• Links to Graphics Cards Manufacturers
• What is AGP ?
• What are the benefits of AGP?
• Which Video Card
• How do I find out what video card I have?
• My TV Wonder locks up the computer
• Types of AGP slots and installation

•ATI Graphics Cards
•3dfx downloads
•Matrox Graphics
•Nvidia downloads
•All about Graphic cards

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by steve1a edited by vkr

AGP stands for Accelerated Graphics Port. It is an interface specification specifically written to provide an interface for a high performance graphics engine at mainstream prices, especially in the area of 3D graphics. Higher bandwidth is achieved by utilizing dedicated pipelined access to main memory for faster data transfer rate, and cost is reduced by moving graphics data to main memory.

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by Cariad edited by vkr

•Peak bandwidth is four-times higher than the PCI bus thanks to pipelining, sideband addressing, and data transfers that occur on both rising and falling edges of the clock.

•Direct execution of texture maps from system memory. AGP enables high-speed direct access to system memory by the graphics controller, rather than forcing it to pre-load the texture data into local video memory.

•Less PCI bus congestion. The PCI bus attaches a wide variety of I/O devices, such as disk controllers, LAN chips, and video capture systems. AGP operates concurrently with, and independent from, most transactions on PCI. Further, CPU accesses to system memory can proceed concurrently with AGP memory reads by the graphics controller.

•Improved system concurrency for balanced PC performance. The PentiumŪ III processor can perform other activities while the graphics chip is accessing texture data in system memory.

reference

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by Cariad edited by vkr

Which Video Card

Video Card Selection ay Hardwarecentral.com - Video Cards: Sorting the Mess

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by Raj Dynel edited by vkr
last modified: 2002-05-23 23:32:36

How do I find out what video card I have?

If you are able to open up the case, you could identify what video card you have by looking at the video card's chipset. If it's an onboard video card, this is found on the motherboard.

If you don't, you could open up a command prompt and try:
debug
You'll then see -
Enter d c000:0040 and press enter. If that doesn't work try d c000:00F0
and it should display what your video card is (Note: this does not work for all video cards)

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by howe81 edited by vkr
last modified: 2002-07-22 15:33:14

My TV Wonder locks up the computer

You may find some helpful information at ATI's website.

»www.ati.com/support/products/pc/···ues.html

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by TA63 edited by vkr
last modified: 2002-10-15 18:24:34

Types of AGP slots and installation

In power, AGP video cards come in three flavors:
0.8v (newer) - 8X
1.5v (older) - 4X
3.3v (oldest) - 2X

2X and 4X AGP

Older 2X AGP cards do not use the right voltage to function properly in the newer 1.5V AGP slots. If forced into a 1.5V AGP slot, a non-1.5V compliant video card will damage the motherboard. On the other hand a 1.5V AGP card is usually backwards compatible with older 2X AGP slots.

8X AGP

Motherboards supporting 8x AGP support both 1.5V AGP 2.0 compliant cards (AGP 4x) and newer .8V AGP 3.0 compliant cards (AGP 8x). The keying for AGP 3.0 cards is identical to that of AGP 2.0 cards to retain backward compatibility.

Connectors

2X	4X/8X (or Universal)



More information and pictures can be found on ATI's Website.

When installing an AGP video card: If it doesn't fit in the correct direction, don't force it!

Info: http://www.directron.com/15agpguide.html#what

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by redxii edited by dbmaven
last modified: 2003-02-28 15:30:01