Tyan Tiger 230 (S2507D) GeForce FX 5500 incompatibility?

[illusiondweller]

CPU: 2x 1Ghz Intel Pentium III
RAM: 1Gig PC133
MB: Tyan Tiger 230 (S2507D)
Heatsinks & Fans: Generic Intel
OS: Windows XP SP1
PSU: SH-300ATX
Graphics: Matrox G450 (old, working), GeForce FX 5500 (not working)
Soundcard: SB Live! 5.1
Case: I'm not sure.

Hi, I just set up my old Tyan Tiger 230 with dual Pentium III 1ghz processors, with a GeForce FX 5500 128mb video card. My question is whether there is a compatibility issue with the video card and the motherboard. Before using the GeForce card, I had a Matrox G450 AGP video card and it booted up fine, its just that that card is a little slow. So I swapped it out with the GeForce to see if i could get better performance. The problem is when I boot up the computer with the new card (FX 5500), I get no response from the monitor, and I get one long beep followed by two short beeps. Whereas with the Matrox, I get one short beep and then it goes through POST etc. fine.
To the best of my knowledge, it seems that someone with the exact same motherboard and processors, successfully used a GeForce FX 5600 with their machine. So, I'm not sure what the problem could be on mine.. If anyone has any insight to this situation, it would be greatly appreciated if you could help me solve this problem.

-Thanks

[Mr T]

Welcome to the Motherboards.org..

Sounds like the card is incompatible with your motherboard (Usually down to RAM - you are running PC133 SDRAM, most video cards run DDR, this can cause issues)...

[Karlsweldt]

Depending on the age of your mobo, it may only support a 2x AGP status. Any video card that is 2x/4x should work, but a card that is 4x/8x would not work. If you need any BIOS updates, find them here.

[evasive]

2x/4x AGP supported
http://www.tyan.com/products/html/tiger230.html

DDR cards are supported:
http://www.tyan.com/support/html/video_s2507d.html

Can that FX5600 be set for 4x AGP only?

[profofpcs]

could be a voltage problem. possibly the fx5500 is 1.5v and the board will only handle 3.3v 4x agp cards?

[illusiondweller]

Thanks for the feedback. I think profofpcs is right. It seems that old motherboards used to handle 3.3v AGP cards. I thought that might have been the problem. Any recommendations on a decent video card that supports 3D rendering and is compatible with my motherboard, and has more than my current 32mb DDR Matrox G450? I'm looking to use this computer to atleast be able to play WoW.
And again, thanks for the feedback.

[evasive]

Trouble is the tested list doesn't go beyond 32MB cards. We'll have to hunt down fellow users that have tried and found out...

[illusiondweller]

Ok, well I'll be around the forums and researching some more. If you want to contact me you can email me at illusiondweller@gmail.com .
Thanks for the great support.

EDIT: Umm...sorry that I bothered you with this problem. I failed to realize that the GeForce FX 5500 supports only AGP 8x...
Silly mistake.

[evasive]

we all started somewhere and without mistakes we would not have learned as much. Don't feel bad. You solved the problem.

[Karlsweldt]

There is still NOS (New Old Stock) of both ATI and nVidia AGP cards in the 4x/8x version that have up to 128 Mb of their own memory. Checking various stores such as NewEgg or Ebay may yield results. A 5200 series may not be suitable, but may also be your easy ticket to joy with updated drivers. Going with an older PCI card would not provide desired results, as the bus speed is limited to 33 Mhz. The AGP bus speed is double that. The differences in the 2x/4x/8x ratings is due to how many data ticks are in each clock cycle. While the AGP slot may accept the card, the mobo chipset features would not properly accomodate it.
While that "Tiger" is a great board, you are limited by its 1 Ghz speed maximum. If your case is a standard ATX, consider one of the Socket 478 mobos from NewEgg or other sources. You could achieve up to 3 Ghz speed, and true 8x AGP use. A recertified mobo is usually just as good as a "new" one. But you would have to include memory in your upgrade. You may come out under 200 bucks for a more modern system.