Need recs for new vid card with old PC...

[Eric]

Hi,

I'm looking to drop a new video card into one of my old PC's.

Specs:
----------
M/B i440BX Chipset
Dual-P3 (2x1Ghz)
1GB ECC RAM
AGP 2x (3.3v, I believe. Pinouts shows pins 9, 16, 28, 45 being 3.3 Vcc)
100 Mhz FSB (Yep, major bottleneck...)
Diamondtron 22" monitor (CRT, 0.25mm dot pitch)
WinXP Pro and occassionaly FreeBSD

What I would like to achieve is:

- Good, sharp, 2D clarity at 1024x768. This old box is mainly used as just
another Web/Email/Word Pro/etc terminal.

- Given the AGP/FSB limitations, the "break point" for 3D performance.
Games that are played on this box are mainly just old "classic" simulation
games such as Falcon 4.0, Jane's F/A-18, and Papyrus Nascar Racing 4.
(Basically, older late 90's games that I still enjoy but don't want
installed on my new desktop or laptop.) I also run Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2004 (FS9) on it to network play with my new computers.

It currently still has an old UltraTNT2 (32MB) card that I dropped in it
back in '99. This old card has run for nearly seven years straight (3
years without a fan!), but its long overdue to retire in a land fill...

I don't care about brand...

Thanks!

 

[Larry Roberts]

Hi,

I'm looking to drop a new video card into one of my old PC's.

Specs:
----------
M/B i440BX Chipset
Dual-P3 (2x1Ghz)
1GB ECC RAM
AGP 2x (3.3v, I believe. Pinouts shows pins 9, 16, 28, 45 being 3.3 Vcc)
100 Mhz FSB (Yep, major bottleneck...)
Diamondtron 22" monitor (CRT, 0.25mm dot pitch)
WinXP Pro and occassionaly FreeBSD

What I would like to achieve is:

- Good, sharp, 2D clarity at 1024x768. This old box is mainly used as just
another Web/Email/Word Pro/etc terminal.

- Given the AGP/FSB limitations, the "break point" for 3D performance.
Games that are played on this box are mainly just old "classic" simulation
games such as Falcon 4.0, Jane's F/A-18, and Papyrus Nascar Racing 4.
(Basically, older late 90's games that I still enjoy but don't want
installed on my new desktop or laptop.) I also run Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2004 (FS9) on it to network play with my new computers.

It currently still has an old UltraTNT2 (32MB) card that I dropped in it
back in '99. This old card has run for nearly seven years straight (3
years without a fan!), but its long overdue to retire in a land fill...

I don't care about brand...

Thanks!

I have a GeForce 4 Ti4400 that is keyed for both 3.3v, & 1.5v
AGP slots. I'm thinking it's problably the last of the 3.3v compatable
cards, but I may be wrong.

 

[Eric]

I have a GeForce 4 Ti4400 that is keyed for both 3.3v, & 1.5v
AGP slots. I'm thinking it's problably the last of the 3.3v compatable
cards, but I may be wrong.

Hi,

Thanks for reply! I believe the GeForce 4 Ti4400 is one of the many cards
that I did take a look at.

Yeah, the key indents is what is keeping me scratching my head. I know if I
went with one of the real cheapies (i.e., Radeon 9250 AGP 2x), it would be
safe --- but I keep coming across vague references on how nVidia 4x AGP
cards will work with either 1.5v or 3.3v. I've seen references, from
reviews to deja searches, that range from "many" to "all" nVidia cards (4x)
will run at either 3.3v or 1.5v. I don't think any of the 8x do though.
They all seem to be 0.8v.

Would my assumption that any of these cards, if they appeared to be keyed
for both 3.3v and 1.5v, work? I am noticing that many of these nVidia cards
do appear to be key indented for both voltage AGP slots.

Making everything really difficult is that none of the specs seem to give
voltages anymore, so you have to look at pictures of the card themselves.

Thanks again for the reply. I'm not expecting to be able to play Oblivion
or anything like that on the ol' machine, but just looking for the "best
bang for the buck".

Cheers,
Eric

 

[Paul]

Hi,

I'm looking to drop a new video card into one of my old PC's.

Specs:
----------
M/B i440BX Chipset
Dual-P3 (2x1Ghz)
1GB ECC RAM
AGP 2x (3.3v, I believe. Pinouts shows pins 9, 16, 28, 45 being 3.3 Vcc)
100 Mhz FSB (Yep, major bottleneck...)
Diamondtron 22" monitor (CRT, 0.25mm dot pitch)
WinXP Pro and occassionaly FreeBSD

What I would like to achieve is:

- Good, sharp, 2D clarity at 1024x768. This old box is mainly used as just
another Web/Email/Word Pro/etc terminal.

- Given the AGP/FSB limitations, the "break point" for 3D performance.
Games that are played on this box are mainly just old "classic" simulation
games such as Falcon 4.0, Jane's F/A-18, and Papyrus Nascar Racing 4.
(Basically, older late 90's games that I still enjoy but don't want
installed on my new desktop or laptop.) I also run Microsoft Flight
Simulator 2004 (FS9) on it to network play with my new computers.

It currently still has an old UltraTNT2 (32MB) card that I dropped in it
back in '99. This old card has run for nearly seven years straight (3
years without a fan!), but its long overdue to retire in a land fill...

I don't care about brand...

Thanks!

Look through this page.

http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/agp.html

A 440BX is an AGP 3.3V motherboard.

An AGP 3.3V Motherboard can work with "Universal AGP Card" or
"Universal AGP 3.0 Card". You can still find AGP FX5200 cards
for sale for example (I have two of those). There are also a
number of older cards in the list on that page, that also meet
the requirements.

Paul

 

[Eric]

Look through this page.

http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/agp.html

A 440BX is an AGP 3.3V motherboard.

An AGP 3.3V Motherboard can work with "Universal AGP Card" or
"Universal AGP 3.0 Card". You can still find AGP FX5200 cards
for sale for example (I have two of those). There are also a
number of older cards in the list on that page, that also meet
the requirements.

Paul

Excellent! I missed that page in my googling..

I believe the fog has now cleared!

I'm tracking now.

Thanks!