Looking for an old new card, AGP question

[jmreinwald]

Hi folks, I have a 3-year old PC and my video card just went kablooey. It's an older Nvidia RIVA TNT2 Model 64--I'm not sure what the chances are of finding that exact same card (my ideal path), but the current one is I believe a 2x AGP. Are the AGP capabilities a function of the mobo, or can I get a lower-priced new card with a higher AGP?

I'm not interested in swapping mobos, or any big upgrades. This is not my primary machine, but I'm very happy with it, and I'm not at all a gamer, so the old stuff works just fine!

Thanks.

 

[cdogg]

Find out what motherboard you have (make/model). Then we can give you a better answer on what options you have.

As for finding the exact same card, you might be able to find a used one on EBAY for cheap.

~cdogg
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[tf1]

I just took a quick look on eBay and there are dozens of PCI cards such as the nVidia MX400, ATi Rage Pro, nVidia TNTs and a host of cards suitable to replace the dead card.

Really cheap too.


Regards: tf1

 

[cdogg]

yup, PCI will do just fine too assuming that you don't have a crowded PCI bus already. Otherwise, you could be looking at "cramped" performance and possibly some IRQ conflicts at first.

~cdogg
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[dakota81]

Well, before you dish out the cash for a new video card, have you made sure it is indeed the video card that has gone bad? That it's definately not the motherboard, PSU, memory, etc. that is what's really defective.

 

[paparazi]

Good point dakota81,
Still think it's the graphics card?
Keep it simple, go for another nvidia:

Ebay is a good idea:

TNT2 Riva M64/ultra
Geforce256
Geforce 2 MX200/400/GTS/Pro/Ultra

Martin

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

 

[jmreinwald]

Hi dakota81, just to give you an idea of my evidence, this is what I've done, and a little background. I keep my computer on 24x7. The screen was blank due to me not using it. When I "awakened" it from the blank screensaver, I had odd hot-pink streaks in my toolbar icons and systray. I was trying to save everything I had open at the time to do a clean reboot, and the machine rebooted itself as I was maximizing an IE window.

I uninstalled/reinstalled the drivers, and everything checks out in the device manager. I hooked up the monitor to a laptop, and the monitor itself is ok. Upon rebooting, the Sony oem image (I have a Vaio) is "broken up" and pushed to the right, and white vertical lines are moving from left-to-right. It attempts to start up, then resets and goes to the typical safe modes menu with the last known good config. I choose the last known option.

Rather than being at 1024x768, it's stuck at 640x480 and 8-bit color. Rather than describing the appearance, here's a screenshot so you can see what it looks like. In the screenshot there's also the event log entry for the failure. It's worth noting that the red lines that appear to be sideways morse code writing move around some, and when I move the foreground windows the blue tint disappears, but only when moving them.

 

[dakota81]

Alright, sounds like the video card is what has gone bad. I buy new Radeon 7000 cards for the no frills machines - they can be cheap at online stores, and can be with dual monitor & tv-out.

 

[cdogg]

Now the question is what kind of AGP slot you have. This is what we can determine by knowing your make/model if you don't already know.

Older AGP 1x and 2x slots used different voltages than AGP 4x, which is what the next generation of cards used after the TNT2. So if you're thinking about getting a card that's rated for AGP 4x, make sure your AGP slot supports 1.5v

~cdogg
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