nvidia AGP on Dell XPS-T

On Mon, 04 Aug 2003 07:18:39 GMT
"oodler" wrote:

"J.Clarke" wrote in message
...
All that seems to say is that AGP 2X boards won't physically fit
into AGP 4x-only motherboards. That should not be an issue with the
products you mention.

I'm not really clear on what you mean by "bevel"--to me a bevel is
simply a relieved edge.

Forget about the 'bevel' issue- it's really not important. I've gotten
advice on this issue ranging from things like "[your] motherboard only
supports 3.3V I/O, and it seems that the card you bought only supports
1.5V I/O, which explains why the slot pattern prevents you inserting
it," to assholes who just want to poke fun at me for making a
purchasing mistake and have no intention of truly helping me with my
problem.

I'm looking for something in between- advice simple and direct, but
not baby-talk. All I'm looking for is the proper type of Nvidia GF2
MX-400 AGP to fit in the AGP slot of my Dell XPS-T600. Really, that's
all. Really. Am I missing something here in thinking it's not
fundamentally more complicated than that?


The trouble is that nobody can help you until we really understand what
the problem is. I've worked with a number of machines with SE440BX and
BX2 boards and they've taken just about any video board I tried to stick
in them--they have a standard 3.3v AGP2 slot--but I've not seen a BX3
and it's quite possible that Dell had Intel do something peculiar to
it. There should be nothing unusual about an GF2MX400 that
prevents it from fitting that slot if it is the same as on the BX and
BX2 boards, but it's possible that the GF2MX400 that you got had some
unusual design feature that prevents it from fitting the slot. So
either you've got a weird motherboard or you got a weird video board,
and until we know which it is and the details of the weirdness we can't
advise you in any meaningful way.

If I had your video board and your motherboard sitting in front of me I
could tell at a glance what the problem is, but I don't have them
sitting in front of me and I'm not clairvoyant so I don't have an answer
for you. You have to draw that picture for me first.

However, I'll try to explain the issues to you.

There are two basic types of AGP slot, "AGP" and "AGP Pro". An AGP Pro
slot is longer than an AGP slot, with an extension at each end. You can
use a standard AGP board in an AGP pro slot, but you can't use an AGP
Pro board in a regular AGP slot. In order to make sure that they are
properly aligned when they are put in AGP Pro slots, AGP boards made
after a certain date have an extra tab, called the "registration tab",
that aligns the board properly in an AGP Pro slot and does not go into
the connector on a regular AGP slot.

It is unlikely in the extreme that an SE440BX3 board has an AGP pro
slot.

It is conceivable, but also highly unlikely, that a GF2MX440 has an AGP
Pro connector. More likely it has a regular AGP connector with a
registration tab.

There are pictures of this at
http://www.supermicro.com/TECHSUPPORT/FAQs/AGP_Pro.htm.

Now, in addition to this, AGP boards are made to work with 3.3
volts or 1.5 volts or dual-standard to work with either. There is a
key in the AGP connector that prevents a board of the wrong voltage from
being fitted into the slot. With a 3.3 volt machine the connector is
toward the back where the card mounting brackets are, while with a 1.5
volt machine it is at the opposite end. A 3.3 volt board will have a
cutout that fits over the 3.3 volt key but not the 1.5 volt key. A 1.5
volt board will be the other way, while one that works with either will
have both cutouts.

So, if you can tell us if either of those was the case, or if the board
did not fit for some other reason, then maybe someone can advise you.



--
--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

"oodler" wrote in message
...
You're not helping me by telling me this is my fault. I didn't come to be
ridiculed for making a mistake; I came here to learn how to rectify it.

Well I can't speak for him, but I think your anger at the place you ordered
it from is misplaced; I think it was rather decent of them to recredit your
account, some places wouldn't.

The LX chipset was AGP 2X as well. There was never an Intel chipset released
that supported only 1X to my knowledge. (Or any chipset, actually, though
there were some like the AMD 760 "Irongate" where anything over 1X didn't
work properly due to design flaws..)

--
Robert Hancock Saskatoon, SK, Canada
To email, remove "nospam" from
Home Page: http://www.roberthancock.com/


"Dave" wrote in message
news:%nAXa.65564$uu5.6677@sccrnsc04...

"oodler" wrote in message
...
"Robert Hancock" wrote in message
. ca...

snip


Isn't the Intel SE440BX-3 AA722396-108 motherboard AGP 1x?

No, it's most certainly 2x. It's AGP 1.0 revision, but it's definitely 2x.
The LX chipset was 1x, the BX was a different story. Even the ATI Rage Pro
siamesed to some BX mobos in lieu of an AGP slot (like in the Dell XPS V
series) still ran at 2x (FWTW). Here is the list of AGP specs he

http://www.motherboards.org/articles...ons/920_2.html .

This means it's keyed for 1x/2x 3.3v cards only (which is why your older
card fit in there). Now if the edge connector on the MX card had ONE
keyway
(the "bevel" thingummy) on the OTHER SIDE of the connector from where it
was
on the 3dfx card that came out of there, then it would not have fit, and
I'm
afraid to say you got the wrong card. I have NEVER EVER seen ANY MX2 card
that could not work in a 3.3v slot, but that doesn't mean one or two don't
exist. If the card you got has TWO keyways, as is in the picture on TCWO's
site, this means it's universal and it will fit. Just out of curiosity
your
board has Yamaha XG onboard sound, right? So if it's the mobo I'm thinking
of then it does indeed have an AGP slot, and just about ANY MX2 will fit,
and a whole bunch of faster cards too...

Sorry I made fun of you, but it was just TOO EASY! I guess it's too easy
to
forget my own past n00bishness too...but calling me an asshole is like
pouring gasoline on the fire...so you want "Asshole", do ya?

I would
think that would be the point of this whole ordeal given that the
supposedly
"backwards compatible" 2x or 4x or whateverthef*ck speed MX-400 card
that
TCWO has on its website (I'm too tired to look right now) doesn't
physically
fit in my slot.

Give it to me, I'll make it fit! (sound of rubber surgical glove snapping
and lid of Crisco jar opening...) I'll even connect the ground strap to my
wris****ch...

Then get one from Newegg. My earlier suggestion still stands, minus the
snide part, unless you plan on upgrading the CPU as well anytime in the
near
future (or at least before the supply of Tualatin Celeron 1.4s goes
byebye...)



If, on the other hand, you're talking about that L-shaped part that
sticks
out past the end of the AGP slot, it's supposed to be that way
unless
the
motherboard has a retention-clip part to grab that part of the card.

I'm not. I was talking about the way the cards are comparatively
bevelled
on
the bottom; one (the preinstalled 3dfx) fits because it's properly
grooved,
and the other (the new Nvidia, 4x I think) didn't because it's
apparently
not meant to fit in my AGP slot.