Best Gaming Graphics Cards For The Money: AGP Interface

Best AGP Card For Under $100

GeForce 6600 GT
Codename: NV43, 100-nm technology
eight pipeline
128-bit memory bus
500 MHz core, 275 MHz DDR (550 MHz effective) memory

The eight-pipeline 6600 architecture has proven itself in the GeForce 6600 GT. This card has finally breached the $100 mark and is a great option for AGP. Be wary of the 6600 and 6600LE, which are not nearly as fast as the GT version of the card.

Best AGP Card For ~$120: Tie

Radeon X1650 PRO
Codename: R530, 80 and 90-nm technology
12 pixel shaders, five vertex shaders, four texture units, four raster operations
128-bit memory bus (256-bit ring bus)
600 MHz core, 700 MHz DDR (1400 MHz effective) memory

The new X1650 PRO is a re-dressed X1600 XT with slightly higher clock speeds. The very high-speed memory for this class and efficient shaders help the X1650 PRO compare well to the 12-pipeline 7600 GS, beating it by a small margin in most benchmarks.

GeForce 7600 GS
Codename: G73, 90-nm technology
12 pixel shaders, five vertex shaders, 12 texture units, eight raster operator units
128-bit memory bus
400 MHz core, 400 MHz DDR (800 MHz effective) memory

With identical features compared to its faster 7600 GT brethren, the 7600 GS lacks only the core and memory clock speeds-however, the GT's clock speeds are so high that the GS pales in comparison. Nevertheless, the 7600 GS is a good performer in this AGP segment.