PC Alamode Magazine Online; PowerTalk, AGP Video cards and Magic Smoke, Shane Hicks

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PowerTalk

AGP Video cards and Magic Smoke
February 2002

Shane Hicks is an independent consultant and technical trainer, providing support to individuals and small businesses. He's been in the industry for over 10 years.

Email your questions, it will be answered as space permits.

There is an age old tale concerning the true nature of the PC. It has been passed by word of mouth, but is often accidentally discovered by each passing generation. As legend goes, all computers run on magic smoke. Those who release the magic smoke from their computers are doomed to lives of dark video screens and pungent, choking odors. They will also find upgrading their systems to be far more expensive and time consuming then they ever imagined. This month, our goal is to avoid losing our magic smoke.

I purchased a new motherboard upgrade. I pulled everything out of the old case and installed the new motherboard. However, when I went to put my video card in, I noticed a yellow tab in the AGP slot on the motherboard that reads: “Remove Safety Tab when installing an AGP Pro card.” How do I tell if I have an AGP Pro card or not? Should I pull out the tab?

The Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) is an expansion slot designed by Intel to provide high performance to 3D graphics applications. It is the brown expansion slot, generally located directly above your white PCI slots on your motherboard. This is where you find video cards in most modern PCs.

There are presently two specifications for AGP.

Version 1.0 provides two modes of operation: 1x (266Mbps) and 2x (533Mbps). Cards using this specification have only one type of connector: AGP 3.3v. This connector is keyed so as not to be placed in the wrong slot on your motherboard. The connector consists of two tabs: a long tab followed by a shorter tab, separated by a gap (the key), with the bracket on the right.

Version 2.0 supplies an additional mode: 4x (1.07Gbps). These cards have three possible connectors: AGP 3.3v, AGP 1.5v, and AGP Universal. The 1.5v connector is the opposite of the 3.3v connector: a short tab followed by a longer tab, separated by the key. The Universal connector has three short tabs, with two keys matching the 3.3v and the 1.5v positions, and can be used in any AGP slot.

AGP Pro is an extension of AGP, designed to provide more power to demanding video cards. These cards have an additional tab to the left, as well as an extension on the end of the standard connectors (Figure #4 & 5). This extension requires the removal of the AGP Pro Safety Tab. AGP Pro slots are backwards compatible with earlier AGP cards.

The majority of graphics cards used in the home are still AGP, not AGP Pro. When putting in a new video card, match the keys of the video card with the notches in the AGP slot on the motherboard. If the notch in the slot matches the gap in the connector on the card, the voltages are correct. If the slot has no notches, it is Universal and will take all three types of keyed cards.

Do not remove the AGP Pro Safety Tab when placing an AGP card into an AGP Pro slot. Doing so will force your AGP card to run with the power of an AGP Pro card, which it was never designed to do. This can cause permanent damage to both the video card and the motherboard. Remember, if you release the magic smoke, the computer will no longer function.

The bottom line is: if it doesn’t fit, don’t force it. Carefully examine the expansion slot found on the motherboard with the connector on the video card. If they match, you shouldn’t see smoke when you fire up the system for the first time!