Best AGP Graphics Card?

[Ankira]

I am looking to upgrade my Radeon 9700 Pro graphics card to the best AGP card that is available.

My motherboard (ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe) doesn't support PC Express, so I'm sticking with AGP for the moment. I have a 3 Ghz P4 chip and 1Gb of ram.

I have been looking around websites and forums, and see a lot of information about cards, but it's hard to see exactly the best AGP card that is out there. Although there are similar posts, I couldn't see the answer to my questions.

I guess the first question is Radeon or Nvidia; I've always been happy with my Radeon card, so I've narrowed my choices down to those cards.

X800s and X850s I think are not as good as the X1600 card, which is the best AGP Radeon card that I can find out there (HDR support, etc).

I have a number of questions for those more knowledgeable than me on this (not difficult!):
1. Is it correct that the X1600 Pro is the best Radeon AGP card out there?
2. Do you think that there would be a difference between the 128Mb version and 256Mb version on my setup worth the money for the extra memory? (I play Oblivion, so the max performance is important!)
3. Do you think I'm losing out by overlooking any Nvidia AGP cards, which may be much better than the X1600?

Thank you!

 

[zthecrippledangel]

You are definatly losing out by over looking Nvidia cards! 7800GS 256mb is probably the best AGP card out there. The X1600 is nothing special though it is pretty cheap. You definatly want a card with at least 256mb though 512mb is slowly becoming more common. Also i think u will find that the X850XT is faster than the X1600 but its much older so is lacking some of the newer features SM3.0 for a start. If money isnt a problem i would say go get a 7800GS.

 

[pmr]

If money isn´t a problem take a look at theGainward's 7800GS with 512MB and 20 pipelines. Or the new with 24. But I have never seen a test of the 24 pipeline one.

 

[fainis]

x850xt is turbo fast comparing with x1600.....
i have a chart on my desk comparing the 7800gs x850xt and a x800xt....where 7800gs is right between.....them.....the topic of the chart was exactly this one...the better agp card


i think in the end is a matter of price/performance ratio...7800gs looks promising and i thing you should go for it.........x850xt agp..in particular is very expensive..........




also i heard reports on 7600 on agp ..but not sure...

 

[Ankira]

Thanks for all of your points. The cards you suggest look good, but very expensive at the moment!

I think I'll stick with what I've got and see if they come down in price a bit over the next few months...

Thank you.

 

[fainis]

good thinking my friend...you should wait a little .... all the prices will drop for sure......no matter if you`re looking for a ati agp card or an nvidia agp card.......