[DjFonti]

Hello all. I am considering buying a new graphics card, but I need to know what interface I need. I currently have a 3Dfx Interactive Voodoo Banshee, 16mb graphics card. If you know what interface that card is and could tell me, I'd be very grateful. I have a suspicion that it is an AGP, but not sure. There are 3 little input bits on the card, the first about an inch long, the second a little above maybe two inches and a third about a centimetre long, but that one doesn't have have any gold filaments so I think it is just for securing. Also, assuming it is an AGP, is the next step as simple as buying an AGP card and installing it or are there other considerations? Thanks for any help....

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You need to look at this website and determine what type of card you have. You probably have a 3.3 volt card which doesn't give you much choice in cards.

http://www.playtool....compat/agp.html

SRX660

[SRX660]

You need to look at this website and determine what type of card you have. You probably have a 3.3 volt card which doesn't give you much choice in cards.

http://www.playtool....compat/agp.html

SRX660

[DjFonti]

Thanks for the reply SRX660. I'm not sure I know what you mean by '3.3 volt card'. My current graphics card is old, but my system is hardly ancient (2ghz processor, 512mb ram). I need to know what type of card it is I should be looking at when considering buying one. Should I get a PCI, an AGP or a PCI-Express? I don't know how to find the type of expansion slot my motherboard has...this information would tell me what sort of card to buy. Is there any software that will tell me what type of slot the motherboard has so that I know what to buy. I am running on windows 98. Thanks again...

[DjFonti]

Darn double post.

Edited by DjFonti, 04 January 2007 - 05:29 PM.

[SRX660]

The reasoning behind why i am asking you to check what you have is because very few (if any) cards were produced with the 1.5 volt AGP 4X connections. I think you have the early 1X-2X AGP slot on your motherboard and that will limit you to buying that kind of card.

If you really want to check what you have, you would shut down your computer , unplug the power cord, and pull off the case side cover. There is only 1 screw inside the back that holds the video card in the case. The slot is not only the connection point it is also a stabilizer for the card. By pulling out the card you can compare it to what was on the website i linked to. a simple picture printed out of the 3 slots would do fine. Then you can decide wheather you want to upgrade the card , or think about upgrading to a newer computer.

I cannot find any 3.3 volt cards for your computer except old stock ones that are the same as you have already.

Here is another picture of the 3.3 volt slot and the 1.5 volt slot.

http://www.abcd.com.au/v/agp_slot.htm

If you do have the 1.5 volt slot you can upgrade to something similar to this.

Nvidia

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814127128

or a ATI card

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814161055


SRX660

[DjFonti]

Thanks again for the reply. I'm pretty sure, having checked the inside, based on the photos on the links you provided, that I have a universal AGP slot. There doesn't appear to be any key seperating the slot into two parts. Also, according to the manual of the motherboard, it says

'AGP slot x1 support AGP 2.0 & 4x mode'.

Again this would point towards the universal option. Does this widen my options? Could I now buy a more modern card?

Edited by DjFonti, 04 January 2007 - 06:35 PM.

[SRX660]

Yes the 2 links to the 2X-4X cards at the bottom of my answer are about the best you can find.

SRX660

[DjFonti]

Thanks for the help.