Best AGP card?

[Craig Coope]

I have had my ATI 9800XT 256meg for a couple of years now but I wantto
upgrade...

I only have AGP and I'm not in the position to upgrade my mobo to get
PCI-e so I'm sticking with AGP for now...

What are the best AGP cards now?

I have read about the ATI Radeon X1650 Pro and Nvidia GeForce 7600GS
(yah I know this is an ATI group p )but the X1650 seems to have less
of some of the stuff my 9800XT has...

The GeForce 7600GS is about $250 online which I thought would be
great...but then I looked at the price of my 9800XT and it was the
same...

So is the 7600GS actually a lot better or not?

Any advice would be great...

Cheers...

Craig....

 

[Gonzo]

I don't follow your logic.

I would think a decent AGP card would cost more money that a new
motherboard.

My advice: Don't waste your hard earned money on obsolete technology.

If you can afford an ATi 1650 agp or Nvidia 7600 agp card then you have
enough money to simply buy a PCIE motherboard instead. You can get one with
onboard Radeon ATi and a free x16 PCIE slot.

This way you will have onboard Radeon to tide you over while you save up for
your first PCIE 3D upgrade.

This makes much more sense. And you will benefit from the newer technology
of the new motherboard as well.

But if you have money to burn on older technology then knock yourself out.

 

[Craig Coope]

I don't follow your logic.

I would think a decent AGP card would cost more money that a new
motherboard.

My advice: Don't waste your hard earned money on obsolete technology.

If you can afford an ATi 1650 agp or Nvidia 7600 agp card then you have
enough money to simply buy a PCIE motherboard instead. You can get one with
onboard Radeon ATi and a free x16 PCIE slot.

This way you will have onboard Radeon to tide you over while you save up for
your first PCIE 3D upgrade.

This makes much more sense. And you will benefit from the newer technology
of the new motherboard as well.

But if you have money to burn on older technology then knock yourself out.

Well I bought my AMD A64 when it first came out and it was just before
they changed the "socket" (I have socket 754) so I'm not sure if my
CPU will now fit on a new motherboard because...ok actually I guess
I'm just assuming that there are no good pci-e enabled socket 754
mobos....

I'll go have a look....

Cheers...

 

[Frodo]

The ATI 9800 series has 256 bit memory access, the ATI X1600 series only
have 128 bit memory access.
You might find something in a used X800 or X850 series off EBay for a good
price ($100?).
ATI is going to be releasing an X1950 AGP in the future, which should drop
the price on older AGP cards.
The X1650 is not a bad card, has newer features over the X800 series, but a
good X800 series will have faster frame rate in first person shooters.

 

[Fidelis K]

I have had my ATI 9800XT 256meg for a couple of years now but I wantto
upgrade...

I only have AGP and I'm not in the position to upgrade my mobo to get
PCI-e so I'm sticking with AGP for now...

What are the best AGP cards now?

Radeon X850 Pro, hands down. Less than $100. It's in my 2nd PC (P4 2.8GHz)
now. I can play my favorite games (Call of Duty, Caompany of Heros,
Sturmovik) at 1680x1050 with no slow down.

 

[Craig Coope]

The ATI 9800 series has 256 bit memory access, the ATI X1600 series only
have 128 bit memory access.
You might find something in a used X800 or X850 series off EBay for a good
price ($100?).
ATI is going to be releasing an X1950 AGP in the future, which should drop
the price on older AGP cards.
The X1650 is not a bad card, has newer features over the X800 series, but a
good X800 series will have faster frame rate in first person shooters.

Cheers for your advice...

Basically I have had my PC for 2 years and it was a good spec at the
time (A64 3400+)...I bought it for gaming but the only games I have
really bought for it are Far Cry and HL2....They run very well but I
have Oblivion and it annoys me that I can't run it on higher
settings...and no HDR....

 

[Gonzo]

Well I bought my AMD A64 when it first came out and it was just before
they changed the "socket" (I have socket 754) so I'm not sure if my
CPU will now fit on a new motherboard because...ok actually I guess
I'm just assuming that there are no good pci-e enabled socket 754
mobos....

I'll go have a look....

Cheers...

Well if you have $200+ to spend, you might as well look at a CPU upgrade as
well.
Most ATi/AMD chipset motherboards will be 939 anyway.

At least you had enough forethought to go 64bit so you are thinking about
the future.

It's expensive and a pain to change platforms but if you spend $200+ on old
technology now, you will kick yourself for it later.

