Voodoo 5 5500 Doesn't work in newer AGP Slots?

[Camman]

I have a Soyo Dragon Ultra KT400 motherboard which I currently am using an ATi Radeon 9700 Pro with. The card is going bad and I need to get a new video card, however, in the interim before I have some cash to buy a decent card I have no other video card to use but my old Voodoo 5 5500 AGP. For some reason though when I install it and hook up the power, the PC starts up and just beeps with no display.

I noticed the card has a sticker that says AGP 1.06. There is a little slip of plastic in the end of my AGP slot that has a sticker over it that says Warning: This area for AGP Pro cards only. and has a voltage rating. Is my Voodoo5 card an AGP pro, will it work if I remove this slip of plastic and insert the card further down? I don't know the difference between the cards or the newer vs. older AGP.

I'd like to be able to use this card for a bit so I can atleast have access to my PC while I'm waiting to get a new card and maybe play some older games on my voodoo5. It seems as if it should work, right? They didn't just all of a sudden make newer AGP slots that weren't backwards compatible did they?

I googled and found this page http://www.ertyu.org/~steven_nikkel/agpcompatibility.html but I guess i still dont understand whats the deal, i dont want to destroy my mobo and/or the card

[madmat]

The 5500 is an AGP 2x card and while it fits in the big AGP PRO riser (with the tab right where it is) it won't work with the chipset you have as it only works with AGP 4x/8x cards.

The part with the tab is for pro level AGP cards such as the Wildcat and others that are on the tip of my tongue but the names elude me. That part is where the P4 plug is next to and when using a PRO card you have to plug the P4 plug in there, it's a added power supply for the pro level cards but that's all.

I wish I had better news but you can always get a GeForce 2 series of card on eBay and slap in there for the interem if need be, they are fully AGP 4x compatible.

[madmat]

An 8x device must be 0.8v,
a 4x device can be 1.5v or 0.8v,
a 2x or 1x device can be 3.3v or 1.5v.

AGP 3.0 or 8x as it's more commonly known signals with 0.8v as does AGP 2.0 (4X) but AGP 2.0 also signals with 1.5V to make it compatible (fully backward compatible) with AGP 2x now as to AGP 1.0 3.3v, a true 4x slot won't do 1x because it outputs 1.5v or 0.8v but not 3.3v and some of the older 1x cards only do 3.3v.

Your chipset ouputs no more than 0.8v which means it will only work with 4x/8x AGP cards because it is AGP 3.0 and 3.0 is 8x.

I hope that clears things up.

[Camman]

Thanks for clearing things up for me madmat. I thumbed through my manual and noticed it says AGP Pro slots for 4x/8x AGP Only, so after reading your above breakdown on AGP versions, it makes sense to me now why the card doesnt work. So...damn that sucks, oh well I'll have to see if any friends of mine have any old PCI or AGP 4x/8x compatible cards

[madmat]

I actually have that same manual laying around somewhere, I had that mobo in my old PC which my sister now owns. Good mobo, I liked it.

Too bad about your card though, Like I said, look for a GeForce 2 level AGP card, you should find one someplace, they're common as ticks on a dog.