AGP vs. AGP Pro Slots

This brief article is to inform our customers about the differences between an AGP and AGP Pro slot and explains the two different types of AGP Pro cards that are currently out. It will also provide valuable information for customers who do have an AGP Pro slot on how to properly install their standard AGP or AGP Pro card onto an AGP Pro slot. All of EVGA's existing AGP video cards are not AGP Pro cards but will be fully compatible with AGP Pro slots.

AGP Pro's primary design is to provide extra electrical energy for the newer generations of graphic accelerator cards that will meet the demands of high-end workstations that require powerful graphics. With more electrical power to the video card, chipmakers are able to design larger capacity chips and memory that will offer faster clock speeds than its AGP predecessor. The AGP Pro is currently renowned in the high-end market, but its technology will eventually hit the mainstream market and become more familiar on all motherboards down the road.

The design of the AGP Pro carries the same AGP slot with two extensions, one on each opposite end. These two extensions allow the graphics card to draw more than four times the electrical power of the standard AGP 4X standard of 25watts up to 50 or 110 watts.

Since AGP Pro is an extension of the AGP slot, the AGP Pro slot is fully backwards compatible with AGP 1.0 and 2.0 compliant cards. A standard AGP card will fit right into its original AGP slot. From the box, an AGP Pro slot will have a sticker or tab which blocks the extension closest to the I/O bracket placement (slots behind the computer case where the cables and wires connect to the AGP and PCI cards) so that system builders will not mistakenly insert the standard AGP card onto this extension. Misuse of the extensions with the standard AGP cards will cause damage to the motherboard or the video card itself, due to incorrect wattage usage. The AGP Pro slot uses 5 volts and a regular AGP slot draws only 1.5 or 3.3 volts, misalignment will cause a regular AGP card to draw 5 volts and fry the video card. It's imperative that a standard AGP card is aligned properly into the AGP slot and the sticker or tab not be removed.

With the use of a standard AGP card in an AGP Pro slot, be aware that the registry key on the AGP card will need to be seated in one of the extension (farthest extension away from the I/O bracket placement) for the video card to be registered correctly. The registry key on a standard AGP card does not draw power and will not cause incorrect power usage to the video card because it's seated in it. For builders that do have an AGP Pro video card, removal of these tabs or stickers is necessary prior to insertion of the video card. Insertions of the AGP Pro card will then fill the AGP slot as well as the extensions. The representation below shows how a standard AGP card is properly aligned with the AGP Pro slot before insertion.

High Power AGP Pro110 and Low Power AGP Pro50

AGP Pro comes in two different variations and each will carry a different range of wattage usage. For an AGP Pro card that will consume around 50 to 110 watts is known as a High Power AGP Pro110. Because a lot of electrical energy will be consumed, the video card will need sufficient space for proper cooling, therefore it is required that the two PCI slots next to the AGP slot be unused and vacant so that it won't conduct more heat with other PCI devices nearby. A special three slot wide I/O bracket, which prevents the use of the two PCI slots, will be provided and must be imparted for proper installation. On a Low AGP Pro50 about 25 to 50 watts is consumed and will draw less heat than the AGP Pro110. In this case, only the bordering PCI slot will need to be vacant and a two slot wide I/O bracket will be used.

(NOTE: AGP Pro cards will not work in regular AGP slots and will cause damage to the motherboard or the video card itself)