Need help with picking out a new AGP card.

DutchMasta420

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Hey guys. I have a fairly "old" s754 A64 3200+ setup, with a gig of ram, DFI Lanparty mobo, and a 6800GT (AGP) which just died. Despite what most people may think, and how obsolete AGP is becoming, this still ran every single game I play on the highest settings, very smoothly, even with some AA and AF on.. so I have no need to upgrade to try and get triple digit FPS. I'm fine ever knocking down the settings from Ultra High to just plain High, and bumping the resolution down a notch on the newer games if I ever have to.

I am tryin to spend around $200 on a new video card to replace it. The problem its still AGP, which is "outdated" of course, but I really dont care to upgrade. In fact, I'd be fine with buying another 6800GT to replace it, but I figure I might as well upgrade while I am at it. I was thinking about getting the 7600GT, but it is hard to find. The only places I can find it (in AGP) are around $200. For $35 more, I can get the 7800GS though ($235). I read a lot of mixed things, some saying its worth it and some saying its not, so if anyone has any opinions please help me out here. Also, I know there is that new ATI card coming out, but is it worth waiting for and will it be in my price range?

Thanks!
 

raven_87

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X1950 pro should hopefully be hitting shevles in quantity very soon....that would be what I would want to do. If you have to, you can pick up a 7800GS, but AGP comes with a premium this day and age.
 

DutchMasta420

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X1950 pro should hopefully be hitting shevles in quantity very soon....that would be what I would want to do. If you have to, you can pick up a 7800GS, but AGP comes with a premium this day and age.

Thanks, I'm definitely willing to wait if its worth it, but how much is it going to be?

Yeah AGP is dying, but to be honest I really don't mind going down with the ship.. because it really does still do the job. AGP cards still score within an acceptable range from the PCI cards when it comes to more than playable FPS count, which is what matters for most.
 

RyanMicah

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Although, for $200 you can get a mobo and a PCI-E card that can match most of the AGP cards you're considering...

I really say it's about time to jump ship. I have my GF's 3 yr old Dell Dimension 2.2ghz P4, socket 478. Between the motherboard I'd have to buy in order to get a new socket or an AGP or PCI-E slot (the crappy Dell mobo came without an AGP slot, just onboard Intel GPU), and the money that I'd spend on a card, or even a new processor or more ram, it's better to just let the whole system go. Which drives me nuts, because it's still a pretty damn fast computer that someone would love to have. I've been trying to score a decent 478 mobo for cheap, but to no avail. I wonder if I'm the only one here who thinks you should just upgrade...if you want, I can sell you an older Jaton PCI video card that would at least get your system some graphics. I know it'll run most games fine prior to 2002 or so. :)
 

raven_87

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Decent 754 motherboards arent what you would call extra cheap. With $200, probably 60 +- 5 then another 5 for shipping. Would leave 140$ (just going off the base 60) for a GPU. There are no $140 video cards for PCI-E that are going to match an X1950 for performance.

I would recommend upgrading as well........if he had more funds. If his budget is truely $200....this seems to be a healthy option.
 

DutchMasta420

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I'm without a video card for now, so I am trying to replace it asap and I dont know if I can hold out until Christmas. Any ideas when the x1950 is coming out?

And for those who think I should upgrade, why? Even on my 6800GT I played every game just fine, and newer agp cards are still within a more tha playable fps range. So why spend hundreds of extra dollars just to ultimately gain fps that I wont even notice? Besides, I mostly play the big online FPS, which arent too demanding, and only occasionally play some of the new games that come out.
 

RyanMicah

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To my knowledge it IS out?
Just not the AGP version. :p Look on ATI's website for news, should be posted somewhere.

I still advise putting money into a cheap PCI-E mobo. If you already have an A64, you can get a PCI-E mobo for like $50. DX10 will rock in a year or so, and your current system won't be able to support it without PCI-E. I doubt they'll be making DX10 cards for AGP. :roll: Ideally though, you might want to buy a mobo that supports Quad Core, as that'll likely end up making as big of a difference in games as DX10. That's just my opinion.

For $235 like you just mentioned you can get a new PCI-E mobo AND a better video card. The X1900 ATI-All-Wonder card is more powerful than a 7800GT, and can be had for $200. That's a total of $250. :p Of course, there are also other slightly slower cards that will outperform your 7800AGP card. The extra bandwidth on PCI-E opens good doors for upgrading to a DX10 card when you decide to.
 

sirheck

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you could go for a new agp card for aound 200$
if you go for a new mobo and pci-e card for about the same $
then it would be more of a hassel. plus reinstalling windows.
 

aceprowler

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I would buy an 9800pro like I did for the kids computer. I found one on Ebay for $25 bucks, plus 10 for shipping.

Why, because DX10 is coming out soon. It will knock the hell out of prices on any card out today.

Just think when we all used DX8 cards, then DX9 cards came out. Those DX8 cards where nothing.

Anyhow, the 9800pro is not that far behind your old card the 6800. I don't think you'll even notice the difference really.

But don't buy any DX9 cards now. It would be a waiste of money, really.
 

aceprowler

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Not in AGP though. He needs an AGP card.

I was in the same boat a while back. It was cheaper to go with a new mobo and pcie card then it was to get a high end AGP.

pcie is the way to go now for the money. But I never noticed that much of a performance increase at all.

Just another way for us to spend money, and big corp. to stay billionaires.

Good luck though.
 

