Radeon x800 Pro

[Maldian]

I know this is a very well developed video card, but I was wondering if anyone could tell me if there is an updated bios for this card? Also, what card is far better in the AGP series? I dont have PCI-Express.

 

[Maldian]

Guess nobody has any answer to this question....

 

[Munky]

Normally there's no need to update the bios in a video card, unless either
a) there's a defect that a bios update would fix (as was the case with certain evga cards lately), or
b) you want to mod the card by enabling pipes that are disabled (like modding a x800gto into a x800xt)

Some AGP cards are better, such as the x800xt, x850xt(pe), 7800gs. But the price of those is too high for the modest improvement they offer over a x800 pro.

 

[Maldian]

Are there any instructions on how to open the pipes on the x800? I also have a problem where the fan will cut on in middle of a game and then it will lag the game for about 2 sec. It will happen over and over again.

 

[dguy6789]

There are ways to unlock the Radeon X800 Pro into a 16 pipeline configuration. However, I believe your card has to be of the VIVO model for that to work.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=unlocking+x800+pro

Your problem about the fan cutting out and the game lagging is quite an odd situation. A fan slowing down will not directly cause a game to run worse. It may be possible that the video card is thermally throttling, however I have never heard of thermal throttling taking place on anything other than a CPU.

I suggest you get all possible Windows Updates, all of the latest drivers, and make sure your pc has no viruses or any other form of malware.

I do not suggest upgrading from an X800 Pro to even an X850XTPE(The fastest AGP card). This is because for the price you spend, you would get at best, 25-35% better performance. That would not be worth it in my opinion. I suggest you wait until you can afford a PCI Express based platform before you upgrade to a new video card.

Are you using an AMD or Intel based machine? If you are using an AMD based machine, I suggest this mainboard as an upgrade:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081

This mainboard is socket 939. It supports both AGP and PCIe based video cards. This way, you could upgrade to that mainboard and still keep your X800 Pro if you do not have the funds to upgrade to a PCIe video card at the same time. The board supports all socket 939 processors, including dual core. The board also has an add on slot for the upcomming AM2 socket based processors, so you have some impressive product life on that platform.

 

[Maldian]

It's an intel machine....not custom built... it is a HP a250n with the x800 Pro AGP in it. I am running 1gig ram. Looking for another gigs worth though.

 

[dguy6789]

That is some good information. It appears that you have a Pentium 4 2.6C. How is your configuration of 1GB of memory? Is it 2x512MB, or 4x256MB? Is the memory speed PC3200?

I suggest that for your machine, an upgrade to 2GB will smooth out performance more than a new video card would. There are not many games that an X800 Pro will have problems with, however there are plenty of games that will give you trouble if you have only 1GB of memory.

 

[Maldian]

I have 2x512MB. I am planning on getting 2x1gb soon. Hopefully it will help. Thx for all the suggestions!

 

[dguy6789]

Yes, upgrading to 2GB of memory would improve performance by an impressive amount. Just make sure that you put the new memory in the right slots so that it is in dual channel mode.