I went out and bought an ATI Radeon X1300 256Mb card for my computer. I don't have PCI-Express in my computer, so I got the 4x/8x AGP card. However, when I install it, I get NOTHING. I followed all the directions, but can't get any video output with the card.

Here's my stupid question: what the heck does 8x/4x mean with this card? I don't really know anything about video cards or the expansion slots. My computer is almost 3 years old, so I didn't know if it was possible that my motherboard couldn't run an 8x/4x card. At this point I'm probably going to give up and just bring the card back to CompUsa.

Here's the second question: any recommendations as to what video card I COULD get that would work in my computer? I do NOT want a high-end card - 256 Mb is PLENTY for the applications that I have, and I want one with two outputs in case I upgrade to a dual-monitor display. And $100 is the most I'm willing to pay.

3/26/2006 5:36:08 PM

There might be a secondary power connecter for the video card. IS that connected?

I seriously doubt that your compy would be able to run that card. You may have an agp 2x slot.
Model# for the computer itself? or motherboard model?

With that info, we can tell you.

3/26/2006 6:04:46 PM

While there was a connection on the card for a secondary power connector, the (generic) directions with the video card said that if the particular card I had bought needed a secondary power connection, the connector would have been included with the card. There wasn't a connector in the box, and the contents of the box said nothing about one.

Alright, so I might just have an AGP 2x slot. I didn't know how those connections worked. It's a ThinkCentre A50p 8195-D8U. Here's the link to the user guide off the tech support page: ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/pc/pccbbs/thinkcentre_pdf/13r9196.pdf
(pg. 73 to 99 are for my model)

[Edited on March 26, 2006 at 6:43 PM. Reason : ]

3/26/2006 6:39:38 PM

Notice the white plugs in the upper right of these pictures of similar cards. They're both different, but they're both power plugs. They need to be connected to the power supply. You either need to use an included adaptor for a card like the first, or it uses a standard 4 pin plug like the second and you'll just use one of the free ones from your existing power supply.

3/26/2006 6:56:01 PM

^^Yep that's your problem Tom.

It makes me want to hug you that you took the time to actually look through the users manual. Good job dude, you bring hope to tech talk.

You have a few choices. If you want to use this card or something better, you need to go ahead and upgrade your PC.

Otherwise you can scout around ebay for an agp2x card. you can probably find a decent 2x Geforce2 card for 20-30 bucks.

3/26/2006 7:33:34 PM

Alright, I'm getting mixed messages here.

Darkone, the card that I have right now is almost identical to the second card you posted. Are you saying that even though I didn't receive any kind of a power connector with my card, I still need to connect it to the power supply? Again, the directions had said that if my card came with a power cord attachment, I should connect it; if my particular model didn't come with an attachment, then I didn't need to connect it to the power supply.

Noen, I can't actually confirm if I have a 2x AGP slot or not. I'm guessing that might be the case, but I really don't know. Is there any way for me to confirm what kind of an AGP slot I have? Shoot, I hadn't even HEARD of AGP until I started looking to make this upgrade. Hardware is NOT my thing; that's why I'm not an engineer.

Actually, here are the two things I really want this video card for: I want the option to have 2 outputs for a dual monitor setup .... and I want to play this new game called "The Movies." Here's the list from the website of the video cards I can go with (yeah, I wish I had realized this earlier):

- 3D Hardware Accelerator Card required - 100% DirectX(R) 9.0c compatible 32MB Hardware T&L-capable video card and latest drivers*

Supported Graphics Cards:
ATI(TM) Radeon(R) series (7000 or better).
7000, 7200, 7500
8500
9000, 9200, 9250, 9550, 9600, 9700, 9800
x300, x600, x700, x800, x850

NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) series (GeForce 3 or better).
GeForce 3, 3 Ti
GeForce 4, MX, Ti
GeForce FX 5200, 5600, 5700, 5800, 5900, PCX 5300, 5750, 5950
GeForce 6200, 6600, 6800

Looking on Newegg, it's not possible for me to get an ATI card that qualifies for <$100. I can't find a good way to narrow down my options with the NVIDIA cards. If I can't get a card that can play this game (and a little bit more for down the road) that has 2 outputs for under $100, I'll just return the game. Having a second monitor would be fun, playing this game would be fun, but I simply don't have the money to do any major upgrades to my computer at this point.

3/26/2006 8:45:53 PM

on he upper right corner of both pictured ards are where the power would get connected. the second card has a standard connection so it doesn't need any special attachment. there are tons of plugs that come out of your power supply to power CD/DVD drives and hard drives, the same type of connector powers the second card.

3/26/2006 8:51:33 PM

That particular model has an 8x AGP slot, not a 2x slot.

http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-IBM_ThinkCentre_A50p_8195_8195D8U

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-51147

You just need to power the card. It needs to be connected to the same power connectors that go to your cd rom and harddrives. It's also possible the 220 watt powersupply is not enough though. If your internal power cables can't reach or there's not enough, you can get power cable adapters from intrex, or comp usa or wherever.


[Edited on March 27, 2006 at 1:35 AM. Reason : ]

3/27/2006 1:29:20 AM

Ah, yea plug in the power then.

Or take it back and buy the Geforce4 card homeboy is selling here for 20 bucks, it'll run the game fine.

http://www.thewolfweb.com/message_topic.aspx?topic=396965

3/27/2006 3:23:44 AM

YOU MAY CONSIDER PURCHASING AN EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE ENCLOSURE

THEY ARE HELPFUL FOR CACHING DATA THAT OVERFLOWS FROM THE CASE DURING MEMORY-INTENSIVE OPERATIONS

3/27/2006 4:32:29 PM

Alright, I finally managed to get a extra power cable to connect the power connector to my video card ... and it works! Hooray! I've only had this up and running for 2-3 hours with the video card in, but there are 2 things that seem a bit off.

First, I'd swear that the screen almost seems a bit blurry. Everything isn't quite as sharp as it normally is. I have a Dell 1905FP, and though I haven't hooked it up in DVI mode yet, I wouldn't have expected any decrease in screen quality. I turned ClearType on again, so it's not that.

Second, every now and then my screen will flicker, or have a vertical line going down the screen. Again, those are things I never had when running my integrated graphics.

Are there any particular settings that I should change that could eliminate one or both of these errors? Thanks again for all of your help!

3/29/2006 9:43:36 AM

yea, make sure the resolution is set to your screen's native resolution (1280*1024) and 60hz refresh rate.

3/29/2006 10:35:09 AM

^ I still have both of those settings on default (1280x1024, 60 Hz), so it's not that.

3/29/2006 11:20:27 AM

It's not a double post if there are a day apart, right?

My monitor isn't fuzzy anymore - I finally got my DVI cable and switched it out with the VGA cable. Since I had been running VGA with this monitor for a year, I think I just had a loose connection. It's very clear now.

3/30/2006 9:16:12 AM