What AGP video card do you think is the best for the price that's better than a 9800 Pro? Why do you think so? Thanks.

GF 6600 does better than the 9800. It has sm3 too. X800's perform well to but they are a tad more.

I would definitely get the X800gto, it has great performance, GDDR3 memory, etc, and I know the Sapphire version is practically guranteed to be unlocked to 16 pixel pipelines making it a X800XL/XT. I just got one 2 days ago to replace my FX 5200. It's only weak point is that it doesn't have a next-gen feature set like its price competitor the X1600 pro, but it's much better for gaming.

Sorry to let you know that only "GTO2" version able to unlocked to 16pipelines.

Incorrect actually, I've just unlocked mine, and guess what? It's AGP! The GTO2 is only available in PCI-Express

I would say the x800gto series best bang for agp they are in the $150 range and will blow away a 9800pro.

This is one hell of a deal too from ati

http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=2984012

I agree; the X800GTO is the best bang-per-duck for AGP. But I'd wait until nVidia releases the 7600 for AGP.

I completely agree, it can't be too much longer before a whole heap of new products are released, thus bringing down the cost of other products, so I agree with angry_ducky, and I say to wait for a while then ask again .

Another vote for the X800GTO cards. I have two old Socket A/AGP boxes which I've put X800GTOs in. Great performance, totally reasonable price. Shame about how ugly ATI's drivers are but they seem to work OK, which is more than can be said for nVidia's new Vista-style control panel driver.

x800gto=really kick ass agp card for the money, and will run real smooth, everything except for oblivion

I had the same prob recently...got the x800 gto as well. It was for my dad who wanted to upgrade from the 9800 pro. I only wish they still had the 6800gs's out there...grr. Or the 7600's available...

If you can find a 6800GT AGP8x version for under $200, that would be the best. My friend has a x800GTO and with it in my computer, instead of my 6800GT, I get considerably less performance. I dont know if they even produce the 6800GT for AGP anymore... I know I am going to be keeping mine

as others have said, go to http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=2984012
and buy that. For $120.00 it can't be beat, and it can play anything that's out there right now. There aren't many upgrade opportunities for the 754 chipset, so why invest tons of money in a graphics card?

FWIW, the agp version of the XL generally sells for north of $200.00.

Dont want to come off as an a$$ here, but don't know how else to say this:

Everyone looking for the best radeoforce 71900 gtxtx agpci card should first check the graphics card section of this forum and notice the sticky at the top that has the list of the best card in each category. That would save alot of repeat threads... check the list there man, takes just a moment to actually read the section that you should be posting in.

Sure, but that wouldn't have gotten the OP a link to buy an X800XL for $120.00. That list barely mentions that card and when it does, it's under the $200.00+ area (in tiny print) as only worth buying used.

So, he got better advice here

I picked up the X800XT Platinum Edition for about £170 9 months ago off ebay. Card is fantastic and price should now be down to about £120-130.

I researched the comparisons between the 6800gt and apart from not having version 3.0 of the pixel shaders the XT was well on par for overall performance. As far as i know at the time the 6800 was £30 more expensive on average.

You should check out the 2ndhand market as well as the new cards as you will save money and any enthusiastic person will take good care of their cards. Of course ask questions about OC

umm... if you read that list, it is not in any smaller print than any other card listing, and the bottom line is that it says to get the x800xl if you want agp. Yes it is listed at $200 there (I am sure Cleeve will update it soon), but that still supports the advice to get it @ $120...

whatever you are asking about graphics cards, you still need to start there. Instead of putting out a generic "what is best" question, you can have some knowledge on where things stack up. Plus, when someone says to get a $120 card you can see where it measures against other "best-of" cards in different price brackets.