Need advise on new graphics card

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Rendili

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I currently have a GeForce 4 Ti 4800 SE and am looking to upgrade as it does not run all games these days. (downloaded Battlefield 2 Demo only to find it would not run)

I have started looking and it seems that things are moving away from AGP to PCI Express, but I only have AGP on my motherboard.

What is the best AGP Nvidia card that is out at the moment?

From what i can gather the best i can find in the UK is :
"XFX GeForce 6800 GS Extreme XT Edition 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/DVI (AGP)"

but there appears to be 6800 GTs that i think are better but i can not find them in the UK

Are GTs better, is there better than a GT?
is the 6800 AGP a new ish card? which might explain why the higher spec has not made it to the UK yet.

Thanks for any help
 
Rabidpeanut

Rabidpeanut

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The 6800 is actually kind of old, but it is still the second fastest line of nVidia's for gaming, get the one you were looking at, it is a good card.
 
R

Rendili

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ok, thanks

I heard from a friend that he thinks an AGP version of the 7800GT will be coming out this year, anyone know if this is right?

If this is the case then I guess it would be worth waiting for that?
 
cisco

cisco

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6800GS is a very nice card and would be a huge improvement over what you have. I would however make sure that your Mobo is AGP 2.0 compliant. I would also make sure my power supply is powerful enough as well. 6800GT and the 6800gs are very similar in performance. I believe they have a 7800gt in AGP. I would like to know what your system is before recommending it. I would also recommend updating your motherboard to the lastest bios version.
 
R

Rendili

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I have the following :

Gigabyte GA-8INXP : http://www.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/Products/Products_GA-8INXP.htm
P4 478 2.4GHz 533FSB
1GB or Corsair Dual DDR 266
Power supply is i think a Q-Tec 500w or 550w cant remember which

I am trying to find somewhere that might sell a P4 478 3.06GHz 533FSB HT which is the fastest CPU that will fit the motherboard, but without success and am beginning to wonder whether the Graphics card upgrade is worth it with out the CPU upgrade also

thanks
 
cisco

cisco

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You should be fine with the 6800GS. I would not get anything more expensive than that since your system is getting older. You will still get a hefty performance boost by adding that card. You may not see the full potential of the card with that processor but I can guarentee you that you will see a significant improvement in performance. If you ever find a 3.06gig processor later you will see another bump in performance.
 
R

Rendili

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Ok, thanks for your help

I might get that XFX card after all, maybe it will make my system last another 2 years before i have to make such a big upgrade as last time which got me to my current system
 
FlyGuy

FlyGuy

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AGP 8x = 3.0 so you're good to go! A Radeon x850XT would be the best you could get in AGP if you can find one for cheap in the UK. In the states they are down to $200 now but it looks like they're still about £300 plus. The 6800GS is a damn good card though and you really can't beat the price/performance of it.

I know the 7800GT AGP isn't out yet but it would probably be too much for your machine anyways. Ebay would probably be your best bet for proc upgrade?

http://froogle.google.co.uk/froogle?q=P4+478&btnG=Search+Froogle&hl=en&show=dd&output=html
 
Heyyou27

Heyyou27

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6800GS is a very nice card and would be a huge improvement over what you have. I would however make sure that your Mobo is AGP 2.0 compliant. I would also make sure my power supply is powerful enough as well. 6800GT and the 6800gs are very similar in performance. I believe they have a 7800gt in AGP. I would like to know what your system is before recommending it. I would also recommend updating your motherboard to the lastest bios version.
Click to expand...
There is no 7800 GT for AGP at this time. As far as I know; there is no plan for a 7800 GT AGP. Although it would be a good idea for people who don't want to throw away their motherboards.
 
M

metalweenis

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you guys!!! There is a new card coming out, or is already out, named the 7800GS, and its for AGP. check out this thread i posted on another site about it, you probably want to wait for this, as it is the best AGP card to date, and doesn't really cost that much!

