Please, can someone give me some suggestions on older AGP video cards that should work with the ASUS P5A? I'm getting kinda desperate since I've already tried three different cards and none of them worked correctly... I still have a system based on the ASUS P5A Super Socket 7 ATX motherboard. I'm keeping it around for playing old games that don't require a modern CPU or a fast graphics card. I intended to use this system for old Windows 98 and DOS stuff. Unfortunately, I was never able to find a satisfactory graphics card that was compatible. I bought three different video accelerator cards and not one of them worked right. All the latest drivers, patches, and updates have been installed, but it's still a problem. And changing the powersupply and CPU doesn't help either. It's so frustrating... Even the manual and the ASUS tech support isn't much help. I'm looking for either an ATI or nVidia AGP card. I suspect the card would have to be manufactured between 1999 and 2001 - or thereabouts. But I want a make and model with a good reputation for compatibility. (I'm thinking of something like a Radeon 8500 or a GeForce3 Ti500... But I don't know a lot about these.) I do realise that when dealing with older PC hardware it's important to use components that originate from approximately the same period. For instance, using an expansion card manufactured in 2005 in a mainboard manufactured in 2000 will likely cause problems. (I suspect modems and network cards are usually OK, though.) And, in the case of AGP video cards, mismatching a new card on an old system (or visa versa) might even damage the mainboard or card since the voltages may be different. The ASUS P5A was originally manufactured in 1999. The last BIOS update for the P5A was "1011 beta 05", released May 13, 2002. The video cards I've bought and tried so far: * nVidia (PalitDaytona) GeForce4 MX440 4xAGP with 64MB SDR & TV-Out * nVidia (PalitDaytona) GeForce4 MX440 8xAGP with 64MB DDR & DVI/TV-Out * ATI RADEON 7200 AGP 4x with 64MB DDR & TV-Out The first two cards were first manufactered in early 2002. I couldn't get either to work correctly in the P5A. Typically, the PC would beep loudly three times when attempting to boot - and the screen remained blank (no signal). Actually, the more expensive GeForce4 with 8xAGP and DDR memory I did finally get partially working. But I had to install a second video card (an old PCI card I had for testing) next to it before it would do anything! Even then, it seemed to crash or hang when playing some 3D games. The cheaper GeForce4 (with SDR memory) I could not get to work at all, even when paired with the second video card. The ATI RADEON 7200, on the other hand, was manufactured in 2000. For the most part, it works pretty good on the P5A. However, with some games it will randomly crash back to Windows. In some cases there were obvious 3D glitches when rendering certain 3D models. And installing all the latest drivers, patches, and Windows updates does not solve this. So using a Radeon 7200 on my P5A is OK for web browsing, email and the like. But it fails with several of my 3D games - which is unacceptable since I built it to be reliable in playing old games.

You will need a 3.3V AGP 2x card, the AGP Slot on the motherboard has only provision to accept a card with one cutout on the connector: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agp The connector on the card will look like the one in this picture: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DELL-Matrox-G...

Make sure that you do NOT use the PCI slot nearest to the AGP slot...that slot MUST be left open when running an AGP card. Also, as orbital alluded to, your board has a 1X/2X AGP at 3.3v but it *should* be compatible with 4X cards. Do NOT run an 8X card on that board!

I do appreciate the answers. However, all I really wanted are some suggestions of *SPECIFIC* AGP cards I could try. Like, should I get a Radeon 8500 or a GeForce3 Ti500? Or perhaps I should try something else? <QUOTE>* You will need a 3.3V AGP 2x card, the AGP Slot on the motherboard has only provision to accept a card with one cutout on the connector: *</QUOTE> I figured as much. However, neither the manual nor the tech support of ASUS bothered to mention the signal voltage of the AGP slot on the P5A. Anyway, aren't AGP cards with different signal voltages supposed to have their connectors different so that it's impossible to plug in the wrong card... (I'm learning to hate AGP! My next PC is going to have PCI-e!) <QUOTE>* Make sure that you do NOT use the PCI slot nearest to the AGP slot...that slot MUST be left open when running an AGP card. *</QUOTE> I do realise that the PCI slot nearest the AGP slot shares the same IRQ channel. So it's very important to leave it open because it would otherwise lead to an IRQ conflict - which is a very commonplace problem. Ordinarily, I do not have any card in the PCI slot next to the AGP. But even without a card in that PCI slot I still can't get an AGP card to work correctly! I only did that when I was testing and desperate to get one of my GeForce4 AGP cards working. So I tried installed the extra PCI graphics card as a "dummy placeholder." (Anotherwords, I did not install any drivers for it in Windows and disabled the PCI card completely.) <QUOTE>* Also, as orbital alluded to, your board has a 1X/2X AGP at 3.3v but it *should* be compatible with 4X cards. *</QUOTE> But in practice, I find that the P5A is *NOT* compatible with GeForce4 MX440 4xAGP. I blame both nVidia for their loose AGP standards and ASUS for not bothering to release a fix. <QUOTE>* Do NOT run an 8X card on that board! *</QUOTE> Why? Does this automatically mean a voltage difference that will fry the board? The manual for GeForce4 MX440 8xAGP I have says that it's *SUPPOSED* to be backwards compatible with 2x and 4x AGP. The AGP slot on the P5A is *SUPPOSED* to support both 1x and 2x AGP.

i,ve got an asus v8170 geforce 4 mx i,ll give to you with the drivers cd worked well in my old windows 98se pc just send me an email bil1957@yahoo.com put asus v8170 in the subject line or i might think it spam [need an address to send it to]