[NTLUG:Discuss] new board and video card

[Kelledin]

On Sunday 08 December 2002 12:25 am, Kelledin wrote:
> On Saturday 07 December 2002 11:28 pm, Christopher Baker wrote:
> > This is more of a general hardware question than a Linux
> > one.
> >
> > I have been working on a P3 450 as my main machine and
> > decided to upgrade it to a P4. I bought an Asus P4B266-C
> > with a P4 2 GHz and 512 MB. My video card is an ATI
> > All-in-Wonder 128 and works great.
> >
> > I may have a problem. The Asus manual says only to use +1.5V
> > video cards and not to use +3.3V cards. It says that a +3.3V
> > card may damage the board.
> >
> > So, what is the voltage of this video card? I had never
> > heard of an issue like this before. I checked out ATI's web
> > site and found no information about the voltage.
> >
> > Does anyone have any suggestions?
>
> In a perfect world, I would say that if the card fits in the
> slot, it will not fry the board.  AGP cards and AGP slots are
> supposed to be keyed (via notches on the contact edge) so that
> it's physically impossible to install an AGP card in an AGP
> slot unless both card and slot will agree on a compatible
> voltage level.  Alas, this is not a perfect world, and there
> are a few AGP cards out there that aren't keyed correctly. 
> This is especially problematic, as inserting an incorrectly
> keyed AGP card in your motherboard will likely fry some
> hardware.
>
> You can find out more about the problem--and a testing
> procedure to see if it affects you--here:
>
> http://www.hardtecs4u.com/reviews/2001/agp4x_e/
>
> It's pretty technical, but if you know how to handle a
> multimeter, you should be fine.

YIKES--also read the update:

http://www.hardtecs4u.com/reviews/2001/agp4x_update_e/

The update is noted in the first page linked, but it's important 
enough to make absolutely sure nobody misses it.

-- 
Kelledin
"If a server crashes in a server farm and no one pings it, does 
it still cost four figures to fix?"