I remember kicking myself for buying that super fast VLB card just as PCI
was coming on the scene. It's better to pay a little more now. Trust me on
this. You will thank me a year from now.

With that said, if you do find a 754 board with PCIE slot you can swap your
PCIE card and memory into a new system if you upgrade the motherboard and
CPU again later.

If I were you I would simply keep my current system and get a $50-$100 agp
card. That should last you at least another year or so.

If you want to spend $200+ then it would be better served as an investment
into the future. Just my two cents.

 

[Gonzo]

Good idea.

Mind you that when Vista comes out and everybody is frothing over the new
Dx10 cards, top end older AGP cards will drop in price like never before.

Something to think about if you are set on spending money on an AGP.

The ATI 9800 series has 256 bit memory access, the ATI X1600 series only
have 128 bit memory access.
You might find something in a used X800 or X850 series off EBay for a good
price ($100?).
ATI is going to be releasing an X1950 AGP in the future, which should drop
the price on older AGP cards.
The X1650 is not a bad card, has newer features over the X800 series, but
a good X800 series will have faster frame rate in first person shooters.

 

[Gonzo]

Cheers for your advice...

Basically I have had my PC for 2 years and it was a good spec at the
time (A64 3400+)...I bought it for gaming but the only games I have
really bought for it are Far Cry and HL2....They run very well but I
have Oblivion and it annoys me that I can't run it on higher
settings...and no HDR....

Your system is very fast IMHO. It should run Oblivion very well.

What is your current graphics card if I may ask?

 

[Gonzo]

Cheers for your advice...

Basically I have had my PC for 2 years and it was a good spec at the
time (A64 3400+)...I bought it for gaming but the only games I have
really bought for it are Far Cry and HL2....They run very well but I
have Oblivion and it annoys me that I can't run it on higher
settings...and no HDR....

You system is very fast IMHO. Faster than mine in fact. And I am chucking
by on an X1300 A64 3200+.

There may be other factors at play here.

What is your current 3D card and how much system ram do you have if I may
ask?

 

[Craig Coope]

You system is very fast IMHO. Faster than mine in fact. And I am chucking
by on an X1300 A64 3200+.

There may be other factors at play here.

What is your current 3D card and how much system ram do you have if I may
ask?

As I said in my original post I have an ATI Radeon 9800XT 256meg...I
have one gig ram...

To be honest My PC does run things well...but I'd just like more out
of it...

If I do buy a new CPU it would have to be something substantially
better than my 3400+ to justify the price (ie more than
4000+)....Maybe I should go the whole-hog and get the new mobo
aswell....

This is the first PC I have had that I have wanted to upgrade
(normally I just buy a new PC!)...

 

[JLC]

As I said in my original post I have an ATI Radeon 9800XT 256meg...I
have one gig ram...

To be honest My PC does run things well...but I'd just like more out
of it...

If I do buy a new CPU it would have to be something substantially
better than my 3400+ to justify the price (ie more than
4000+)....Maybe I should go the whole-hog and get the new mobo
aswell....

This is the first PC I have had that I have wanted to upgrade
(normally I just buy a new PC!)...

--

Craig I had the 9800pro 128MB card for a couple of years. It was a great
card until about a year ago. Doom 3 was the start of my gaming fun going
downhill. Sure if I turned everything down, I could at lest "play" a newer
game, but I wasn't happy with that. It was Oblivion that really did it for
me. It chugged at 1024x768 with all settling turned down. There's one thing
about that game. With low settings it's not very pretty, and the draw
distance is horrible. I also was up aginst the wall when it came to
upgrading. I'd done all I could with my old APG MB. So I decided just last
month to take the plunge and build a new PC from the ground up. It was the
best money I've ever spent on a PC upgrade. I was able to put the whole rig
together for around $1400 and let me tell you, it leaves my old PC in the
dust. I love SATA cables, so handy for a tidy case, and my x1900XT is a nice
card. I went with the 256MB version and saved $100. If you think you're
missing out on HDR, let me tell you the game looks totally different when
you can crank up the settings.
I was thinking of going AMD this time around (I'm an Intel guy) but luckily
I waited long enough for the Core2Duo chips to come out. I knew right off
that the E6600 was the chip I wanted. It just plan kicks ass no matter what
I throw at it. Really amazing. I've never seen this HUGE of an improvement
with any CPU upgrade that I've done over the last 13 years.
So my point in all this is I think it's time for you to thinking about
starting fresh. If your're like me I don't plan to upgrade to Vista for at
lest a year after it come out. I waited two years with XP, 2000 was working
just fine, so I waited tell all the major bugs where worked out. I hate
being a "beta tester" for MS! So by then the DX10 cards should be
affordable.
Anyway if you need any help when you decide to take the plunge, there's a
number of us on this group that have just upgraded and are happy to help
out. JLC

 

[Gonzo]

As I said in my original post I have an ATI Radeon 9800XT 256meg...I
have one gig ram...

