digitalFAQ.com Forum - ATI All in Wonder 9800 pro

A difficult timeline, the ATI 9800 was released at the beginning of 2004.

That marked the year everyone started using Express chipsets and stopped using AGP ports.. which the ATI 9800 requires, its an AGP card. Be (very) careful you don't find something 'newer' or 'mini' they will have either included an Express port or stripped out the graphics port from the motherboard during manufacturing.

Dell GX270 - Intel 865 chipset, AGP 3.0, Pentinum4

Compaq EVO D510 - Intel 865 chipset, AGP 8X, Pentium 4

Gateways are (hard).. they ended so long ago, and really favored AMD processors much more than Intel and very low end budget systems with Celerons.. almost none had AGP.. they were not a Gamer's platform. Desktop was simply not their strong point. Anything you find today would almost certainly have no AGP port, maybe an Express port.. but mostly integrated graphics and no real graphics slot.

Overall.. though Dell and Gateway were popular they were the Kmart Blue light special in those years.. they got you on the internet.. but you didn't enjoy it.

Compaq was still a technology king and mostly designed in the USA.. and premium products.. you can still find lots of history online from those days before HP acquired them in 2005. But they were not popular because they cost big bucks.

Today a Compaq "just works" for the most part.. if its not suffering from the years.

Whatever you do.. be sure to inspect the motherboard, get pictures or specs sheets and be sure there is an AGP port. The mini-desktops and slim form factor PC's would strip out the AGP slot.. or leave the empty solder holes on the motherboard but no slot. It was a cost savings and space cramming measure. Only the true Mini-Towers (ATX) and Towers actually had AGP slots.

These days its getting "easier/harder" to find an old Asrock with a retro-AGP slot motherboard and build one up from scraps.. and then figure out how to activate Windows XP on it. Its becoming a niche talent/pursuit. Buying a preassembled and known good 'kit' from someone that is trust worthy might be a better bet.

I'd also say we are just about beyond the point where these have "hit rock bottom" in price.. they are on their way back upwards as collectables and "useful" items once again.. for running hardware and software that is no longer supportable on newer platforms.. for exactly the kinds of things that VHS transfer restored interest in them.

Many of the people who lived thorough those years and got rid of them.. are gone.. or barely remember this hardware generation.. its not to be taken on lightly.. NT was still wildly popular in some corners and Windows 2000 was still being used by a lot of people in 2004-2005. I was there.. "At the Dawn of the Third Age of Mankind.." that sort of thing.. but if you get that reference.. your old enough.