radeon 9250 on an old abit board

[Kid-A]

I'm wondering if my old motherboard can handle this vga card. I'm afraid to
put it inside before I know for sure. My board is ABIT BH6 Intel 440BX and
the manual says it supports "AGP 1x and 2x mode (Sideband) 3.3C device".
Now, I'm not sure what type of AGP Sapphire's Radeon 9250. On the box it
says AGP 8x. On their site it says it supports both AGP 8x and 4x.
http://www.sapphiretech.com/vga/9250.asp

Before this card I had Radeon 9200 and it supported AGP 2x, 4 and 8x and
worked great on my board. Although on their website it says it supports only
8x. Strange company!

What do you think? Are there any good sites where I can research it for
myself? Thanks a lot!

 

[Brian Dickens]

I'm wondering if my old motherboard can handle this vga card. I'm
afraid to put it inside before I know for sure. My board is ABIT BH6
Intel 440BX and the manual says it supports "AGP 1x and 2x mode
(Sideband) 3.3C device".

That's an old 3.3V AGP slot.

Now, I'm not sure what type of AGP
Sapphire's Radeon 9250. On the box it says AGP 8x. On their site it
says it supports both AGP 8x and 4x.
http://www.sapphiretech.com/vga/9250.asp

Most likely it's an AGP 4x/8x card at 1.5V so it's not going to work in your
old motherboard.

=- Brian Dickens

 

[Dirk Dreidoppel]

I'm wondering if my old motherboard can handle this vga card. I'm

That's an old 3.3V AGP slot.


Most likely it's an AGP 4x/8x card at 1.5V so it's not going to work in your
old motherboard.

Correct. Trying would probably fry the card. At least an universal AGP Slot,
supporting 3.3V and 1.5V cards at 1x, 2x and 4x speeds, is required.

 

[Kid-A]

| > > I'm wondering if my old motherboard can handle this vga card. I'm
| > > afraid to put it inside before I know for sure. My board is ABIT BH6
| > > Intel 440BX and the manual says it supports "AGP 1x and 2x mode
| > > (Sideband) 3.3C device".
| >
| > That's an old 3.3V AGP slot.
| >
| > > Now, I'm not sure what type of AGP
| > > Sapphire's Radeon 9250. On the box it says AGP 8x. On their site it
| > > says it supports both AGP 8x and 4x.
| > > http://www.sapphiretech.com/vga/9250.asp
| >
| > Most likely it's an AGP 4x/8x card at 1.5V so it's not going to work in
| your
| > old motherboard.
|
| Correct. Trying would probably fry the card. At least an universal AGP
Slot,
| supporting 3.3V and 1.5V cards at 1x, 2x and 4x speeds, is required.

Thank you both. Are you sure 9250 works on 1.5V?
So what I should look for is a card with 'universal AGP slot'? Or is it just
enough to ask for cards with 1x, 2x and 4x speed slots?
I'm asking this cause it's obvious that these manufactures aren't explaining
this things very clearly, and on top of that I have to deal with people from
my local PC shop/service who gave me this card.

 

[Dirk Dreidoppel]

Thank you both. Are you sure 9250 works on 1.5V?

So what I should look for is a card with 'universal AGP slot'? Or is it just
enough to ask for cards with 1x, 2x and 4x speed slots?
I'm asking this cause it's obvious that these manufactures aren't explaining
this things very clearly, and on top of that I have to deal with people from
my local PC shop/service who gave me this card.

AFAIK all cards capable of 8x AGP are 1.5V models. On your board you'll have
to use something older, I'm afraid.

 

[Andy Sullivan]

AFAIK all cards capable of 8x AGP are 1.5V models. On your board you'll have
to use something older, I'm afraid.

Ditch the BH6. A basic Intel 815/815E-based motherboard
goes for like 15 or 20 bucks on eBay (e.g. I picked up an Asus
TUSL2 for $20). You can use your same cpu, memory, PCI
cards, and the AGP slot will be 4x so just about any 8x card
will work fine (except of course the few 8x-only cards).

I've been down the same road you're on and trust me the BX
is a dead end. Great chipset in its day, just doesn't cut it now
for any kind of decent video performance.

 

[First of One]

Actually it should work just fine. The 9250 is part of the 9200 family, all
capable of running in AGP 2x mode (3.3 V):

http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9200/radeon9200/specs.html

BTW, there's a chart on ATi's web site listing the AGP spec of every model.
Go to support.ati.com and search for knowledgebase article 18872. (Stupid
web site prevents direct-linking.)

This is not to say it's a sensible upgrade, however, going from a 9200 to a
9250...

 

[Andy Sullivan]

The OP was asking about a Sapphire card, not ATI. OEM cards
may (and often do) have different specs than ATI's.