RyanMicah

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You won't notice a difference unless you run games and apps that will really tax your vid card and have one that is a good deal more powerful than your current AGP card. PCI-E is going to be used for the next few years at least. If he wants to limit himself and pay extra for a card in an old slot, fine. But his CPU is still pretty fast by today's standards and could run a PCI-E system for another 3 years maybe. If nothing else he can upgrade his CPU too. Better than buyin a whole new system.
 

cleeve

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7600 GT is out in AGP right now under $200, and it's better than the 6800 GT.

The X1650 XT and X1950 PRO are coming to AGP as well. Like everyone said, the X1950 PRO is much more powerful but will probably be in the $230 range, I reckon.
 

cleeve

Illustrious
AGP bandwidth doesn't really limit it.

You won't see a difference with a 7600 GT on the AGP or PCIe bus in 95% of situations.

Upgradability is a factor though, and a good reason to go PCIe.
 

rick_h

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I got to chime in on this one. I have two systems with 754 AGP. I was lured in by a free uATX MoBo with my 3400+ CPU. This caused my to purchase a AIW X800. Performance isn't shabby, but I have hit the upgrade wall. DDR PC3200 memory is about the same price as DDR2. The socket 754 is limited to 3400+. Last, AGP video cards have totally lost their value. Performance comparisons show little improvement for existing cards that support native AGP (6800, X800, etc..), but cards like the 7600 must use an interface chip that allows PCI-e emulation. All the same PCI-e cards are a real bargain compared to AGP. Do your home work!

Next year your CPU won't have enough speed to run the next generation of high-end games and you don't have any direction for upgrading. You blew $235 on a video card that is now useless; you're screwed!!!! Or how about another component failing? Are you going invest in the same old technology?

Honestly, a 3200+ 64, 754 MoBo and a gig of memory is a $200.00 loss. Looking back in retrospect, I would have fared much better biting the bullet and going with a PCI-e than throwing good money after bad. I'm waiting for my system to take another crap. When it does, I'll upgrade and save the components for my other system.
 

cleeve

Illustrious
Performance comparisons show little improvement for existing cards that support native AGP (6800, X800, etc..), but cards like the 7600 must use an interface chip that allows PCI-e emulation.

I thought interface chips were used for the 6600 GTs as well, they don't show any performance difference I'm aware of.

I haven't seen any benches showing that, but I could be wrong.
 

Anoobis

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Your best bet is to buy another AGP card and rebuild at a later time. The video card has the largest effect on a gaming, not the CPU and you're CPU still has a little life left to it.

You're going to have to upgrade this system down the road anyway, why bother buying another motherboard just to get the PCI-E slot, when you're still locked into a dead socket which will need to be replaced later on too? Yes, you could upgrade to a S754 PCI-E board, and then get a PCI-E video card for about $200, but you'll still be stuck in a dead socket with a CPU that will be showing it's age in another year. As Simonetti pointed out you cannot upgrade your motherboard, CPU, memory and video card in a worthwhile way for $200 right now, but you can upgrade your AGP card in a worthwhile way for $200 right now. This will let you use up the remaining life of the CPU and give you time to save money for a new system a year from now.

A year from now we'll have VISTA & DX10, a better selection of DX10 capable cards and have a few games that utilize DX10 and those cards. That would be a prime time to rebuild your system. You could probably recover a bit of the cost for the AGP card by selling it on eBay at that time.
 

Phil-M-Tech

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Thats not a bad setup despite how "old" it is. I built mine last year and its already out of date oh well. Thats part of the game. Anyways, the new card from ATI 1950 i think should be priced somewhere around $250 so in my opinion you should wait, if you can. Always go for the "new" cards. Newer tech = newer features = more efficiency = better card (as a rule of thumb)

- Deadeye

Aim high, shoot for the eye.

P.s. Worked at CompUSA and a few other jobs at a couple small tech shops and my recent boss just found a wicked energy drink check it out @
bshumate.qhealthzone.com. They went nuts over that shit at my last LAN.
 

RyanMicah

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AGP bandwidth doesn't really limit it.
You won't see a difference with a 7600 GT on the AGP or PCIe bus in 95% of situations.
Upgradability is a factor though, and a good reason to go PCIe.
Your point about the 7600GT was kind of moot. I had already mentioned that he wouldn't see much difference with current cards. :p But yes, he should probably go ahead and upgrade if he plans on buying future games. His CPU should still last him awhile.
 

RyanMicah

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You're going to have to upgrade this system down the road anyway, why bother buying another motherboard just to get the PCI-E slot, when you're still locked into a dead socket which will need to be replaced later on too? Yes, you could upgrade to a S754 PCI-E board, and then get a PCI-E video card for about $200, but you'll still be stuck in a dead socket with a CPU that will be showing it's age in another year.

A year from now we'll have VISTA & DX10, a better selection of DX10 capable cards and have a few games that utilize DX10 and those cards. That would be a prime time to rebuild your system. You could probably recover a bit of the cost for the AGP card by selling it on eBay at that time.

Very good points also. It might be a toss up. The hardest part for everyone upgrading at this time is "how long will what I buy actually last or be competitive?"

It's just so hard to know how long his current Athlon chip will be competitive. Heck, a year or two from now we might not even be using PCI-E, what with AMD and ATi joining forces. The cell processor could have some unseen influence into gaming and computers too. Who really knows? Waiting might save you $100 max. You could pick up a part time job and build a whole new system and wait a bit, or you could go ahead and buy your video card and then sit and game. We all know what we love to do, but in the end - our generations don't know how to save money or invest like our grandparents did. Good thing they did too, cuz now we're all a bunch of spoiled asshats. :p