To be honest My PC does run things well...but I'd just like more out
of it...

If I do buy a new CPU it would have to be something substantially
better than my 3400+ to justify the price (ie more than
4000+)....Maybe I should go the whole-hog and get the new mobo
aswell....

This is the first PC I have had that I have wanted to upgrade
(normally I just buy a new PC!)...

Holly crap!

OK, did not see the specs earlier.

I will say this. IMHO you do not need to upgrade at all.

If you have money to burn and want to buy another system then wait at least
two more years. If you don't you are simply paying too much for the honor
of being on the bleeding edge.

And they call it bleeding edge for a reason LOL.

 

[KCB]

If I were you I would simply keep my current system and get a $50-$100
agp card. That should last you at least another year or so.

Any card in that price range would be a step down form his current vid
card. Why go backwards?

 

[Frodo]

As I said in my original post I have an ATI Radeon 9800XT 256meg...I
have one gig ram...

To be honest My PC does run things well...but I'd just like more out
of it...

If I do buy a new CPU it would have to be something substantially
better than my 3400+ to justify the price (ie more than
4000+)....Maybe I should go the whole-hog and get the new mobo
aswell....

This is the first PC I have had that I have wanted to upgrade
(normally I just buy a new PC!)...

I believe the fastest cpu for the socket 754 is AMD 3700+

 

[JLC]

Holly crap!

OK, did not see the specs earlier.

I will say this. IMHO you do not need to upgrade at all.

If you have money to burn and want to buy another system then wait at
least two more years. If you don't you are simply paying too much for the
honor of being on the bleeding edge.

And they call it bleeding edge for a reason LOL.

He's got a 9800XT. That card is really showing it's age. He's a gamer and
wants a better card. What some of us are saying is, maybe it's time to go
for it and get a new system. His rig was fast when he got it, but it's not
the speed demon it once was.
In two years he will not be able to play any new game unless he likes
looking at a slide show. JLC

 

[Craig Coope]

I believe the fastest cpu for the socket 754 is AMD 3700+

Ahhh....looks like it's gonna have to be a new PC then...I'm going to
wait a little while and see what happens.

I've never built a PC myself...I'm always scared of installing an
*VERY* expensive CPU. However I've just read a couple of turorials and
it seems it has gotten easier in the last few years....

Cheers for the help guys....

 

[Gonzo]

Any card in that price range would be a step down form his current vid
card. Why go backwards?

I posted that before I saw his vid card specs. He honestly does not need to
upgrade at all IMHO.

At least not for another 2 years.

 

[Gonzo]

He's got a 9800XT. That card is really showing it's age. He's a gamer and
wants a better card. What some of us are saying is, maybe it's time to go
for it and get a new system. His rig was fast when he got it, but it's not
the speed demon it once was.
In two years he will not be able to play any new game unless he likes
looking at a slide show. JLC

Mind you that I am a gamer also and I am running an X1300 with an A64 3200.
I still think he should hold on to his system a while longer

When I first starged reading his postings I presumed he had an aging system
because I had not seen the posting with his exact specs. Now that I have
seen them I have changed my mind.

Perhaps I can talk him out of his old and slow 9800XT for cheap LOL.

 

[BD]

Radeon X850 Pro, hands down.

Careful before nabbing up the X850. I bought one a few months back. No
complaints about its performance, coming from a 9800 Pro. But, I just
tried to fire up the new Splinter Cell, and discovered that this card
does not support v3 Shaders. Splinter Cell Double Agent requires that
functionality, so it won't run.

I'm gonna see what the X1950Pro AGP looks like, price wise - it's not
quite out yet, but I believe that it is expected to wipe the floor with
all other AGP cards.

I considered getting a new mainboard, but if the X1950Pro is priced in
the $200-$250 area, I think it would be a reasonable 'last kick' at the
AGP cat.

BD.