Pro supports 1.5 volts and .8 volts. The 9700 Pro does support
3.3 volts however.

That's why I said half-official. ATI DID mention somewhere that the
9800Pro supports 3.3V prior to launch, but it was changed to 0.8V/1.5V
only. Some OEMs AFAIK still say 3.3V is supported. But you can clearly
see that all cards are indeed keyed for 3.3V operation. I don't know why
ATI officially removed 3.3V support, it might be possible the chips
don't quite meet the specification.

Roland

 

[Roland Scheidegger]

I assume overkill in this context means the chipset/processor is
unable to fully utilise the video card's performance capability.

Of course, if you're obsessed with image quality, you could just always
use something like 1600x1200 with 6xFSAA and 8xAF, in this case your cpu
probably won't be the bottleneck - it won't make the newest games very
playable though neither...

What is the fastest nVidia GPU which wouldn't be overkill on a BX
board? I assume the BX chipset is the bottleneck, or are FSB/CPU
clock speeds still relevant to video performance when using a Ghz+
processor?

I'm only considering nVidia for my P2Bs as no other vendor's chips
consistently tolerate a 100Mhz AGP bus Every Asus/vNidia card I
have, from Riva128 to GF4MX440, works flawlessly.

I'm not sure if the new GFFX cards also tolerate 100Mhz AGP bus - up to
(and including) the GF4 Ti this was indeed no problem. Maybe a 5700
(non-ultra) would be a nice choice? This is also the slowest of the new
GFFX cards which is really faster than the GF4 Ti range pretty much
across the board. Pricing is a bit strange though, the 5700Ultra doesn't
cost much more than the 5700 non-ultra, not to mention the 5900XT which
also costs almost the same.

Roland

 

[RadRacer]

Actually, no, 9800pro (both 128MB and 256MB versions) are still keyed
for 3.3V operation (9800XT and 9600 series is not however). 3.3V
operation is only half-official though it seems. YMMV.

Yes, it's really a pity the 9600 cards (which would really make sense in
these old boards in contrast to the high-end cards) can't be used -
there would be no need for good case ventilation, no need for decent
power supply...
If you prefer nvidia, you could use up to their fastest card, the
5950Ultra - also overkill and also needs decent power supply (if you get
a 2-slot version you probably don't need to have good case ventilation
since it has its own exhaust fan, though of course you'd lose the first
pci slot).

Roland

Thanks everyone for their answer.

But, Like Roland said, the 9800 Pro is keyed for 3.3V operations. So,
it *should* work in my pc. I was just wondering if someone had tried
it.

I know the 9800 is probably an overkill for my current config, it's
just that I will probably change for a newer board in the coming year
and I would like to have the latest video card in it.

So, basically, I want a powerful DX9 card, that will fit both my P3B-F
and the latest AGP 8x board.

Patrick

p.s.: I have a 800Mhz CPU overclocked at 1Gig... The FSB is actually
133... ;-)