I need some serious help with AGP card selection.

[Guest n9zn]

I have an ASUS mother board that will only accept the AGP 1.5 volt cards. They (AGP 1.5 volt) are the cards with two notches cut into the gold card connetors as I understand it.My system configuration is as follows.1. Asus P4S8X-MX socket 478 motherboard (supports overclocking but I am having some trouble with that)2. ATI Radeon 9200 128 MB GPU AGP (not good for FS9 or FSX)3. 1MB DDR 3200 unbuffered memory non ecc4. 100 GB serial ATA hard drive (40 Gig unused).5. 60 GB IDE Ultra DMA hard drive (30 Gig unused).6. AGP 8X support (1.5 volts only)7. Pentium 4 2.48 GHz 512/533 processor NO Hyper Threading support (hyper threading does not show up in the Bios with this chip)8. 2 DVD IDE RW light scribe dual layer drives.Who makes the best AGP card which runs at 1.5 volts for a machine that has the limitations my mother board has?I am so disappointed. When I bought this machine I thought I had a pretty good PC (not the best, but good) and it would last me a while. Now the more I look at upgrading the box I am thinking that I have made a horrible purchase to begin with. Unfortunately my budget will not allow purchasing another PC for now and I must make due with what I have.The flustration of trying to get both FS9 and FSX running properly with decent graphics is killing me.Monty Howard

[Bob Scott]

Monty;See this article re: AGP 8x versus 4x compatibility. http://www.widowpc.com/pdfs/AGP8X_92502v1.pdfAny nVidia 8x board should work OK in that mobo, BUT...With the mobo limited to 1.5v, that means that the hardware interface is for AGP 2.0 at 4x. According to the article, an 8x vid board will detect and adapt to operate with an AGP 2.0 slot (1.5v)...but that means at 4x, not 8x. AGP 3.0 8x requires a 0.8v interface.Your mobo is "compatible" with an AGP 3.0 8x video board (IOW, it'll fit and not get smoked by the voltages), but will only run it at 4x. Bet that little detail is buried deep in the jinglish fine print, if mentioned at all.Given that you're stuck at 4X, I probably wouldn't go beyond a 6 series board...a nice 6800 can be had for relatively cheap these days.All that said, a 2.4 GHz P4 is not likely to be a good performer on FSX no matter what you have for a video card. Just not enough horsepower to carry the mail too well, I think.CheersBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300Santiago de Chile

[Guest n9zn]

I can upgrade the processor to 3.2 something maybe more and then overclock it hopefully.I have HyperX memory in the box and will also add another raid drive so I can run in Raid0 configuration. Funny but the new processor will give me hyper threading also if I pick the right one and that should help.I am going to tear this box apart in a day or so and look at the AGP slot. If your correct then I have a large choice of cards to pick from and a 512MB GPU seems about right I guess.I will post more after the tear down and a call to ASUS when they re-open after the holidays.TnxMonty HowardN9ZN / Tampa Florida

[Bob Scott]

Just be aware that changing your CPU to one with HT will require a reinstall of WinXP so that the correct low-level drivers for the system devices are installed. It's not just a pop-n-swap sorta thing.Also, I believe the fastest CPU still produced by Intel in the Socket 478 package used by your mobo is the 3.0GHz...the 3.4 GHz Pentium 4s are now all manufactured in LGA-775 packages. You might still be able to find a 3.2 or 3.4 GHz Socket 478 processor on a store shelf somewhere.CheersBob ScottATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-V L-300Santiago de Chile

[Guest n9zn]

Thanks Bob for the tip on re-install of Win XP Pro.During my search for a new processor I found out I can buy a whole mobo and CPU which will bring me to the dual core world.Even though I will need to buy memory, fans, and a new GPU for the new mobo those were expenses I was planning on for the existing mobo anyway.Looks like I am now going dual core and use the existing disk and PCI cards I have now. Everything else can be tossed into the guest room computer or sold for cost recovery on E-Bay.This is something anyone should look at before doing expensive upgrades to a PC. Something I nearly forgot to do.MontyP.S. If I can figure out a way to go Quad Core (hehehe can't let the wife know) I will be flying high for sure! Fortunately I am the home accountant and realized that I have enough expensive stuff around the house stuck in closets and cabinets which never get used and I can sell it on E-Bay. I bet I can come up with a PC upgrade for free only for a few trips to ship out the stuff I sell. This should also make the other half happy as I clean out the expensive junk sitting around. I almost forgot everyone pays premium prices for used items on that web site.

[Guest hotwheels71]

I also want to update my video card, and never knew about voltage support on the mobo. How did you figure out what voltage your mobo would support, because I should know that for my own research.---------------------------------Hot Wheels Airhttp://hotwheelsair.blogspot.com/

[Guest wayupthere]

Check the manual from the mobo, or http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/agp.html

[Guest n9zn]

>Monty;>>With the mobo limited to 1.5v, that means that the hardware>interface is for AGP 2.0 at 4x. According to the article, an>8x vid board will detect and adapt to operate with an AGP 2.0>slot (1.5v)...but that means at 4x, not 8x. AGP 3.0 8x>requires a 0.8v interface.>Bob, I can not thank you enough but oddly so. What you told me above is correct however I found something else. I wish I could remember the site where I found the information. What I found is that most AGP cards are capable of running at two different signal voltages.This prompted me back to the mobo manufacturer to ask specifically if my mobo ran at 0.8 V and it does. This is why I can run an 8x AGP GPU. My mobo does not supply 3.0 V supply voltage but that is the AGP 2X spec anyway and I certainly do not want to run that.This and another thread (I forgot I posted this one SORRY) got me really searching and I located all kinds of reputable info, including numerous FS* benchmarks, which covers to much to share here but I will keep my eye on this forum as it may be useful to others having hardware issues with FSX or other FS* suites.Thanks Bob, great info it certainly got me motivated to go learn all about the current PC gaming hardware and that means I have tons of info left to soak up. At least now it is organized, many times directly addressing FS*, close at hand, and will allow me to build an FS* specific PC at my own pace.I apologize to all if I came across as a nuisance (my thought) I am and have been in real need of this info. Thanks!Monty Howard - N9ZNBuilding a PC in Tampa *grin*