Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > Graphics Cards > Which AGP (yes!) card to get
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stoff   12-08-2008 at 07:15:03 AM

Hi All,

 

The graphics card in my rather aging system is starting to give some trouble, and most likely needs to be replaced. It's a Radeon 9800 PRO and I must say that it served me pretty well for the last 4+ years.

 

The rest of the system is an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ CPU, Giga-byte K8NSNXP mobo, and 1GB RAM.

 

I'm not planning on buying a whole new rig just yet, so for now I'm looking for a suitable replacement AGP card that will last me for the next year, tops.

 

The 'Best Graphics Card for the Money' articles recommend the Radeon HD 2600 XT as a good AGP graphics card. Would this do? Or would it be overkill in this system?

 

Any advice on this would be most appreciated.

 

Cheers,

 

S

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evongugg   12-08-2008 at 03:22:25 PM
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Welcome to the forums!

Do you game?
If not, go with the 2600XT.
You will not be able to reuse it, so don't spend much.



Message edited by evongugg on 12-08-2008 at 03:22:59 PM
------------------------------ Google is your friend and Bob's your uncle
 Reply to evongugg
stoff   12-08-2008 at 05:16:39 PM
- 0 +

Hi evongugg, thanks for the quick reply!

Ah yes I forgot to mention, yes I do game. However I haven't gotten a new title in some time, mainly replaying older stuff like HL2, NWN2, etc.

If I do go better than the 2600XT, at what point would the bottleneck be the CPU? Could I run a recent title like Crysis? Or is that asking a bit much?

Point taken about the reusability though.

Reply to stoff
frozenlead   12-09-2008 at 02:46:55 AM
- 0 +

Your cpu will probably already be bottlenecked with a 2600. It will play crysis, though.

I would go for a 1650. With your CPU, you won't be able to tell the difference between the cards. I'd OC your CPU, too.

Reply to frozenlead
stoff   12-10-2008 at 04:48:13 AM
- 0 +

Thanks frozenlead and evongugg for the tips.

I'll hunt around for prices for the 2600 and 1650 and take it from there.

Cheers,

S

Reply to stoff
stoff   04-08-2009 at 08:26:34 PM
- 0 +

A hugely late response, but I have one more question!

I seem to be seeing about a $5 difference between the Radeon x1650 Pro and the Radeon HD 2600 Pro.

Is there any sense in getting a 2600, which would surely be overkill, but using GPGPU tools to give it some more work to do? What's your take on GPGPU? Is it going anywhere? Is it getting somewhere already?

Any tips will be most welcome.

Reply to stoff
frozenlead   04-08-2009 at 08:38:21 PM
- 0 +

As far as I know, the 2600 can't do GPGPU (unless you've got a special driver or application).

GPGPU will go somewhere, but by the time it does, you'll want a new computer anyway.

Reply to frozenlead
Raviolissimo   04-08-2009 at 08:49:42 PM
- 0 +

the Sapphire 3850 AGP is a good one. 256 bit bus, 512 MB RAM.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102730

------------------------------ Main Rig ~ Q9550, Aysus P5E-VM HDMI uATX board, Sapphire 3870, XQ-Pack, Seegate 640, Seesonic 650
#2 Rig ~ E6700, 1ntel 965G uATX board, eVGA 7600GT, XQ-Pack, Seegate 320 GB, Seesonic 430 Watts
http://LASIK-FLAP.com/ ~ About LASIK Eye Surgery
 Reply to Raviolissimo
lasoski311   04-08-2009 at 09:11:20 PM
- 0 +

the card Raviolissimo suggested is the best AGP card u can get

Reply to lasoski311
RazberyBandit   04-08-2009 at 10:56:25 PM
- 0 +

3650's, much like 2600XTs, are also very solid performers in many current game titles at lower resolutions. They can also be found priced well under $100, unlike the 3850's which are still upwards of $120-150.

 

Sapphire's 3650 and 3850 models side-by-side at Newegg: Click!
You might not need to spend the extra cash for a 3850 if you're planning on replacing the entire system sometime within the next year, or if you play at a low resolution.

 

What resolution is your monitor anyway?


Message edited by RazberyBandit on 04-08-2009 at 10:58:01 PM
Reply to RazberyBandit
stoff   04-25-2009 at 06:04:04 PM
- 0 +

Thanks for the super fast replies.

(And sorry AGAIN for my late one ...)

Now it's getting complicated. This is because I can't seem to get a 2600XT or 3xxx locally, however my fav pc shop down the road can find a X850XT. At first I thought nah, but then I saw on the graphics card comparison chart that the X850XT is in the same tier as the 2600XT. Is this for real?

The X850XT only has 256MB and not much bells & whistles whereas the 2600XT has at least 512MB, but that's about the only advantage. The 2600XT also supports Directx10 and HDV, both of which I cannot make use of. So, the X850XT is now looking good.

To answer you Raz, yup, I'm only looking to make this last another year or so, and I'm only using 1280x1024 resolution.

Sorry you guys for asking more questions about all this outdated stuff! Really appreciate the advice.

"This Vezzinni, he can fuss."

Reply to stoff
jeffredo   04-25-2009 at 07:42:10 PM
- 0 +

With your monitor size, CPU and games played if you can snag a cheap X850 XT you might as well. My old PC has a Athlon64 3700+ paired with an X850 XT AGP. I can play games release up to a few years ago quite well with it on a 17" monitor.

Reply to jeffredo
stoff   04-26-2009 at 07:46:12 PM
- 0 +

Excellent. Thanks jeffredo. It's helpful to know that someone has done it before. Now I'm all set to get the X850 XT :-)

Reply to stoff
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