Help! New card for ASUS A7N8X-E (1.5V only)

I feel lame begging for help here so big thanks to anyone taking the time to read this.
My video card has just died and I need to buy a new one but my motherboard has some weird limits, mainly it can only support an AGP card that is 1.5V only. No 3.3V for me. It doesn't support PCI-E, so my understanding is for now it's best to go for another AGP card.
I find video card specs really hard to understand and firstly none of the specs I read state if it's 1.5V or 3.3V, so I'm looking for advice on what card to buy.

Motherboard specs relating to AGP slot:-
ASUS A7N8X-E
1.5V only (3.3V not supported)
3-slot 28-pin

my original (late) card:-
PowerColor Radeon 9700, 128MB DDR, CRT/TV/DVI-I, 32bit AGP bus

and here are some cards I'm looking at getting:-
http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/70731/V...ire/default.asp
http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/71046/V.../HIS/RE1-35.asp
and others available:-
http://www.techbuy.com.au/searchcat...DEON_SERIES.asp

So first of all, I can't figure out how to tell if they are 1.5V or 3.3V, how can one tell?
I have no idea about the memory type, there's DDR3 and GDDR3, is this an incompatibility factor with my motherboard since my original is DDR?
Is there any reason a "512MB 256-bit" card would be incompatible/bottlenecked with my motherboard?
And if my options are really THAT limited, what would you guys suggest is a good card my motherboard can use?

Thanks a million for your time and help, very appreciated.

http://www.directron.com/15agpguide.html

Quite outdated now, but useful information all the same. If there is only a notch near the "front" of the card, it 3.3v only, if there are 2 notches it's 3.3v and 1.5v compatible, and if there's only a notch further back (like on the X1950Pro) it's only 1.5v compatible.

All, err, well not modern but anything made in this century is usually 1.5v compatible

The type of memory on a card can change performance and power consumption somewhat, but since it's all specific to the card it doesn't matter what kind of board you put it in - that memory is the card's own.

An X1950Pro is going some for an Athlon XP rig, but if you want more framerate for the least amount of rebuilding work to your PC it's a fair deal. They also seem to hold their price very well if you decide to sell it later on, too

Me again. I'm back to this issue and after some fresh advice.

With my ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe mobo, and AGP8X 1.5V-only port, I was looking at these new cards:-
http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/79730/V...25050-22321.asp
(I doubt this one will be compatible even though it is AGP8X and 1.5V, gotta be something wrong)
http://www.techbuy.com.au/p/70731/V...GASAP51219J.asp
(I was recommended this one in the last post, even though he said it's "going some", which I guess means will be bottlenecked?)

I just want to be 100% sure they are at least compatible with my system, so here's my current specs:-
mobo: ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe (ports: AGP8X 1.5V-only port / PCI)
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2700+ (2.2GHz)
RAM: 2x1GB
Video: PowerColor RADEON 9700 128MB DDR CRT/TV/DVI-I

One issue might be the power supply? I assume if it powers the mobo+ then should power whatever the mobo can handle too???

I'm under the impression, as long as it's AGP8X and 1.5V compatible, it should work in my system although bottlenecked somehow?

Thanks for your time.

Nope, if you go with something as hungry as an X1950Pro or 3850 you'll be seriously increasing the power requirements for the whole machine. Just make sure you have a good amount of extra amps available on whichever +12v rail you will be using to power the card, about 8A should comfortably cover it.



That is what I said, isn't it? Both cards will work fine in your board, in theory all AGP 8x slots are the same, so why shouldn't it work?

The X1950Pro will be bottlenecked by your Athlon XP, especially if you're running it at stock speeds. The HD3850, which is in a league of it's own for an AGP card, will be bottlenecked really quite severely unless you use stupidly high resolutions or use lots of AA/AF, or both.

Thanks so much for the info, great!
But may I be so annoying as to beg for further help.

This is what the sticker on the side of my power supply states:-Is that "+12V" the same 12V stated as needed for the X1950?
And about needing "8A", how can I find this out, because I guess it depends what else I've got hooked up, right?
Are there any physical telltale signs, such as if an 8A cord is connected to my Radeon 9700 already? Can you tell "8A" by looking at it, basically? What am I looking for?

Again, a million thanks for help!

Ah, you'll have to guess whether there's enough spare or not. It really depends on whether your CPU is fed from the +5v or +12v rail (I don't know) and how many drives you have.

From the looks of it your board uses the +5v rail, so you'll probably be OK, but it's just a guess. The only way you can really tell is by looking around the CPU socket for capacitors rated for 16v.. If there aren't any, you should have enough on the +12v rail for a new card.

Okay, there are a row of capacitors under the CPU with "6.3V" printed on them, right at the top. Can't see any other rating so feelin' real confident.

About the "rail" cords, my Radeon 9700 is powered by cords that go down the drives, 2 disc drives (one I can do without) 1 floppy drive (won't miss) and 2 HDDs, then the smaller power cord into the Radeon 9700 is at the very end connected with those drive cords. This end cord is exactly like the one plugged into the floppy drive, can I assume the X1950 will use the same?
With those 5 different drives, is it just a matter of unplugging my CD-ROM drive and floppy diskette drive to free up the "amps"?

Sounds good

The X1950pro will use 2 molexes (if it's anything like the Sapphire model) which are the connectors you plug into hard drives and such.

You really shouldn't have to unplug the CD/Floppy drives, as they use very little power when idle... and if the small load they put on the PSU makes the PC crash when you give them something to read, you definitely need a better PSU.. You can't cut things that close, the PSU would die very quickly being run so near it's limit.

The hard drives are the main concern, because they use quite a lot of power to spin up when you first turn the machine on. But again, if that causes it to fail, you're cutting it to close.

Just plug it in and hopefully all will be well

Okay, thanks a million! I will order it tonight and see how I go. If it doesn't work, hopefully I won't fry it and someone will get a great bargain on eBay.

Just posting back here to say thanks! I _finally_ got my new X1950 and it works just great on my setup, beats my old Radeon 9700 by far. If it is being bottlenecked, I can't tell, at least not yet. Massive improvement in 3D performance. I just hope it stays that way for the long term.
Again, thanks a million Snod Blatter! Max rep to you m8!