Time for an upgrade.

[Speed55]

Please help me figure out what video card to buy.

I'm currently running an X850 pro agp 8x
The card was made in '05, and although it runs fine, i want to upgrade to something newer.

So I'm looking for a newer agp 8x card, that i could get for around $100 after the rebate.
Also since my mobo will only run pcie at 4x should i stick with agp up go to pcie?
I don't have any brand loyalty, I'm just looking at upping my performance.
I've checked newegg, and they have alot to choose from, but i need help narrowing the field down to the best 2.


Thanks

[Tigger29]

I use the ASRock Dual VSTA motherboard... E6300 conroe processor...

Anyways.. I upgraded from a Nvidia 6200 AGP to a 7900GS PCIe.  Cost me about $95 with shipping and all.

My MB also only has 4X PCIe, but it works flawlessly.  Frame rates rarely drop below 60, even with lots of action, fire, etc...

This is at full graphics settings, 4XAA, 1280X1024 and 1024 Texts (Hi-Res Pack).

I'm sure everyone is going to suggest an 8800GTS, which I'm sure is a fine card, but not worth the cost as far as I'm concerned... at least for my needs.

Don't let the 4X limitation discourage you from going PCIe.

[wrag]

Hmmm they were selling x1600 for 49.95 here last week...

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?cat=2234&keywords=agp%20video%20card&mnf=

picked up one for my Son's computer.

His older HIS X1600 went south and I replaced it with a ATI X1600 and all is good with the world.

Guess someone there noticed how quickly the vid cards were selling?????

Price appears to be up now?

The ATI x1650 is actually lower then the ATI x1600????

I would avoid the HIS brand right now seems their drivers don't SEEM to want to work on their cards (complaints in the buyers section at this source) and the ATI drivers don't either.

[1701E]

i prefer Nvidia but i don't let that get in the way so, if you do go with them as mentioned the 7900 GS is good for 100$.  The 79000 GS and 8600 are almost the same but the the 8600 has faster clock speeds.  So depending on what you prefer is what you should go for.  I use the 7900 GS and while i have limited power for now, it still runs AH at 60+ FR almost all the time with highest settings.

[Speed55]

http://www.pcvsconsole.com/features/video/?order=bandwidth

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html

From those two graphic card charts, it doesn't look like im going to get a huge difference with the 7900gs.

I'm going to try and nab a 8800gts from ebag, for lower than the $114 that i saw newegg selling it for. 

What's crazy is that the x1600 is a newer card than the x850pro, but it's ranked lower, and the 7900gs would only give me about 10fps more than i'm already getting.   I guess not alot has changed in 3 years??

[MrRiplEy[H]]

If looking for an AGP card I'd seriously look at this page: http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/04/07/the_best_gaming_graphics_cards_for_the_money/page5.html#best_agp_card_for_225

OTOH if I were in an upgrade situation I would dump the AGP motherboard and move to PCI-E unless money is really limited. Cheap C2D cpu, pci-e mobo and 2gb ram won't break the budget but will 100% sure wipe the floor with anything that is from agp age.

[BaldEagl]

http://www.pcvsconsole.com/features/video/?order=bandwidth

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html

From those two graphic card charts, it doesn't look like im going to get a huge difference with the 7900gs.

I'm going to try and nab a 8800gts from ebag, for lower than the $114 that i saw newegg selling it for. 

What's crazy is that the x1600 is a newer card than the x850pro, but it's ranked lower, and the 7900gs would only give me about 10fps more than i'm already getting.   I guess not alot has changed in 3 years??

Not sure if it's because it's Java or not but that link to Tom's HW was testing Battlefield.  There's a drop down there that shows all games FPS.  Probably a more reliable measure if it wasn't just related to the Java app.

Also, I agree with MrRiplEy, if you can afford it, replace the AGP Mobo and go PCIe.  AGP is almost extinct.

[Speed55]

I've got the same mobo has Tigger, so hopefully i can get the gts.