Trying to find an AGP card that will work for me

The X1950XT is the best, 2nd choice would be the 1950 pro.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html

Hi, I'm no expert in this area but I'm kind of in the same situation as you. I've looked quite a lot into the different agp cards available and come to a conclusion that first that the X1950pro/XT cards require (or at least recommends) 450W PSU and the GPU for weaker PSUs is the HD2600XT. The price of the HD2600XT lies between 7600GS and 7600GT, from where I live (Sweden). The HD2600XT will preform better than both the 7600GS and the GT.
While the 1950pro/XT is better than HD2600XT in many ways the price you have to pay to buy both the GPU and a new PSU is just not cost effective on a older system.
The only drawback is that the HD2600XT will ship on 1st dec (info from my local store)... and it's a while until then. If you don't want to wait you can try to find a 7900gs to a decent price.
As for your questions I'll try and answer them the best I can.

1. Short yeah DDR3 is a lot better than DDR2 on graphics cards, you can see that on 7600GT and 8600GT benches.

2. No 256DDR2->512DDR2 isn't much of a increase in performance while DDR2->DDR3 is. (what I've learned from benches/reviews and forums)

3. From the same type of cards, example from one 1950pro to another 1950pro, the card with higher clock is the fastest, you have to find a benchmark or ask ppl with those cards to figure out how much performance gain you'll get. You can't compare two different cards with each other and just compare clocks, example 7900gs and 7950pro, as both have very different architecture and specs.

4. It isn't enough for a 1950pro/XT or 7950GT, it can handle 7900gs if you v12 rail gives enough amps. It can candle 7600GT, 1650XT and the HD2k series.

So having said that I think HD2600XT would do w/o upgrading. If you do upgrade to PCI-e then I suppose a 8600GTS would do but I don't know how much power it requires.

The 1950PRO should run on your psu without an issue....

This is based on a system i built when the Athlon64s first came out(754 was all there was then)

K8V SE
A64 3200+
1 gig of ram
X850 XT(about the same power use as a X1950pro)
3 hard drives
2 DVD+-r(w)'s
WinTV PVR 250
All in the Sonata with its 380 watt psu.

Hi, just a note to say DO NOT try to run either an x1950 or an nvidia 6800/7800 series card on an antec 380w psu - it has approx 17amps usable on the 12v rail and simply wont cope long term - short term it will make a high pitch whistle noise and then go bang.

Honestly anything more than a 2600 from ati or 7600 from nvidia will be too much for your psu to handle for any length of time so to put it bluntly either budget for a 1950 with psu or a 2600 without as ati will give you a LOT better picture quality and colours than any 6 or 7 series nv card (no ranting please this is a well known and documented fact) and unless you want to wait for the 8600agp then you wont have a lot of choice (and the 8 series only closes up on ati pic quality as it is).

ps.. I am running a 1950pro 512mb on my agp rig and its fine with a Tagan 420w psu with 22amps on the 12v rail - but - was NOT fine with my antec neohe 430w with 3 16amp rails (apparantly).

Please dont make a bad move as it sounds like your nuts are in a vice !....

I'm running a X1650XT AGP on an Antec TruePower 380W, but it's not a loaded system. That power supply is really too wimpy on the 12v for the X1650XT and X1950's. You would be better off with a 7600GT that uses quite a bit less power.

The HD2600's are also good on power consumption and would be a great option for you, but watch out as most AGP ones are running low clocked GDDR2. (edit: sorry there is a 2600XT AGP on newegg too)

And yeah, GDDR2 vs GDDR3 makes a big difference in the performance because of the clock speeds of the mem aren't close. Take the X1650 pro for example, the GDDR2 versions are running 800MHz DDR speeds, while a real GDDR3 version is running 1380MHz effective speeds.

Look at cards 7 vs. 8 in this PCI-e link and you can compare the HD2600 pro with GDDR2 vs. GDDR3.
http://www.digit-life.com/articles [...] index.html

As one example, look at this Prey performance chart and you will see the GDDR3 HD2600 pro beating a 7600GT by 6 fps, while the lower clocked GDDR2 version loses to the 7600GT by 5 fps.
http://www.digit-life.com/articles [...] -pcie.html

Also, AGP vs PCI-e won't matter here, if clock speeds are the same you can assume AGP would perform the same (excluding cpu bound tests). Anyway, my point is look how the 7600GT and HD2600 pro perform in the games that matter to you, check the clock speeds of the HD2600's you can find, and then you have a understanding which is better for you.


edit - for your power supply and system I like the 7600GT like this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150233 or a HD2600 pro. 7900GS or HD2600XT are possibilities also. If going X1950's upgrade the PSU.

The deal on PCIx16 HD2600xt cards is too good to pass up right now. For under $100 you can get a HD2600XT and Valve's Black Box package in a bundle. Add about $50 for a new Asus MB and knock yourself out!

HD600XTs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] rder=PRICE

Asus 754 socket PCIx16 motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813131129

Glad you got something that will work with your setup and doesn't require too much more to do the upgrade. I think you'll be happy with that video card for a while. Just don't think your going to smoke fps on the latest games, but for NWN2 you should be just fine.

Massive(come on.....7500) upgrade for you......enjoy it....Did you get a new TV card to keep the AIW type features?