HP Visualize workstation AGP Pro video card slot?

[whoaru99]

I picked up (cheap) a HP Visualize workstation from my place of employment. This computer has dual (Slot 1) 1GHz PIII processors and 1GB of memory so it's a bit dated, but works OK in general.

It has a HUGE AGP graphics card in it, but it's an AGP Pro slot/card, and it does not seem to be very good for much besides CAD stuff and normal display. I've tried a few games and it's not very good for that.

I'm thinking about rebuilding my main computer (which, actually, is less powerful than the HP Visualize) to a socket 775 setup - this will entail going to a PCIe graphics card. The "problem" is that in my main computer is an aging, but still useful, Radeon 9700 Pro AGP graphics board which I don't really want to just give away or not use.

So, my question is whether or not I can use the Radeon 9700 graphics card, that is of the "normal" AGP variety, in the Visualize workstation that has an AGP Pro slot without frying either one (or both)?

The Radeon card physically fits, but I didn't dare turn on the power...

[PewterTA]

You won't do anything if you plug it in and it can't support it. IT shouldn't ruin anything. I believe those AGP Pro slot was supposed to be a better AGP port (double the bandwidth or something). You will be fine with a regular AGP card it in.

As long as it fits, fire it up, it won't kill your card, but it may not display anything if it can't use it. If not...find someone that needs an AGP card and swap them for a PCI one.

:Edit:

Here's a couple people talking about it, should work fine!

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=874192

[whoaru99]

Well, just in case something was going to happen, I put in an old Hercules Prophet II AGP card. Nothing fried - at least not yet - but it's only running 2x whereas the card is 4x capable.

The workstation tech guide says the mobo is AGP 2.0 compliant (which I think means up to 4x) but only 1X and 2x are available in the BIOS. This seems to be confirmed by the NVidia software that says the card is running only 2x.

The workstation is running the most current version of BIOS I can find.

Hmmm.....

[Hdale85]

That board may only support 2x. I used to have an older p3 board that had an AGP Pro slot and i used a radeon 9600 pro in it and it ran at 2x because thats what the board supported. Didn't really notice a huge drop in performance though?

[whoaru99]

Yeah, that's what I was/am afraid of.

I sent a message to HP for clarification on the tech manual stating AGP 2.0 compliance, but since it's a non-current product I'm not really expecting a well-researched response.

[PewterTA]

Just with it being HP, don't expect a response, they are horrible at responding to just about anything...

I have to deal with them for a few older warranty parts on the older PCs we have at work...I cringe every time I see one of them. I know it's at least an hour on the phone with them to even get a live body to talk to...