Best AGP Card for the money?

[sgt0802]

I'm trying to help a friend out with upgrading his computer and I'm trying to figure out which AGP card is going to be the best for the money. His basic specs currently are 2 gigs of RAM, Pentium 4 3.4 ghz, and he currently has an ATI 9800 pro. I'm thinking perhaps the ATI X1950 pro would be a good upgrade but I don't want to mislead him if the CPU is going to bottleneck the GPU. What would be the best AGP upgrade?

 

[sirkillalot]

ATI X1950 is fine, Like the saying goes, "you get what you pay for" just get the best you can afford.

 

[sgt0802]

Thanks for the quick response. Seems like you're always the one answering my questions and giving the good info.

 

[blade85]

he is stalking you 8O

 

[sirkillalot]

did anyone tell you that you got a purty mouth :mrgreen:

 

[blade85]

uh oh....now he is stalking me.. 8O

 

[TheTranquilEye]

I'm running on a rig which is the same spec as your friend. I took delivery of a Club X1950 Pro Artic yesterday to replace my 9600XT.

I'm now able to run BF2 with everything maxed out at 1600 X 1200, smooth as silk. Well chuffed, especially as the card was only £114.

You may need a beefier power supply though, Club say a minimum of 450W but I went for a 600W for the extra headroom.

Oh, and check the mobo will accept the card, it's bloody huge!

 

[Orion63]

I have the HIS x1950 256mb Pro AGP. Dual slot card - exhaust out the back. Good card. It might be a little hard to remove since it is a little hard to get your fingers under it to pull the AGP slot tab. I had to upgrade the power supply twice for the 12v rail amps, the -5v motherboard power requirement (that I forgot about) and the PCIe power connector that the card needed.

 

[uri]

I've got a similar system and I was considering the same thing. The main question is what is the card for?
If it is for BF or Oblivion then the 1950 seems like a good choice! But if he wants to play mostly RTS like Supreme Commander and Mark of Chaos then the cpu will be a problem.

He should also have in mind when is he going to upgrade cause the card won't go with him to the next build and AGP cards are more expensive...

 

[fatbobuk]

Gecube have just released a X1950XT card for AGP.

This is by far the best card out for AGP and it is same price as many 1950 pro cards.

I think e-buyer is the only place at the moment that sells it but just google gecube 1950xt.

This card has the full compliment of bits compared to the pro card.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=125754&_LOC=UK

 

[Gary_Busey]

The CPU would bottleneck him slightly, but the performance difference he would get from an X1950Pro would be huge compared to his 9800.

 

[kaotao]

The Gecube X1950XT AGP is about $50-60 more than the X1950PRO. Either way, the OP will need to take a look at his PSU. It's recomended that you have a 450W PSU with 30 amps on the 12v rail. But, I know of someone getting by with less *cough* blade85 *cough*. Just don't skimp on the amps. A good 22-30 amps minimum.

 

[kaotao]

If you live in the US, newegg has the Gecube X1950XTs...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814241049

Here's a great deal on an X1950PRO...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161070

and another great deal. No rebates required, but open box...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102071R

 

[Gary_Busey]

Wow, an AGP X1950XT. If AGP is supposed to die, why don't they kill it already??

 

[kaotao]

Yeah, I know. There are also 7900GS and X1950GTs AGP on newegg.

 

[amdwilliam1985]

he is stalking you 8O

good one

 

[amdwilliam1985]

Wow, an AGP X1950XT. If AGP is supposed to die, why don't they kill it already??

I heard from somewhere that the new AMD HD2x00 are going back to support agp. nVidia on the other hand are giving up on agp.
Nice AMD/ATI to support back AGP.

 

[amdwilliam1985]

Wow, an AGP X1950XT. If AGP is supposed to die, why don't they kill it already??

I heard from somewhere that the new AMD HD2x00 are going back to support agp. nVidia on the other hand are giving up on agp.
Nice AMD/ATI to support back AGP.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=701&Itemid=1

 

[mactronix]

Overclockers are selling this at the moment HIS ATI Radeon X1650 XT ICEQ TURBO 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (AGP) - Retail (H165XTQT256GDDA-R)
Im thinking its a good deal for people who want to upgrade from something like a 9800 but cant be bothered or havent the knowhow to replace the psu.
It comes in on the reviews about the same as a 7600gt

Mactronix

 

[XFXSupport]

I think AGP is far from dead. Too many customers out there with AGP systems that want to upgrade theiry systems, not replace them. kaotao is right on the money as there is a 7900GS AGP video card and now a 7950GT AGP video card. Looks like AGP will be around for a while longer.


XFX Support

 

[Gary_Busey]

It kind of, but not really, pisses me off that manufacturers harped on the whole PCI-E deal as being far superior to AGP and necessery to upgrade to, which I'm not saying it isn't, but with solid AGP cards still coming out that, for the most part, are right on par with their PCI-E brethren, it just seems like it was a bit premature and unecessary. I guess that's the comp hardware world for ya, latest and greatest as soon as possible. [/rant]

 

[TheTranquilEye]

There are loads of mobos out there which have both AGP and PCI-e slots and support the latest CPUs. So it's not impossible to upgrade and not to have wasted your cash on an AGP card.

I bought an ASRock mobo because it had the 2 slots *and* was a socket 478, so would take my CPU. It was only when I received it and read the specs that I found the PCIe slot was only 4X, not 16X...