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/54818/
 
cisco

cisco

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Sorry I have looked at so many cards in the last couple of weeks they are all starting to run together. I thought I had read something about an AGP 7800GT but who knows I read so many review before buying a BFG 7800GT last weekend that I don't know what I read or where I read it.
 
FlyGuy

FlyGuy

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so the ATI cards are better than the nvidia cards?
I have never owned an ATI card before and know very little about them

I found them here --> http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/X800_Series.html
for a bit less, no idea on the quality of make though

i dont mind spending up to around £200 for a new card, shall i still go nvidia or would the ATI cards be a better option?
Click to expand...

It's definitely not cut and dry, ATI or nVidia. It depends greatly upon how much you want to spend, AGP or PCIe, and to some extent, what games you play. The ATI x850XT is the best performance you can still buy for AGP. The 6800GS is about on par with the 6800GT. I have had both ATI and nVidia cards and have been equally pleased with both in terms of quality. Here is the last info Tom's did for AGP cards:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/07/05/vga_charts_vii/
 
R

Rendili

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i think i will wait and see what happens with the 7800 AGP and 6800GS AGP when the 7800 AGP comes out

i have had my current card for around 3 years so i can wait a couple more months
 
cisco

cisco

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I would either go with the BFG 7800 or the XFX 7800 Extreme Edition. You can overclock any of them and get the same result but if you don't want ot mess with oc'ing the card I would choose one of those two.

It's strange I not aware that BFG even makes that card. This is the first I have seen of a 7800GS.
 
FlyGuy

FlyGuy

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The 7800GS is definitely a decent card, every bit the match of the X850XT plus some other (maybe) useless features like shader 3. I haven't looked yet in regards to the performance difference of the overclocked cards but I know BFG does offer a lifetime warranty. If you're going to spend £200 on a card you can't go wrong with the 7800GS IMHO.
 
TheGreatGrapeApe

TheGreatGrapeApe

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Some more benchies from HKepc

http://www.hkepc.com/hwdb/gf7800gsagp-3.htm

So once again, solid card, worth a tiny premium if you didn't already have a GF6800U/GT or X8xx and you absolutely needed only the video card while waiting for an upgrade.

But overall still seeing it as overprice and overdue.

Solid if your mom or dad buys one for you and that's all they'll buy for the year. But if it's your own money, there's better choices out there IMO. Remember this is based on N.Am availability and prices (I know other regions can be looney pricing)
 
RichPLS

RichPLS

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Here is the X800XT PE running 3DMark05 and getting 5875 marks...
http://www.driverheaven.net/articles/3dmark--05/


The 7800GS is getting 5777 marks...at 1024x768

But I did pay $479 for my XT-PE at launch nearly two years ago, but it still kicks the newest offerings ass...
 
M

metalweenis

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That site shows that it is virtually as good as my card! That can't be correct...Lets wait and see some better reviews, from more known sites.
 
Samsa

Samsa

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Here is the X800XT PE running 3DMark05 and getting 5875 marks...
http://www.driverheaven.net/articles/3dmark--05/


The 7800GS is getting 5777 marks...at 1024x768

But I did pay $479 for my XT-PE at launch nearly two years ago, but it still kicks the newest offerings ass...
Click to expand...

I won't deny that your XT-PE is a great card and probably worth every penny, but note that the card they tested on your link (in your 2nd post) was at NVidia's recommended stock speeds. This card overclocks very nicely from what I've seen in a number of places and the eVGA and BFG versions come overclocked out of the box. So these numbers you listed may not be the best estimation of these cards power.

Other Sources with Overclocked/OEM Stock benchmarks:
http://ckturbo128.proboards4.com/index.cgi?board=computerhardware&...ion=dis

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/bfg_geforce_7800_gs_agp/page20.asp

Edit: Now that I look further down on the page you linked, I see they OC'd the 7800 GS to 495/1410, which is not that far away from the eVGA card that's clocked at 460/1350. The 3DMark05 score they list for their OC'd card is 6719 at 1024x768.

Found card clocking in AnandTech's article: http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2686&p=3
 
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