4xAGP to 8xAGP compatability

[hightower]

I have a P4S5A/DX+ motherboard and my BIOS P4S5A/DX+ Release 08/22/2002.

My Graphics card fan is failing and I need either to replace the fan or the graphics card.

I went to Novatech showroom on Sat and asked the Sales guy if fans could be bought seperatly, he said no and that I'd be better to get a replacement card (which I'm not against).

My problem: All the AGP graphics cards Novatech sell are marked 8X AGP. My Motherboard only supports a 4X AGP.

My question to Novatech is (others feel free to comment): Are there any cards you sell that would plug staight into my motherboard. I was thinking of a Nvidia 256MB one.

Andy

[Taxation]

The actual slot will accomidate a 8X AGP card, but will run at 4X.
Most ATI cards are backwards compatible and can run at 4X.
I would recommend an ATI card over an Nvidia card for this situation

[Chewie]

What card is it you have, its likely that a Vantec Iceberq 4 Pro (thats a complete hsf and ram coolers kit for any ti4x00 or similar series card) will suit it.

[hightower]

Its a NVIDIA 4200Ti 128MB

[hightower]

Is there no one from Novatech that can suggest a Graphics board from their stock?

[Taxation]

You could just change the hs/f on it quite easily, some have done it with cpu hs/f's

[Chewie]

Tower

The Vantec kit i mentioned, will suit you Ti4200 well. ANd it will glow a lovely shade of blue from the fans LED's.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/ ... olers.html (http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Vantec_System_Coolers.html)

Vantec Iceberq4 Pro CCB-A4P VGA Cooling kit with blue LED (SY-002-VT)
All-In-One VGA Cooling Kit w/ Blue LED Lights for following Nvidia cards - GeForce4 Ti4200, GeForce4 Ti4200 8X, GeForce4 Ti4400, GeForce4 Ti4600, GeForce4 Ti4800 and GeForce FX 5600 Ultra.

- Push Pin for Quick & Easy Installation.
- Copper Heat Sink Design for Faster Heat Dissipation
- 5500rpm
- 8.6cfm


Full Specification

Price: £5.95 (£6.99 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Thats the sorta thing you need to look for bud. I have used em on Ti4200's, 4600's and even a 4800se. It will meet your requirements.

[hightower]

Thanks Chewie, just what I was looking for :D .

[hightower]

One last question.

If I buy a 256mb 8x agp graphics board (with a view to upgrading my motherboard at some point). Would I get any performance gain by the fact it's gonna be in a 4x slot but running 256mb over the existing 128?

[Taxation]

There would still be a performance increase ,by upgrading the card, even though it is still AGP X4, if the card is upgraded then it will still have an increase in performance

[hightower]

So I'm gonna go and get this: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spec ... SAP-925025 (http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?SAP-925025)

This afternoon. I figure that a new fan is going to cost me at least £10, so I'm getting a new card for less that £20 and getting a spare to boot :P

Thanks everyone for all your help.

Andy

[hightower]

Fully installed and WOW...What a diference. Made all the worry of what to do Melt away!

[Chewie]

So I'm gonna go and get this: http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spec ... SAP-925025 (http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?SAP-925025)



Dear god, the minds of some folks :roll:

You took a perfectly servicable Ti4200 which with a straight forward Cooler mod would have given you a few more years from it, and replaced it with a lesser grade vid card, that just has access to slightly more advanced software and hardware rendereing (eg, Ti4200 is DX7/8 grade card, 9250 is Dx9 grade card)

Ah well, hope it makes a difference in whatever you use your machine for Tower. (BTw, the 9250 is the equivalent of a MX440 but with the extra render stuff)

Hope it runs good for as long as you need it mate.

[hightower]

Not wanting to appear rude Chewie. I'm no computer expert and I'm not wanting to get into detail mods on my PC. I just wanted to get a clearer and cleaner picture on my New TFT monitor and solve a potential fan problem. I'm quite happy with the results over my other card. I had all the latest drivers and software installed on the 4200 and couldn't get "the look" right on screen. I spent a week fiddling with the settings on the 4200 and 5 mins after the Radeon was installed to get exactly what I wanted.

So what was I doing wrong with the setup and software downloads for the 4200? I'd like to know as I could put it back if it works better.

Andy

[Chewie]

Its ok Tower, i was just having a bit of a poke and a laugh. My apologies mate.

Was only saying that line for line, the 4200 has more processing power, but the 9250 benefits from the extra vertex and pixel shaders etc that have been designed and implemented since the advent of the 4200. You'd surely notice it in any graphics intensive garme, but would see about 500 points or so difference (with the 4200 scoring the higher) if you had run 3dmark03 for the gpu (graphics processor unit)sections

As for your issue with the 4200 and your TFT, its hard to nail down just what was the problem with it *not looking right* on screen.

You say you tried different drivers for the card, but what about any TFT specific drivers, did trying different versions for that help (assuming there were any that is).

Anyway, as long as you can function and do whats needed with it, thats all that matters at the end of the day.