Topic: Will a 8xAGP card run on a 4xAGP motherboard?

[Tony]

wanting to upgrade my "first born" PC [ah happy days Bro, making those first PC's] so my grandson can play some not so ancient games. See he hogs my latest build PC because the current 32MB card in the old machine is to slow, and I want to boot him off it during working hours. Was hoping to get a cheap second hand Geforce FX5900XT

[Simon]

Can't say for certain, Bro, but I tried a 7600 on my old (first) build, and it wasn't having any of it.  I did wonder if it was a power issue, rather than mobo incompatibility, but didn't bother to pursue it, as I decided on the new build instead.

[Tony]

Can't say for certain, Bro, but I tried a 7600 on my old (first) build, and it wasn't having any of it.  I did wonder if it was a power issue, rather than mobo incompatibility, but didn't bother to pursue it, as I decided on the new build instead.

Yes that was a bit of wishful thinking, sticking a 7600 in the old rig. But maybe it being a 8x AGP on a 4x Mobo is indeed the issue, hence my question in the first place. I know you can stick a 4x card in an 8X Mobo.

I've got the 7600GT in my latest PC, I went AGP with the Mobo at the time of building the new PC, as I did not want to replace my graphics cards, as they did the job for me. I merely wanted a bigger CPU set up to handle my camcorder video editing faster, plus the Mobo had 5 PCI slots on it.  Then the gaming urge kicked in again. Hence I opted for the 7600GT, a compromise between power and pocket damage. All in all quite happy with it though.

[Simon]

Does this help, Tony?  Sorry, but I can't give an answer myself.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Will_an_8x_AGP_video_card_work_in_a_4x_AGP_slot

[Tony]

Thanks Simon,

a good find that. I know some times bios updates can make the Mobo accept bigger CPU's, maybe it can do the same for AGP slots. So with that in mind I downloaded the live update program for the MSI K3T Ultra2. Only problem is, the latest Live update program once installed, crashed my PC as soon I tried to send it of on a search for Mobo and driver updates..................computers don't ya just love em   

[Sandra]

You have to be careful of the voltage differences with earlier and newer AGP cards Tony, the speed shouldnt be a problem as it will run at the slowest speed of either the slot or the card

Usually they wont fit in a slot that has the wrong voltage but sometimes they do, if you are heavy handed enough 

[Tony]

cheers Sandra,

thinking about it after a nights sleep, and given your reply, its a bit silly really going down the route of poring new money into an old system. Better to slap in a new mobo bundle, with the addition of a PCi- Express card.....See how easy it is to get carried away with spending money you don't really need to....it will pass.