Ok boys and girls I need some help with AGP video cards

[Reschke]

Here is what is on my oldest son's computer...

AMD A64 3200+, Gigabyte K8NS Pro, 1GB DDR400 (currently have 2GB more otw), BFG Geforce 6800OC 128MB This is part of the problem now, WinXP SP1

There have been some funky colors showing up on the screen recently and I think it is the video card after being able to troubleshoot it this past Saturday. I used an ancient Jaton AGP card that I happened to have laying around and the weird colors disappeared.

Anyway I am going to teach him how to install some components and then format and reinstall an operating system.

SO what is the best possible AGP video card to go in there with this basic setup. I am considering a full build of a new system later on but I just want to limp by for now.

[Fulmar]

The best of the best for AGP (and likely forever), is the ATI 3850.  Runs $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102730

The next best would be the 2600XT followed closely by the 3650.  I found the 2600XT as low as $45 after MIR:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131136

Cheapest 3650 I found was here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161237

And of course you can go down farther with the X1xxx series of ATI cards, but I feel the 2600XT is the best bang for the buck if you want to upgrade later.  I just searched Newegg and the only Nvidia AGP cards I could find were Gefroce 6200 and some FX series cards which I would never consider.

[Fulmar]

Also, any of those cards I listed above will be a very nice noticeable improvement over that 6800.

[Reschke]

That is what I am looking for...especially since I am trying to sneak in a CPU upgrade in this for me as well.

Thanks for the input Fulmar.

[Ack-Ack]

If you're going to get an AGP card I would recommend sticking with the ATI 3000 series, especially if you intend on playing games.  A lot of games are being developed without support for the ATI 2000 series (they'll run but won't run the game very well).  The ATI 3850 is probably your best bet, it's what I have on my main gaming machine and have had absolutely no issues with it.


ack-ack

[Fulmar]

Tom's Hardware - 2600XT vs 3650 Benchmarks

The 2600XT edges (barely) the 3650 is almost every benchmark across a good crop of current games (seen in the link above).  I can't vouch for what Ack-Ack posted about the 2xxx suport.  If you have a link, let me know.

If you're trying to sneak a CPU upgrade in your order, the $20 initial difference between the 2600XT vs 3650 ($35 after MIR) could be a deal breaker.  Though its your budget.  If you're worried about newer games coming out, you're going to be running into CPU bottlenecks eventually.

*note those benchmarks are PCI-E

[Reschke]

Fortunately my wife takes the stance of "as long as I don't see the invoice and the price is reasonable..." then I can probably slip in a few hundred to help me and the oldest boy out in this case. His upgrade is primarily to allow him to play the newest Total War game without totally bogging down.

Plus with the new camcorder we just got (Sony HDR-SR11...love it BTW!) she sees some massive slow down when we are transferring video or pictures over and I have mentioned that I need to buy a few goodies to make it work better.

[Fulmar]

ETW requirements:
PC Processor Type
Intel® processor, AMD processor
PC Processor Speed
2GHz
PC Operating System
Windows XP, Windows Vista
PC System Memory
512MB RAM
PC Hard Drive Space
10GB
PC Video
128MB NVIDIA GeForce 5 or ATI RADEON video card with Shader Model 2
PC Additional Requirements
Internet service required to access online features

[Reschke]

Yep already checked that out several months ago.

[TheZohan]

i wouldnt spend money on a AGP card. i would save up and get a cheap C2D or X2 system with PCI slot..

i just did a upgrade for a customer for 150.00 CPU (X2 1.9ghz)/Motherboard/2GBS DDR2 PC6400 Memory and 9600 GSO video card (AMD)

not sure what the price would be with a C2D about the same or there abouts

with both accounts you open yourself for future upgrading CPU wise and video card wise. where as that 939 board the Gigabyte K8NS the cost of upgrading to a dual core is 2-3 times the cost of a AM2 chip

you could easily sell what you got have have plenty of money to invest in a better video card or motherboard if you want SLI/Xfire

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Yep it's time to move to pci-e you're only wasting money updating that agp setup. You won't be able to reuse your brand new card if you need to fix either motherboard or cpu for any reason.

[Fulmar]

Though the Athlon 64 3200 is still a single core, I would warrant an AGP card replacement based on that his son was using a 6800 for gaming (probably for sometime).  A 2600XT or 3650 is going to be a noticeable upgrade even in the current games he plays.  He's already ordered more RAM and a new CPU setup is going to require more money upfront now.  He could go on the cheap and get a $60-$80 Intel/AMD CPU, a $60 motherboard, $22 in RAM, and $80+ in a video card.  In this situation, IMO, I think a card upgrade now is a little less noticeable on the money front than a $200-$250+ upgrade.

[TheZohan]

not my area of expertise but wouldnt there be a little bit of a bottle neck with the CPU and GPU?

[Reschke]

Not really a bottleneck from the CPU side; I was looking for some input to strictly keep this down under $250 on his machine. For the few games that he plays it is only going to help him out. Plus I am dropping in a new CPU on my rig which is going to be a tremendous boost for me. Once I went PCI-E for my rig I blanked out all the AGP information since it wasn't relevant for me and I was thinking that I would have built a new rig just a few months ago but I didn't and now I need to relearn.

I should have mentioned that my total budget for his system is sub $200 which leaves the remaining $300 to go to the AV editor/gamer that I now have.

[Eagler]

I just took the plunge and built a PCIe system but not before I spent almost $155 w/ship on this Radeon HD 3850 by HIS couple of months ago:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161225

worked great - never over clocked or abused. Still have the original box, adapters & driver disk

$100 and I'll pay shipping

PM if you are interested

edit:
after checking ebay I'll take $75 for it - free ship <S>