ATX and AGP

[fenix]

Does anyone know if the first ATX boards did NOT have AGP slots, or is AGP part of the ATX form factor ? thx.

 

[BOKA]

AGP is definitely NOT a feature of an ATX board. Just three weeks ago one of my coworkers bought an ATX board, which did not have AGP slot and he actually had to exchange it for a different board (there was a reason he wanted to use a specific AGP videocard).

 

[dakota81]

I've never seen an ATX board without an agp slot (unless it had integrated graphics that is). However, AGP & ATX are unrelated terms.

ATX is simply a layout for a motherboard to fit into a case. AGP was introduced before the ATX design really became mainstream, and with AGP's definate superiority to PCI, there was absolutely no reason to design an ATX mobo w/o AGP.

 

[fenix]

thx boka and dakota for the replies, although after reading both posts, there seems to be 2 different opinions. Maybe a few more questions will give the answer I'm looking for.

Question for boka: did your co-worker have integrated graphics, or just a PCI slot for a video card, (if you remember) ?

Question for dakota: are you saying that ALL ATX boards have an AGP slot unless they have integrated graphics ?

I realize that most old ATX boards have at least 1X AGP, but I'm trying to pin down if any ATX boards have just a PCI slot for video, without intergrated graphics.

 

[dakota81]

Confused with what you're trying to do. Even if a board has an AGP slot, you can most certainly use a PCI graphics card instead. A board w/ AGP slot & an ISA slot you can even use an ISA video card if you so choose.

And, I stated have never _seen_ an ATX board w/o an AGP slot or Integrated Graphics.

 

[fenix]

thx again, that answers my question and clears up a discussion I was having elsewhere. I had thought that some of the very first ATX boards didn't have AGP OR Int. graphics, just a PCI slot for a video card.

 

[Ssshaker]

Well guess what? I have an ATX socket 7 board that does NOT have either AGP slot or integrated graphics. So there!

 

[BOKA]

The board I referred to did not have integrated card, it just had 5 (or 6) PCI slots.

 

[cdogg]

dakota,

Did we forget about the original Pentiums? P-75 through P-166 without MMX all used ATX boards before AGP even existed. I still own an old IBM Aptiva P-166 that fits this description!

~cdogg

 

[crisc]

Yah, the AGP standard came out much LATER than the ATX style mobos. Although nowadays nearly all boards come with AGP, there didn't always...