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Best Gaming Graphics Cards For The Money: AGP Interface

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3:00 AM - 08/05/2008 by Don Woligroski

Best AGP Card for Under $100:

Radeon HD 2600 PRO | | Codename: | RV630 | | Process: | 65nm | | Universal Shaders: | 128 | | Texture Units: | 8 | | ROPs: | 4 | | Memory Bus: | 128-bit | | Core Speed MHz: | 600 | | Memory Speed MHz: | 500 (1000 effective) | | DirectX / Shader Model | DX 10 / SM 4.0 |

In this category we’re recommending the low-priced Radeon 2600 PRO. This card is almost as fast as the older GeForce 7600, but can now be found for about $75 on the aging AGP bus, making it a good buy.

Best AGP Card for $100:

Radeon HD 2600 XT | | Codename: | RV630 | | Process: | 65nm | | Universal Shaders: | 128 | | Texture Units: | 8 | | ROPs: | 4 | | Memory Bus: | 128-bit | | Core Speed MHz: | 800 | | Memory Speed MHz: | 700 (1400 effective) | | DirectX / Shader Model | DX 10 / SM 4.0 |

The 2600 XT is relatively new to the AGP scene, but almost as cheap as its PCIe cousin. This is a decently fast DirectX 10 card for AGP, and surprisingly offers a great deal of performance at the $100 price point. Be forewarned that it’s been reported that the official AMD drivers don’t work with the AGP version of this card, but that the modified Omega drivers work fine.

Best AGP Card For $140:

Radeon 3850 512MB
Codename: RV670
Process: 55nm
Universal Shaders: 320
Texture Units: 16
ROPs: 16
Memory Bus: 256-bit
Core Speed MHz: 670
Memory Speed MHz: 833 (1666 effective)
DirectX / Shader Model DX 10.1 / SM 4.0

Forever rumored and now finally available to purchase, the Radeon 3850 is a curiously powerful card for the aging AGP bus. In fact, it’s a bit too powerful to be properly utilized with the single-core CPUs that are typically found on this platform.

Regardless, this is the most powerful AGP card you can get. Maybe you have an AGP gaming system you just can’t bear to part with, or perhaps you have an older system with both a dual-core CPU and AGP slot: whatever the reason, you can’t get better than an AGP 3850. If anyone ever releases a more powerful card in the future for the dying bus, we’ll be incredibly surprised.

Talkback
middeneast 08/05/2008 10:18 AM
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The 2x 9800gtx's specs are wrong :) Accidentally took the same specs as the 4850 in crossfire.

Not that it matters a lot, but hey :D

pulasky 08/05/2008 10:29 AM
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Quote :Be forewarned that it’s been reported that the official AMD drivers don’t work with the AGP version of this card, but that the modified Omega drivers work fine.

Serious look here http://support.ati.com/ics/support [...] erID=10551

aleluja 08/05/2008 10:55 AM
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I wish i could get HD4850 for only 175$.
It costs 230$ where i live :D And that is the cheapest Gigabyte model.
And HD4870 costs 340$.

otheos 08/05/2008 11:09 AM
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I think you need to revise the texts on the AGP cards. Both for drivers (as noted above) and a few more clues regarding the performance.

transsive 08/05/2008 11:51 AM
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Would someone fix the table on the last page of this article.

Gridener 08/05/2008 12:00 PM
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I guess you forgot to mention the 9800GT. Its out for purchase and you can get one for around 140$-160$.

modtech 08/05/2008 12:13 PM
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4850 costs $250 here and at that price it's still worth it.

kitsilencer 08/05/2008 12:28 PM
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First time in a LONG time that ATI is dominating Tom's recommend list. Good to see.

tntom 08/05/2008 3:03 PM
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There is something wrong with the table on the last page

Ignotus 08/05/2008 3:05 PM
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THe 9800GT is mentioned... it's the 8800GT. :-D

hixbot 08/05/2008 3:13 PM
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Can they take the time to write new paragraphs? Even just to slightly change the wording so we can see that the authors actually give a #$%5.
Official drivers now work for AGP ATI cards. Get with it.

nottheking 08/05/2008 3:19 PM
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Good to see another update; the list needed one. Though there are some comments I have to make... As well, of course, as my slight disappointment that it appears that while still a pinned thread, it appears that the thread in the Graphics & Displays forum is no longer quite connected with the list itself.

origosis 08/05/2008 3:20 PM
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hixbot :
Can they take the time to write new paragraphs? Even just to slightly change the wording so we can see that the authors actually give a #$%5.Official drivers now work for AGP ATI cards. Get with it.


Alot of Work Goes into Testing the cards ALOT! and besides this is a monthly article that most people will simply flip through to thier price point see what card they need then run to Newegg. So extra work on the article may fall on deaf ears.

I agree I like to hears each persons opinion on each card, but even I just like to skim this article each month.

hardwarekid9756 08/05/2008 4:12 PM
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It's very pleasant to see Radeon finally get some Face time on the BVCftM charts. It's been a GeForce world for so long, and even if I have dabbled in the dark side, it's always a pleasant relief to see my champion back on the board.

Ahslan 08/05/2008 4:14 PM
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great work guys! Keep it up!

gwolfman 08/05/2008 4:15 PM
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I still think Tom's should recommend single board graphics cards at the higher end even though some crossfire/SLI configurations are better. Some people don't want SLI/CF configurations, power requirements, and some can't run it due to their chipset or limited PCIe slots.

Cleeve 08/05/2008 4:31 PM
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gwolfman :
I still think Tom's should recommend single board graphics cards at the higher end even though some crossfire/SLI configurations are better. Some people don't want SLI/CF configurations, power requirements, and some can't run it due to their chipset or limited PCIe slots.



I did. The 4870 is in there... that's the best performing single card for the money. The 260 and 280 are overpriced by my reckoning.

If they lower the price, or the 4870 X2 comes in at a reasonable price, those will be put on the list too.

gwolfman 08/05/2008 4:54 PM
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Even if the 280 is overpriced, isn't it still faster than the 4870? It's still good to see the 4870 in there and I'm sure the x2 will make it in somewhere.

spaztic7 08/05/2008 5:25 PM
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I think this review is much, much better than the July. Good stuff and thanks for the disclaimers at the beginning!!!

Keep up the good work!

vladsinger 08/05/2008 5:34 PM
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Ahem - the tables on the last two pages don't seem to be rendering.


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