Rogues gallery for AGP cards.

[Ian Field]

I'm trying to identify an AGP card that is fully enclosed in an aluminium
shell (with twin fans), there are no external markings whatsoever - there's
nothing that amounts to a model number with the shell removed, but it has a
large Nvidia FX chip under the main heatsink. As well as the regular VGA
connector it has a TV out connector and DVI.

Is there a sort of "rogues gallery" that I might pick it out from - a bit
like an identity parade?

Thanks for any help.

 

Ian Field <gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:

I'm trying to identify an AGP card that is fully enclosed in an
aluminium shell (with twin fans), there are no external markings
whatsoever - there's nothing that amounts to a model number with the
shell removed, but it has a large Nvidia FX chip under the main
heatsink.

If it works, or if you think it works, install it in a motherboard with
an AGP port, boot Linux, and run "lspci"; I am pretty sure that lspci
knows about AGP cards as well. If the motherboard has onboard video,
you can use that as the main display to avoid any driver issues with the
unknown card.

Some sample lspci output is available at
http://wiki.debian.org/HowToIdentifyADevice/PCI . Video cards tend to
be labeled as "VGA compatible controller", no matter how advanced they
are. If there is onboard video as well as the AGP card, you will see
both video devices in the list.

You can run Linux from a bootable live CD - you don't have to install
it on the hard drive. I have used SystemRescueCD before and it should
work well in this application. There is also Knoppix (for a full GUI
environment) and many others.

Is there a sort of "rogues gallery" that I might pick it out from - a
bit like an identity parade?

If you can post a picture somewhere and then ask in one of the
comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.* groups, someone may be able to identify it.
I would bet that there are probably "how to build a PC" websites that
have forums that could also help; I just don't know which one, if any,
to recommend.

Matt Roberds

 

[Ian Field]

<mroberds@att.net> wrote in message news:kjdave$3vi$1@dont-email.me...

Ian Field <gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:
I'm trying to identify an AGP card that is fully enclosed in an
aluminium shell (with twin fans), there are no external markings
whatsoever - there's nothing that amounts to a model number with the
shell removed, but it has a large Nvidia FX chip under the main
heatsink.

If it works, or if you think it works, install it in a motherboard with
an AGP port, boot Linux, and run "lspci"; I am pretty sure that lspci
knows about AGP cards as well. If the motherboard has onboard video,
you can use that as the main display to avoid any driver issues with the
unknown card.

Some sample lspci output is available at
http://wiki.debian.org/HowToIdentifyADevice/PCI . Video cards tend to
be labeled as "VGA compatible controller", no matter how advanced they
are. If there is onboard video as well as the AGP card, you will see
both video devices in the list.

You can run Linux from a bootable live CD - you don't have to install
it on the hard drive. I have used SystemRescueCD before and it should
work well in this application. There is also Knoppix (for a full GUI
environment) and many others.

Is there a sort of "rogues gallery" that I might pick it out from - a
bit like an identity parade?

If you can post a picture somewhere and then ask in one of the
comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.* groups, someone may be able to identify it.

Someone did.

 

[Jon Elson]

mroberds@att.net wrote:

Ian Field <gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:
I'm trying to identify an AGP card that is fully enclosed in an
aluminium shell (with twin fans), there are no external markings
whatsoever - there's nothing that amounts to a model number with the
shell removed, but it has a large Nvidia FX chip under the main
heatsink.

If it works, or if you think it works, install it in a motherboard with
an AGP port, boot Linux, and run "lspci"; I am pretty sure that lspci
knows about AGP cards as well. If the motherboard has onboard video,
you can use that as the main display to avoid any driver issues with the
unknown card.
If it works, and you have a compatible video monitor, very likely it

will identify the make and at least family of the card when the on-board
BIOS extension runs. Won't even need an OS for that. it may also give
a quick flash of a cryptic line that identifies memory capacity and
firmware rev #.

Jon

 

[Ian Field]

"Jon Elson" <jmelson@wustl.edu> wrote in message
news:IYOdnY5p5YZ2_MbMnZ2dnUVZ_oqdnZ2d@giganews.com...

mroberds@att.net wrote:

Ian Field <gangprobing.alien@ntlworld.com> wrote:
I'm trying to identify an AGP card that is fully enclosed in an
aluminium shell (with twin fans), there are no external markings
whatsoever - there's nothing that amounts to a model number with the
shell removed, but it has a large Nvidia FX chip under the main
heatsink.

If it works, or if you think it works, install it in a motherboard with
an AGP port, boot Linux, and run "lspci"; I am pretty sure that lspci
knows about AGP cards as well. If the motherboard has onboard video,
you can use that as the main display to avoid any driver issues with the
unknown card.
If it works, and you have a compatible video monitor, very likely it
will identify the make and at least family of the card when the on-board
BIOS extension runs. Won't even need an OS for that. it may also give
a quick flash of a cryptic line that identifies memory capacity and
firmware rev #.

Someone on another group posted a link with a picture of it & the drivers.