Fast AGP card for gaming

I don't think we have enough info to say whether 7800GS or X850XTpe will come out on top. Most likely they will trade blows. What we can say is if he doesn't have money for a mobo and 7800GT, then forget either of these cards.

So given that, yes, his best bet would be 1) X850XT, 2) X800XT (AIW), or even 3) a higher than normal clocked evga 6800GS AGP. Even a 6600GT would be anice step up from his current card.

Don't discount the nVidia 6800GT or 6800Ultra, some may considered them "last generation" but both are still very good cards and have enough speed, pipelines, and pixel shaders to hum along with the newer cards. Both can also be had a reasonable price off www.pricewatch.com and E-Bay. I really enjoy my BFG 6800GT OC and think it's the best AGP card I've ever used. Don't pass it by, be sure to check it out and give it strong consideration.

i switched from a FX5600 (nvidias match to the 9600) to a 6600GT AGP and that was a huge leap for a cheap card - emagine a 7800GS or X850XT

What are the rest of your system specs?

At $350, the 7800 GS for AGP is the worst buy out there. There's no way it's worth $100 over an X850 XT that delivers the same framerates.

SM 3.0 is hardly a must-have feature in this segment. Even a 6800 Ultra isn't powerful enough to run SM 3.0 HDR in games like Far Cry.

You're going to spend $350 on an upgrade, get a $275 pci-express 7800 GT and use the remaining $75 for a PCI-express motherboard for your CPU. Then you're getting REAL performance.

But if you're staying AGP, get an X850 XT for under $250.

Spending $100 more on a card that performs the same as the X850 XT is not only retarded, it is a huge waste when you could use the money to migrate to PCI-express instead, and with a way better card to boot.

Sure, the 6800 GT and Ultra are great cards, but they're about $300 last I checked. Once again, why pay an extra $50 when you coulkd have a better card at $250 in the X850 XT?

If you can't afford the $250, get a $200 X800 GTO... best sub-$200 AGP card out there.

And the X800 GT or 6600 GT are both great cards in the $150 segment if that's still too much cash.

What he said!