Help! Advice on Upgrading Old PC's with New Video Card

[markinvention]

Dear all

We would like to upgrade 2 old PC's with a new video card to work with a flat panel LCD monitor and DVI.

The monitor requires 1920 x 1200 at 60hz as native resolution.

The older PC's work with 4 x AGP.

I have looked on many web sites, even bought a GeForce 6200 256MB DDR2 AGP DVI VO, but the box stated the maximum DVI resolution as 1600 x 1200 - the VGA spec was much higher.

Can anyone recommend a suitable card which can achieve the 1920 x 1200 res, work with 8/4x AGP and preferably have DVI and VGA output?

My work is web and multimedia design, so graphics and clarity of text is important.

Many thanks

 

[wahnula]

This is a possible solution:

http://www.visiontek.com/products/cards/retail/x1950pro_AGP.html

ATI clearly has the AGP market's best card with this fella. It runs at 1920 x 1200 and keeps up with a similar PCI-E card at that resolution. Not cheap but it fits your needs.

Please note it says "450 watt or greater PSU recommended"

Tony

 

[wahnula]

Edited to add:

The above card might not work with AGP4X. I found several by searching " AGP 4X 1900x1200 DVI "that were much cheaper.

Tony

 

[markinvention]

Thanks Tony

I don't know if I'm becoming 'blind' after looking at so many card specs, but I'm finding cards but they either quote high resolution specs which don't actually apply to DVI, or are PCI Express.

 

[wahnula]

What are the PC's specs? Mainboard is most important to see if it supports AGP-8X. If it does, there's lots of choices, but I am not sure about 4X.

Tony

 

[markinvention]

The only spec I've got on the mainboard is:

Chipset type: Intel 845 DDR
Data Bus Speed: 400mhz

The spec does say 4xAGP, but I had been told elsewhere that 8 x AGP was backward compatible with 4x?

 

[cdogg]

You mentioned that web/multimedia design is important to you, so you may want to consider getting a "workstation" graphics card that has better OpenGL support than gaming cards, along with more hardware encoding features to speed up editing. See the links below for the Nvidia's Quadro FX 3000 or Matrox's Millenium P650 card:

Matrox:

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/crepro/products/pseries/p650.php

Nvidia:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133103

The Nvidia card is more on the high-end. If you want the gaming support too though, check this card out:

http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/products/products_overview.php?gpid=177&grp=2

Buy it here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102086

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[paparazi]

It depends of wether the 8X AGP card is backwards compatible with the older 4X slot.

This link is pretty good and should clear up some confusion.
Personally I would be looking at an earlier 8X AGP card which is much more likely compatible with a 4X 1.5V AGP slot.

See:

http://www.directron.com/15agpguide.html#backwards

Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[felixc]

The X1650 will work with AGP4X. I have one installed on an old ECS K7S5A mobo, and it works great. The PS requirement is 350W for this cars, so maybe that your actual PS has enough power for it.

 

[felixc]

My X1650pro is an ATI-branded one, and it says AGP4X/8X right on the box. It has DVI out, and the resolutions can go up to 2500 x 1600.
Although they use the same chip, and even the same pcb layout for some, the other manufacturers that sell the X1650pros do not state AGP4x.

 

[markinvention]

Thanks everyone.

I've actually ordered the X1650 so will let you know how it all goes.

The info from Paparazi was very useful indeed. One of the things I am finding with some cards is that the max resolutions apply to VGA and not DVI - so it's always wise just to check the max DVI resolutions.

Thanks again!