All AGP 8x Cards Compatible

[GraemeM]

Hi, I'm just looking at some video cards and I notice that a lot listed as AGP 8x have connectors that look incredibly diffrent from the video card I have now. It's for the same model of motherboard.

The cards I'm looking at are incredibly cheap, things like:
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...1066&CatId=318

But the current card I have is:
http://www.techwarelabs.com/reviews/.../Compare_s.JPG

I AM NOT REPLACING ONE WITH THE OTHER, I'm not nuts . But I am making a cheap build using the same motherboard as the one I'm using now, why do those connectors look so different?

Thanks.

[Alaron]

The video cards in your second link are not AGP. They are PCI-Express.

[GraemeM]

Originally Posted by Alaron The video cards in your second link are not AGP. They are PCI-Express.

Ah, I didn't even know the 6800GT was out on PCI Express

Here's one of mine: http://www.linuxhardware.org/images/...6800GT-top.jpg

Looks closer, but still not the same

[liambl]

If the differnce you are talking of is the slots in the connector, theyre different becuase of the AGP they support. The first slot in the 5500 indicates it supports AGP 2x and the second AGP 4/8x. The 6800 (and all AGP cards above the FX) dont support 2x, only 4x and 8x so they dont have the 2x slot, only the 4/8x. This prevents them being inserted in an AGP 2x motherboard. So no, not all AGP cards are compatible but anyone with an AGP 2x mobo aint going to need a 6800gt.

[GraemeM]

Originally Posted by liambl If the differnce you are talking of is the slots in the connector, theyre different becuase of the AGP they support. The first slot in the 5500 indicates it supports AGP 2x and the second AGP 4/8x. The 6800 (and all AGP cards above the FX) dont support 2x, only 4x and 8x so they dont have the 2x slot, only the 4/8x. This prevents them being inserted in an AGP 2x motherboard. So no, not all AGP cards are compatible but anyone with an AGP 2x mobo aint going to need a 6800gt.

Okay thanks. So all AGP 8x will be compatible with modern AGP motherboards, the difference is just backwards compatibility with older version?

[liambl]

Yes. All AGP 8x cards also support 4x so any motherboard from after 2001 will work with an 8x card. The only reason 2x isnt supported on newer(ish) motherboards is the voltage (3.3v for 1/2x and 2.5v for 4/8x)

[FLG]

Current motherboards are PCI-E and you can easily get a cheap PCI-E graphics card.

[GraemeM]

Originally Posted by liambl Yes. All AGP 8x cards also support 4x so any motherboard from after 2001 will work with an 8x card. The only reason 2x isnt supported on newer(ish) motherboards is the voltage (3.3v for 1/2x and 2.5v for 4/8x)

Okay, thanks, just checking before I bought one.

Originally Posted by FLG Current motherboards are PCI-E and you can easily get a cheap PCI-E graphics card.

The motherboard I have is a couple years old, so it's AGP 8x