"Paul" wrote in message
...
Adam wrote:
Looking for a quality but cheap AGP video card (off eBay) to replace ...

- ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB DDR 256Bit AGP Video Card

This is for an old Asus A7V133 system.

Any recommendations?


Since it's Ebay, you could go for a 7600 GT AGP.

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards....1=31&card2=435

That's about $100 for the ones I could find.

Newegg has a new (ATI based) HD 4670 AGP for around the
same money, but the problem with later generation cards
is drivers. (Sometimes there is only one "good" driver,
for late model AGP cards.) You always want to check for
driver complaints, no matter what card you end up shopping for.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161337

The comparison of the HD 4670 is here.

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards....1=31&card2=629

The power drawn by the HD 4670 is around 47 watts. Plus
you'd have to add some watts (maybe 5W or so) for the HSI chip.
There are limits as to how much AGP can draw, even using
a Molex connector. (I had an ATI 9800 Pro die, because the
Molex connector +5V pin burned on it. I fixed it, by soldering
a Molex cable right to the video card, and it worked just
fine that way until the card was eventually retired. The
burning happened, because of a cheap Chinese Molex which
fit loosely when plugged in. My own fault for not
rectifying the fit problem when I had a chance.)

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/gra...b_5.html#sect0

If I had to guess, I'd put the 7600 GT power, somewhere
around the same power as the 6600 GT, or about 48 watts.

For comparison, some model of 9800 Pro here, is 47 watts.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/gra...wercons_8.html

Paul



Thanks (Guru Paul), my ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB has
the molex connector problem (burnt pin) that you mentioned.
The video card works but not perfectly (broken lines are sometimes
displayed),
which is why I wanted to replace the video card. But,
if fixing the molex connector problem will get rid of the broken lines,
then I can avoid spending for another video card.
Is there another way to fix without soldering, which I don't do.
Maybe use a better quality female molex connector?