AGP card for 200 watt power supply

Soxfan35 · 12-07-09, 12:57 AM

Yeah, I have an older computer that has an open AGP slot. I just put Puppy Linux version 4.2.1 on it. Videos seem to run slow on sites like youtube and other video sites. The machine is an old Compaq Deskpro EN, 733mhz, Pentium 3, 512 meg of ram. I was wondering if adding an AGP card would make videos run smooth and in realtime? Only issue is that this old machine only has a 200 watt power supply. I can't seem to find an AGP card that meets this requirement. Are there any NVIDIA cards that will run on a 200 watt power supply? Thanks.

**Thunderbird** · 12-07-09, 05:42 AM

There is work going on to add more hardware acceleration to Flash in which a gpu could help but in general you just need a decent CPU to do the work. I would recommend to upgrade the system. Even with a low budget you can get a decent system.

Soxfan35 · 12-12-09, 09:32 AM

Yeah well that is an older computer that I put Linux on to screw around on. I did it so I could check out Linux and learn about it. Was just curious how to get videos to move faster. I understand it has to do with a slower processor. I have other faster computers with Windows XP on it.

artem · 12-12-09, 10:01 AM

Watch videos on your XP computers. P3 is really too old to handle flash videos, and it's probably only capable of playing low-res MPEG4 ASP videos.

Forget about H.264 AVC videos.

robhancock · 12-15-09, 09:37 PM

Most AGP cards should be fine power-wise, at least if they don't use an auxiliary power connector, as IIRC the AGP slot can only provide 6 amps at 3.3V (about 20 watts).

However, it's unclear if it will do much to help with Flash video performance. Flash doesn't use GPU acceleration very well, especially under Linux, it's pretty CPU dependent.

cehoyos · 12-16-09, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by artem

Watch videos on your XP computers. P3 is really too old to handle flash videos, and it's probably only capable of playing low-res MPEG4 ASP videos.

Forget about H.264 AVC videos.

My Pentium III 500MHz plays H264 1080i fine using a Geforce 9400 PCI (of course not with Adobe's player).
If you also want to play VC1 (or MPEG1/2) in HD, I recommend a Geforce 8400 PCI, though.

Carl Eugen

artem · 12-16-09, 11:59 AM

Carl, this man was looking for an AGP card. There are no NVIDIA AGP cards that support vdpau.

cehoyos · 12-17-09, 06:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by artem

Carl, this man was looking for an AGP card.

You mean for his "AGP-only, no-PCI" mainboard?
But seriously, I would also recommend a new low-budget system, but if that is not an option, a Geforce 8400 PCI is around 40€ in Europe and below 50$ in the US. As said, that would not help with Adobe's player, but players supporting VDPAU can play HD on that configuration.

Carl Eugen

mdoerner · 12-18-09, 06:12 PM

I'd upgrade that box by dropping it from the tallest building.

PS BTW, I have this old Timex-Sinclair computer from the 1980's that I want to run streaming videos from. Please tell me which super-awesome Nvidia card I can use for this, or I'll spend my money on ATI.

Mike D

12-07-09, 12:57 AM	#1
Soxfan35 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 2	AGP card for 200 watt power supply Yeah, I have an older computer that has an open AGP slot. I just put Puppy Linux version 4.2.1 on it. Videos seem to run slow on sites like youtube and other video sites. The machine is an old Compaq Deskpro EN, 733mhz, Pentium 3, 512 meg of ram. I was wondering if adding an AGP card would make videos run smooth and in realtime? Only issue is that this old machine only has a 200 watt power supply. I can't seem to find an AGP card that meets this requirement. Are there any NVIDIA cards that will run on a 200 watt power supply? Thanks.

12-07-09, 05:42 AM	#2
Thunderbird Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Netherlands, Europe Posts: 2,105	Re: AGP card for 200 watt power supply There is work going on to add more hardware acceleration to Flash in which a gpu could help but in general you just need a decent CPU to do the work. I would recommend to upgrade the system. Even with a low budget you can get a decent system.

12-12-09, 09:32 AM	#3
Soxfan35 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 2	Re: AGP card for 200 watt power supply Yeah well that is an older computer that I put Linux on to screw around on. I did it so I could check out Linux and learn about it. Was just curious how to get videos to move faster. I understand it has to do with a slower processor. I have other faster computers with Windows XP on it.

12-12-09, 10:01 AM	#4
artem Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 678	Re: AGP card for 200 watt power supply Watch videos on your XP computers. P3 is really too old to handle flash videos, and it's probably only capable of playing low-res MPEG4 ASP videos. Forget about H.264 AVC videos.

12-15-09, 09:37 PM	#5
robhancock Registered User Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 31	Re: AGP card for 200 watt power supply Most AGP cards should be fine power-wise, at least if they don't use an auxiliary power connector, as IIRC the AGP slot can only provide 6 amps at 3.3V (about 20 watts). However, it's unclear if it will do much to help with Flash video performance. Flash doesn't use GPU acceleration very well, especially under Linux, it's pretty CPU dependent.

12-16-09, 11:59 AM	#7
artem Registered User Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 678	Re: AGP card for 200 watt power supply Carl, this man was looking for an AGP card. There are no NVIDIA AGP cards that support vdpau.

12-18-09, 06:12 PM	#9
mdoerner Registered User Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 62	Re: AGP card for 200 watt power supply I'd upgrade that box by dropping it from the tallest building. PS BTW, I have this old Timex-Sinclair computer from the 1980's that I want to run streaming videos from. Please tell me which super-awesome Nvidia card I can use for this, or I'll spend my money on ATI. Mike D