 

[Kid-A]

| The OP was asking about a Sapphire card, not ATI. OEM cards
| may (and often do) have different specs than ATI's.
|
| > Actually it should work just fine. The 9250 is part of the 9200 family,
all
| > capable of running in AGP 2x mode (3.3 V):
| >
| > http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9200/radeon9200/specs.html
| >
| > BTW, there's a chart on ATi's web site listing the AGP spec of every
model.
| > Go to support.ati.com and search for knowledgebase article 18872.
(Stupid
| > web site prevents direct-linking.)
| >
| > This is not to say it's a sensible upgrade, however, going from a 9200
to a
| > 9250...
| >
| > --
| > "War is the continuation of politics by other means.
| > It can therefore be said that politics is war without
| > bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."
| >
| >
| > | > > I'm wondering if my old motherboard can handle this vga card. I'm
afraid
| > > to
| > > put it inside before I know for sure. My board is ABIT BH6 Intel 440BX
and
| > > the manual says it supports "AGP 1x and 2x mode (Sideband) 3.3C
device".
| > > Now, I'm not sure what type of AGP Sapphire's Radeon 9250. On the box
it
| > > says AGP 8x. On their site it says it supports both AGP 8x and 4x.
| > > http://www.sapphiretech.com/vga/9250.asp
| > >
| > > Before this card I had Radeon 9200 and it supported AGP 2x, 4 and 8x
and
| > > worked great on my board. Although on their website it says it
supports
| > > only
| > > 8x. Strange company!
| > >
| > > What do you think? Are there any good sites where I can research it
for
| > > myself? Thanks a lot!

Yes, I'm afraid this is Sapphire's card, so I guess it's different then
ATI's. I'd just like to confirm that Sapphire's 9250 work's only on 1.5V, if
this is all that should concern me.

 

[bandit]

| The OP was asking about a Sapphire card, not ATI. OEM cards
| may (and often do) have different specs than ATI's.
|
| > Actually it should work just fine. The 9250 is part of the 9200 family,
all
| > capable of running in AGP 2x mode (3.3 V):
| >
| > http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9200/radeon9200/specs.html
| >
| > BTW, there's a chart on ATi's web site listing the AGP spec of every
model.
| > Go to support.ati.com and search for knowledgebase article 18872.
(Stupid
| > web site prevents direct-linking.)
| >
| > This is not to say it's a sensible upgrade, however, going from a 9200
to a
| > 9250...
| >
| > --
| > "War is the continuation of politics by other means.
| > It can therefore be said that politics is war without
| > bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."
| >
| >
| > | > > I'm wondering if my old motherboard can handle this vga card. I'm
afraid
| > > to
| > > put it inside before I know for sure. My board is ABIT BH6 Intel 440BX
and
| > > the manual says it supports "AGP 1x and 2x mode (Sideband) 3.3C
device".
| > > Now, I'm not sure what type of AGP Sapphire's Radeon 9250. On the box
it
| > > says AGP 8x. On their site it says it supports both AGP 8x and 4x.
| > > http://www.sapphiretech.com/vga/9250.asp
| > >
| > > Before this card I had Radeon 9200 and it supported AGP 2x, 4 and 8x
and
| > > worked great on my board. Although on their website it says it
supports
| > > only
| > > 8x. Strange company!
| > >
| > > What do you think? Are there any good sites where I can research it
for
| > > myself? Thanks a lot!

Yes, I'm afraid this is Sapphire's card, so I guess it's different then
ATI's. I'd just like to confirm that Sapphire's 9250 work's only on 1.5V, if
this is all that should concern me.

Read this it says the sapphire 9250 does support both agp 2x at 3.3V
and agp 4x at 1.5V

Oh you need adobe reader to view this, then just magnify it till you
can read specifications on the right of page

http://www.sapphiretech.com/broschure/brochure9250.pdf

 

[bandit]

Read this it says the sapphire 9250 does support both agp 2x at 3.3V
and agp 4x at 1.5V

Oh you need adobe reader to view this, then just magnify it till you
can read specifications on the right of page

http://www.sapphiretech.com/broschure/brochure9250.pdf

I mean system requirements

 

[First of One]

Sapphire's own brochure (as posted by bandit) seems to follow ATi's specs
pretty closely. Clock speeds and grade of RAM sometimes differ, but usually
the AGP voltage does not. No surprise considering Sapphire's parent company,
PC Partner, makes a lot of ATi-branded cards as well.

 

[Kid-A]

| Sapphire's own brochure (as posted by bandit) seems to follow ATi's specs
| pretty closely. Clock speeds and grade of RAM sometimes differ, but
usually
| the AGP voltage does not. No surprise considering Sapphire's parent
company,
| PC Partner, makes a lot of ATi-branded cards as well.
|
| --
| "War is the continuation of politics by other means.
| It can therefore be said that politics is war without
| bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."
|
|
| | > The OP was asking about a Sapphire card, not ATI. OEM cards
| > may (and often do) have different specs than ATI's.


I think you guys may be right. But, of course, what is written on my box is
not the same what's written on the pdf box we're looking at. But I hope it's
the same. Just help me with this: it says it supports "AGP 4x (1.5V), 8x
(0.8V) or Universal AGP 3.0 bus configuration (4x/8x)."
Does this last part "or Universal AGP 3.0 bus configuration (4x/8x)" means
it would work on my 3.3V motherboard? Thanks again.

 

[First of One]

Yes.

The easiest way to convince yourself, is to insert the card into the mobo.
The AGP slot and the card's connector are notched so that hardware with
incompatible voltages won't be able to physically fit.

All the fear about "burning boards" have been blown way out of proportion,
all caused by some early Riva128 cards (circa 1997) that were 3.3V, but had
incorrect AGP connectors that allowed them to fit in Pentium4 mobos.

 

[DaveL]

You are the correct one here, First of One. If it plugs in, then it should
work. Those pesky engineers thought of this long ago.

DaveL