Hi folks

My first time here, so please be gentle!

I have an Acer Aspire AX3300 SFF PC, and I'm generally quite happy with it. But as a developer, I need more screen real-estate. The PC came fitted with a GeForce G210 card, but no VGA header-cable or low-profile bracket. The bracket I could live without or make. But the cable is a bit more problematic. Anyone know where I could find one? I've exhausted all avenues I could think of, and I'm just about ready to order one from Australia, but I can't beleive this sort of thing simply isn't available in the UK.

Just to make life interesting, the VGA header connector on the card is 12-pin, not the usual 15!

Thanks in advance for all help & suggestions.

I assume you mean the one that connects from the GFX card to the PCI backplate ? As in the ribbon bit ;



Assuming its that one, i've found one on ebay, which says its for a G210 card : http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/XFX-VGA-Ribbon-Exten...=item3efbec314f

I'd imagine the 15pin will work, and the additional pins are not needed, but if your gunna order from that far away, its probably cheaper to get a new card from the UK

It looks a lot like that, yes - but that one is "VGA 15-Pin Female to 15-Pin Female Board Interface" and my board connector is 12-pin. I can't see a reference to the G210 there anywhere?

The one I'm after is at http://www.shopmania.com.au/shop~online-gr...~p-5319413.html but all the suppliers I've come across so far are in Australia.

But I do appreciate your interest and effort!

This post has been edited by kenpem: Jan 13 2010, 11:21 PM

Or from UK, the low profile kit, which comes with the ribbon cable, and might be what your after, in terms of properly mounting the card ;

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?...&tid=frooct

Yeah I had a look at that one, but it also looks like a 15-pin job. Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh! Surely this can't be so hard?

Oh and uh thanks!

Maybe it might help if you can confirm the make, manufacturer and model of the card you have, there should be a sticker on it somewhere (as apposed to "nvidia g210").

Gladly! But I went over it with a magnifying glass yesterday and couldn't find a brand name anywhere. Will try again tomorrow when I disassemble PC for picx. It looks absolutely identical to a PNY-branded one the techie at PC World pulled out for comparison, but I didn't make a note of the model number.

This post has been edited by kenpem: Jan 13 2010, 11:47 PM

Assuming it is a G210, they are nearly all identical, they are all actually made by nvidia, then people just whack a sticker on the fan. XFX, Asus, MSI, PNY, etc.. etc.. So the specific model isnt going to make all that much difference thinking about it.

The XFX Kit, after more research is for the older Geforce 8xxx cards, and is 15 pin. So, finding the 12pin cable is the task, but as you say, im not finding anything.

I think your gunna potentially have to weight up the time/money to ship the cable internationally, or once you find out the manufacturer of the card, send them a polite email saying the cable was missing. (I'd be tempted to maybe send the email to a few makers and see if any bite )
Or the cost of a new card, with cable @ ~£30-35.

Infact, the PC cant actually be that old, the GT210 has only been out a few months, have you spoke to acer ?

Oh yes, they were my first port of call.

"Sorry, we don't support systems sold by PC World, return it to them if you have a warranty claim."

Charming.

The techie at PC World was very friendly, knowledgable and as helpful as he could be, but he couldn't magic one up for me either.

I have in fact got one of those 15-pin cables, and I'm prepared to rewire it if need be, but I can't even find a pinout reference for the G210 board

Hmm,
Id try a nicely worded email to a few manufacturers "ive bought this card from pc world, its missing the cable, they dont wanna help me, can you spare me one".

It's worked for me in the past, worth a go .

alterantively, make your own!
pinout SHOULD be standard. i have header cables i can test and give the pinouts, but unable to part with said cable. (they are from nvidia 6 and 9 series i think)

i know you can get all the parts from maplins which should cost no more than about £5. you do need a little bit of soldering skills but very straight forward.
best of all, you can make the cable aslong as you wish (within reason).

edit: from what i can work out, if you do wire it up wrong, it wont work. i dont beleive it should pop anything.
afaik everything is signal feed, and no supply voltage.
also, every single VGA header cable i've seen appears to be 'straight through'.
i've had the header cable on the wrong way around and no damaged was caused. fliped it around and everything worked.


disclaimer: i hold no responsibility for any damage - just giving my personal experience, thoughts, and sugestions.

This post has been edited by VeeHexx: Jan 14 2010, 10:02 AM

<br /><br /><br />

I have no problem making my own, and in fact have all the parts to hand - a similar cable with a 15-pin header connector. Three of the pins aren't connected to anything, so that's encouraging. I'm just concerned about the pinouts for a 12-pin connector, they don't seem to be published anywhere.

here goes...


those with * are connected to Ground (ie: the VGA socket chassis)

this is using a 12pin mobo header socket, crimp-type.
presuming this 12p connector is labeled in rows, the wiring is 1,6,2,7,3,8,4,9,5,10,6,12.

Header cable taken from an nvidia 6200 PCI card, however i also know this works with an nvidia 9200 card also - so these cables seem standard and interchangeable.

hope that helps.

This post has been edited by VeeHexx: Jan 14 2010, 03:45 PM

you da MAN!

I've kinda run out of hours on this for now, but will fire up the soldering iron tomorrow night probably and give it a go. Will report back.

Thanks lots!

Ken,
Good news, i dug about in my "crap parts" bin at work, and dug out an old 8400GS low profile.
This has the 12pin cable on it, so im willing to part with that, or maybe the card for a small cost. (should be slightly more powered than the GT210)

Now, i noticed that your a local lad to me (from your IP that i saw when you registered), so to save on shipping, if you wanna meet up or something, might be worthwhile ? Im Toton/Long Eaton based, so a 10-20min drive for ya.

If ya interested in the cable or card, let me know. and i'll drop you a PM (i think PMs are disabled for "newcomers" so you cant send a PM i dont think).

oh boy yes please!

You got PM

With many thanks to Sim0n, my dual-head setup is now up & running.

Not quite perfect, unfortunately! The monitor driven by the VGA output suffers from red snow on the black areas of the screen. Not really noticable unless it's a large black area, but since my preferred code-editing mode is light text on a black background, it's annoying. Have tried swapping monitors, cables, etc., and the fault stays with the port. Once I'm through the current crisis I might ditch the G210 completely and try the 8400GS, although that has its own challenges - the port layout is different and I'd have to order a set of LP backplates for it.

Why is nothing ever simple?

Thanks again for your help, all!

Oh yes and just in case you're interested, after much effort I finally got a response out of acer:

I went to some length to explain exactly what I wanted, and even queried the quote: Ninety pounds for a three-inch cable? OK good joke, what's the actual price? to which they replied:

Even assuming they'd mistakenly quoted me for the whole card (which is unlikely as I'd sent them a photo of the cable), that's still three times the going price. Wow. And I'd have to wait over a month for delivery too.

poor show from acer.
my experiences with them have always been positive.

I wonder if that red snow you mention is due to a lack of grounding. Are you running the VGA port just "sitting" in free air, or did you find a way to ground it to the case ?