PC hardware: Gateway desktop video proprietary???
Gateway desktop video proprietary???
by brian4xp - 9/5/07 5:38 AMI have two Gateway PCs, an Essential 500 and a 700S. I am looking at upgrading the video and when I emailed Gateway about it they said I needed to chat with a Gateway rep for upgrade options and ordering. Anyone have any info on whether any AGP card will work or if I HAVE to order from Gateway? I know the Essential 500 has a 2x 3V AGP so I can't use just any AGP card there, but the 700S has a 4x 1.5V AGP slot.
Anyone know if I am likely to get into proprietary hardware issues here?
It's simpler than you imagine.
by R. Proffitt
- 9/5/07 8:13 AM
In reply to: Gateway desktop video proprietary??? by brian4xp
The AGP slots are "KEYED" to stop you from plugging in an incompatible AGP card. And the slots are NOT proprietary.
In closing, the card asks the AGP slot for the voltage. Some get confused about this area and end up looking for non-existent cards at some voltage and X speed.
Again, if it plugs in, it should work fine.
Bob
Radon Graphic Cards
by oldyellow - 9/11/07 6:45 PM In reply to: It's simpler than you imagine. by R. Proffitt
Ati Radon Graphic Cards 9000,9250 will probably be 1x,2x agp speed cards that you can use in the older computer. Ati has a number of manfactures that builds graphic cards with the radon gpu. One manfacture is Sapphire along with others. Sapphire makes a Radon 1650 Pro card that will work in a 4x/8x agp pro sloted motherboard. AS long as you motherboard agp slot is a pro slot then this card will work at 4x agp speed or 8x agp speed pro sloted motherboard. Find out from the computer manfacture as to what type of agp slot your motherboard has-1x,2x,4x,or 8x.
PS: Pay attention to the cpu/processor requirements of the graphics cards too. Don't buy a graphic card that requires a processor faster than what is installed in either of your computers!
I don't see cpu requrements in the specs online much
by brian4xp - 9/14/07 2:39 PM In reply to: Radon Graphic Cards by oldyellowUsually all I see are power supply reqirements, and for one card I saw it had a requrement of "Pentium processor", but usually don't see cpu and speed requirements. So are you saying I need to contact the seller for that info?
I had read that 8x should work in a 4x slot
by brian4xp - 9/14/07 3:09 PM In reply to: Radon Graphic Cards by oldyellowWhat I have is a 4X AGP 1.5V but it is not an AGP PRO. Do you mean it has to be an AGP PRO slot before it will allow an 8X card work as a 4X card? From what I've read elsewhere I thought an 8X card would work in a 4X slot at 4X speed. As long as the power supply was big enough.
That's not what AGP PRO is.
by R. Proffitt - 9/14/07 4:17 PM
In reply to: I had read that 8x should work in a 4x slot by brian4xp
The 8X spec and how it falls back to 4X is widely documented. All I've ever needed to do is look at the keying of the slot and that my new card fits into that slot.
Bob
Another issue, though
by brian4xp - 9/16/07 2:59 PM In reply to: It's simpler than you imagine. by R. Proffitt
I just checked with Gateway and they confirmed an 8X card will work in the 4X slot in my 700S, but cautioned that it only will support a 128MB card. They said the motherboard will not support a 256MB card. So I'm glad I got outbid on the 256MB card I was looking at, but this means I may be able to get a higher rated 128 card for what I was about to pay for a 256 MB card that wouldn't have worked.
Sorry that is untrue.
by R. Proffitt - 9/16/07 4:50 PM
In reply to: Another issue, though by brian4xp
The agp card may go to 256MB and more.
Bob
So the Gateway tech was wrong?
by brian4xp - 9/17/07 10:08 AM In reply to: Sorry that is untrue. by R. Proffitt
You are saying that there is no motherboard/CPU/whatever restriction to 128MB AGP card?
Not yet.
by R. Proffitt - 9/17/07 10:21 AM
In reply to: So the Gateway tech was wrong? by brian4xp
I've yet to encounter such a limitation. AGP is... AGP.
Bob
trying to cover the bases
by brian4xp - 9/17/07 10:10 AM In reply to: Sorry that is untrue. by R. Proffitt
I wanted to check with Gateway first to avoid being burned like I was when I bought 45ns RDRAM and my system needed 40ns.
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