AGP card won't install . . . help!

[Kurth]

After removing my old Radeon 9800 Pro, I spent about 45 minutes last night trying wrestle my new X850 XT into its new home in the AGP slot on my intel motherboard. No luck. I can't get the damn thing to seat. I've looked it over every which way, and I can't see anything that's physically blocking the card from seating. There's plenty of room next to it (it takes up an extra PCI slot), and nothing seems to be holding it up from underneath. Yet, when I try to seat it, the back end seats firmly, but the front of the card won't seat, leaving the card at a distinct angle.

Anyone else have similar problems with this card or the install of any AGP card? Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

[brightblack]

Kurth, just to clarify a couple of bits: by 'front' you mean the end with the output connectors on right? Have you checked the metal blanking plate isn't hitting the case or the motherboard? Or that there isn't a capacitor near the AGP slot which it may be hitting?

[Kurth]

Kurth, just to clarify a couple of bits: by 'front' you mean the end with the output connectors on right? Have you checked the metal blanking plate isn't hitting the case or the motherboard? Or that there isn't a capacitor near the AGP slot which it may be hitting?


Good questions. Yes, my ambiguous reference to "front" meant the end with the output connectors. And no, to both the other questions. I actually pulled the motherboard tray out of the case to get a better look, and there are no capacitors in the way. Moreover, by looking underneath the mobo tray, I can see that the two metal tabs on the end of the metal output portion of the board appear to be lined up with the wholes in the tray.

I'm stumped! :mad:

[brightblack]

When you compare the PCB's connectors of old and new card, they look the same right? Sorry for even suggesting that. :)

The only realistic thing I can suggest more is that when I had troubles on my old 9800Pro, it was sometimes because of the heel clasp on the 'back' of the AGP slot on the mobo (like a small hinged bit of plastic), which the small 'L' next to the copper connects on the card slides into - sometimes it would take some wangling to seat it properly.

[Kurth]

Update - Problem solved!

Completely removed the motherboard tray from the case and got the card installed. It was the metal tabs on the bottom of the output connectors that were causing the problem. They were lined up right but were still catching on the edge of the motherboard tray. By getting in behind them with a screwdriver and gently pushing them away from the tray edge while pushing down on the card, it seated in the AGP slot with no problem.

BTW - Replacing my 9800 PRO with this X850 XT gave me a jump from my 3dMark05 score from 2190 to 4460. Not bad, but I hope to increase it by a significant margin when I finish the upgrade and go from a P4 2.4 (533 FSB) with a gig of DDR333 to an AMD 3200+ (Venice) with a gig of DDR 400 (dual channel kit).

[phranq]

congrats on new card...have fun.

[brightblack]

Glad you got it working; hope I was vaguely useful. Also, nice to hear about those nice benchmarking scores. I rebuilt my rig last month, and was very happy when my 3DMark05 score pretty much doubled....

To squeeze that extra performance, there's overclocking of course, and the driver tweaks (Omegadrivers used to be nice for ATI as I remember), but does anyone have an opinion on 'optimised' BIOS settings?