AGP oldie getting and Update...ATI 3850 or 4650?

[Guest]

Hello, I have an old machine, P-4 3,8 extreme edition, Intel D865 motherboard, 2 Gb RAM ( ddr2 400) and a 500 PSU.

Now I got the chance to get myself a new GPU to replace my old, faithfull and extremely cheap Nvidia 6200 AGP.
I was wondering what would be the best choice ( talking about ATIs)a Saphire 3850 512 ddr3 or an xfx 4650 1GB DDR2? Or the 4680?
Or ( finally) and NVIDIA 9500 512 agp?

I know it's and old machine but she has served me too well...she's GONNA have this upgrade So, in your opinion, what should I do?
And What about bottlenecks?

Thanks in advance.

 

[wa1]

The best AGP card is HD4670 DDR3 AGP version.
Get that card if you can afford it.

HD4670 AGP would still bottlenecked by your CPU, so HD3850 DDR3 is a better card for your need, it's cheaper than 4670 agp...

 

[Maziar]

Hello and welcome to the forums
HD 4670 > HD 4650 > HD 3850 > Nvidia 9500
As for bottlenecks, well it depends on the games/resolutions that you play at.

 

[dualblade]

hd 3850 is better than 4670 without AA but it is slower and sometimes near 4650 even slower with AA, but in a lot of modern games you cant enable AA so 3850 will be better.

 

[jyjjy]

All of the cards mentioned will be limited by your processor so just get the cheapest one.

 

[Maziar]

hd 3850 is better than 4670 without AA but it is slower and sometimes near 4650 even slower with AA, but in a lot of modern games you cant enable AA so 3850 will be better.

The reason that 3850 runs better in some games is because of CPU bottleneck, which doesn't let either 4650/4670 at their full potential
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-4650-agp,2383-10.html
"Unfortunately, with the Radeon HD 3850 still available at a similar price, it's hard to recommend the AGP Radeon HD 4650 until the Radeon HD 3850 is phased out. The Radeon HD 3850 remains the king of AGP game performance, especially for resolutions above 1280x1024.

But since our rig was obviously bottlenecked by the older Athlon 64 X2 3800+ (a fairly typical processor, we think, in a platform armed with AGP graphics), what would happen with a faster CPU? Would that give Gigabyte's Radeon HD 4650 stronger legs on which to stand? In light of the clear CPU bottleneck, we weren't too concerned with overclocking. But with a faster processor helping improve performance, perhaps an overclocked Radeon HD 4650 could serve up more attractive numbers in today's games."

 

[MANOWARMALON]

Forgot to answer you all...thanks people!

The 4650 found it's way into my tower...and it's doing a great job! I mean, I can play Modern Warfare 2, wich is waaay beyond I supposed I could! And most important...Napoleon TW

I'm very happy with my new ATI now! And here where I live ( Argentina) it was cheaper than both the 4670 AND the 3850 ( since this last one's AGP model was never officially released here, I think)

Again, thanks for the advice!!!

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey