High-end AGP card for a newbie like m'self?

Fridayunited

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I've been scrounging around, and i've noticed there are many many, many video cards to choose from. I poked around on a few sites and consulted some friends and i came out with the Geforce 6800GT or something of the like...

I'm looking to spend under 400 on the card, and was just wondering what a amazing card is?
 

roncpem

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i jusy bought an ati x850xt agp card from micro center, was on sale for 239.99 & there is also a 50.00 rebate from ati. mine works great.
 

pauldh

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Well, not to rag on your friend, but more often than not it's user error. He may have upgraded from an NVidia card without uninstalling the old NV drivers and running a driver cleaning utility. Honesly, compatibility/reliability wise, they are both pretty equal. But when it comes to high end AGP right now, ATI has the clear lead; by far offering more for the money.
 
AGP SUX LOL! :twisted:

Funniest part of the nV vs ATi thing is everytime I hear this I hear about another nV issue. Sounds like the nV PR guys flooding the forums to distract.

ATi and nV have equally buggy/stable drivers. XGI on the other hand... :roll:

BTW look at this;
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=28825

To me it's just a question of who's bothered to submit for certification/testing, but it's a good quick answer to people who make statements based on the way WAY past.
 

Tepabajo

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I have the ATI X850XT PE AGP and am very pleased. I had some problems initially with heat and then figured out what the problem was and fixed it. The X850XT PE is the fastest AGP card on the market bar none and then you can even oveclock it if you like. All I had to do was reseat the heatsink and use a liberal amount of Artic Silver and now I have no heat issues what so ever. Yes, ATI should have addressed this by now because there has been plenty of people with the same problem, but the card's benefits far outweight the temporary problem.
If you don't have the ability to make this small modification to your card then stay away from any of the X800 series cards. Otherwise try one, you never know you might get a good one from the get go. The good news is there is a solution to the well known heat problem now.

cheers
 
My statement is an ongoing jab at HardwareBoss, Pauldh and Cleeve. Believe me Pauldh and Cleeve's card kick the but of my MRX700, but it's still fun. HB also had a better card at one point but returned it before 90days.

AGP still sux, but it's no worse performing than the PCIe equivalents when clocked the same.
 

Vascular

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Seriously, in that inquirer article Microcrap recommends 3Ghz with 1Gig ram for Vista 8O
Is that some large overhead or what? Freaking ridiculous.
Why would Microsoft even recomend a hardware manufacture for an operating system that is in beta stages? Stupid 360 is probably the reasoning.

Get a 6800GS it smokes you for breakfast lunch and dinner.
 

GeneticWeapon

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You really missed me? :lol:
Yes.
anal.gif
 

Fridayunited

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I'm really just looking for the best-most reliable card i can get o-o and with the heating issue, how much technical know-how does it take to fix that problem?
 

lakedude

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Since your budget is pretty high the 850 everybody else already mentioned is you best AGP bet. Don't worry about the heat, chances are the card will be fine stock. If not you can always return it, or try and fix it yourself.

Removing a correctly installed heat sink can be tricky as they tend to get stuck on pretty tightly. They are held on by screws and or clips but there is nothing to wire (except maybe the fan). It is all mechanical. If you have heat trouble it means the HS is not making good contact which very likely means that it will be easy to remove. If it sounds like too much trouble you can always RMA the card.

Now if you really want to spend all of that $400 and get a really great card....... You could always get a new motherboard that supports PCI-express and a really nice 7800GT. Both together should easily be under $400. Honestly if you can find a 850 under $200 like ronc-dude did it would not be worth it to go with the 7800 GT.
 

lakedude

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He'd most likely need a new CPU also to go PCI-e.
Have you seen this? http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=12&l3=0&model=942&modelmenu=1

TheGreatGrape-dude pointed it out the other day on "Is it time to ditch AGP". The link takes you to a PCI-e Motherboard for socket 478 processors.

PCI-e boards are common for 775 and 939 socket processors. Anyway it is likely he would NOT need a new CPU to go PCI-e.
Anyway, I say X850XT or X800XT.
I agree. However if the $400 is burning a hole in his pocket he could go with a new motherboard and a 7800 GT.
 

pauldh

Illustrious
I missed that mobo. Interesting, but a little late IMO. But still, that seems a waste to go high end PCI-e on a S478. Buying another 478 mobo at this time? I guess until we here his current system specs, we won't know. He could be running an AXP for all we know.
 

pauldh

Illustrious
I know you got lucky.
How often and where can I find a 6800Ultra/GT now for cheap?

NZ seriously blows when it comes to video cards.

Ebay if you are lucky. 6800U prices are so high I am tempted to sell mine and maybe make money off it. NV really has so little to offer in AGP with even the low clocked 6800GS being too little too late. Even though $350 I spent was a great deal for a BFG Ultra and less than the cheapest GT's at the time, look at the ATI deals now. $200-250 X850XT's and AIWX800XT's blow away the deal I got back then.

Yeah, that stinks for you over there. What can you get on high end AGP? How much? Too bad you couldn't grab a high end AGP ATI over there like we can here. Just opened this package from buy.com now to show what $230 does here.
 

lakedude

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Buying another 478 mobo at this time?
Sure, why not? What is so great about the newer stuff? Dual Core, PCI-e and DDR2? He would have PCI-e, DDR2 s not that big of deal, and dual cpus really only shine when doing many things at once. Certainly the future will bring multi-threaded games but for right now a 478 should be fine (IMO).

I've learned the hard and expensive why what works and what does not. You are almost always better off skimping a little on the CPU and spending the money on the best reasonable graphics card you can afford (depending on what you do with your PC of course).

As you said we are just speculating till we know what the OP has in his system currently.