Will ancient PCI VGA work with new A64 mobo

[Arjun]

Im going to build the below system in the next few days. However i won't be able to get the video card for another 3-4 weeks. The only thing i have lying around is a 6 year old savage 4 PCI video card with 16mb onboard memory. Will i be able to just pop it into a PCI slot and will it work as a stand in for now. Obviously no gaming or anything, i just need to be able to install windows, all the drivers, transfer my data and surf the net for 3 weeks before i get my geforce 6. So will it work or will there be some compatibility problems?

Oh and 1 more question. To install the SATA HD i have to press F6 after the boot from windows XP cd begins and prompts for SCSI devices right? And then insert the floppy disk with drivers when prompted? Is that correct. Isn't there a way to install it directly from the mobo CD or do i have to go throught this slightly annoying process of copying it first to a floppy drive.

[Wraith556]

Re: Will ancient PCI VGA work with new A64 mobo

Probably and I don't see any reason why not. There's a good chance that Windows 2000 and XP will have a driver for it. The way to find out is to build the system to the point where it will POST. Plug the card into a PCI slot and connect the monitor. If you get 1 beep on startup, then the system will work with that card. After that, it is a driver issue with the OS.

[Darthtanion]

Re: Will ancient PCI VGA work with new A64 mobo

As stated above, it should work all right, but I doubt that WinXP will have drivers for that old of a video board. I'd look around before you build and make sure you can find some sort of driver for the board beforehand. Sometimes the older Win2k drivers will work in a pinch, but sometimes it causes instability. This is, of course, only if you fail to find proper WinXP drivers online.

As to the SATA question, yes you'll need to hit F6 and load up the drivers. I haven't used that particular mainboard, but I have noticed that sometimes you need to load up 2 sets of drivers from the floppy drive. I believe it was nVidia based mainboards that required this, but the manual for the board should have the information you need to do the job right. From there you just load Windows like normal and go for the gusto.

Let us know about the driver issue, I'm curious about it now.

[Arjun]

Re: Will ancient PCI VGA work with new A64 mobo

Thanks, i shall tell u how it goes

[Arjun]

Re: Will ancient PCI VGA work with new A64 mobo

Am i the only one that thinks its really stupid that the latest in HD technology requires you to load up drivers from a floppy drive? Most new systems don't even have a floppy drive.

[Wraith556]

Re: Will ancient PCI VGA work with new A64 mobo

Arjun, I've wondered the logic of this as well. And don't forget that the required floppy disk is often not included and has to be dug up from some forgotten directory on the mainboard driver CD. You need a second fully operational computer to help set up a PC these days. I suppose it is because the OS install CDs use a bare-bones OS that only references the simplest of devices: CD-ROM, PATA HDs, floppy diskette.

This is why I set up a boot drive on standard ATA (Parrallel ATA) and then add SATA, RAID, etc after the OS has been installed. It saves many headaches.

How did that PCI card work?

[Arjun]

Re: Will ancient PCI VGA work with new A64 mobo

Yeah my sentiments exactly. My mobo didn't bundle the floppy disk either. I always thought it would be better if they had a system where during boot from the OS cd, it would temporarily ask u to eject the OS cd and insert the mobo cd, then copy the SATA drivers and then put the OS cd back and continue as usual. Anyway do u know what the situation is with SATA 2, same process?

I haven't built the new system yet. Im having exams and don't want to distract myself, probably do it on monday.

[Wraith556]

Re: Will ancient PCI VGA work with new A64 mobo

I would like the system you've advocated, but M$ would have to re-write their installers, and the MoBo makers would all have to agree on a standard with their driver CDs to support the new installer.

I would assume that SATA 2 will have the same process and issues.

Other friends have said that they are doing as I've suggested. It is much easier in the long-run. Have a boot HD on P-ATA, and then add RAID, SATA, etc to the system afterwards.

Good luck (and lots of study) for the exams!

[maximus7001]

Re: Will ancient PCI VGA work with new A64 mobo

They don't include the floppy because of the high failure rate of floppies lately. The idea is that it will be fresh.

[Arjun]

Re: Will ancient PCI VGA work with new A64 mobo

All done. XP had a driver for the VGA and it autoinstalled- no issues. I only had a small problem getting the SATA HD to boot. I wasn't able to set the boot sequence until i disable raid in the bios.