AGP solution for $150-200 for a Socket A system

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xonik

[H]F Junkie
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I'm out of the AGP loop, and my brother with an Athlon XP 3200+ wants an AGP upgrade for his decrepit GeForce FX 5200 card. He's into FPS-type games, so that should weigh into the selection. Budget is $150, no more than $200. New or used videocards are okay. Obviously, with a system like this, one would be foolish to pour much money into this anyways.

A couple options I've considered:

6800GS, X1600 Pro, X800GTO.

The AGP Outlook thread seems somewhat outdated, but I read it nonetheless.

Thanks for your recommendations.
 
I wouldnt pick any that you have there. I would look around the forums and find a deal on an x850xt.

or:

Compusa has a pny 6800ultra for $150.

shop.ati.com has an AIW x800xt for $129 (after giving them your old card)

With that, couldnt you just get a shotty little pci card for $5 and give it to ati and say thats your old one?

Globe
 
A 9800SE is slightly better than the 5200. Try to find a used 9800pro or if you have to have new, get like a 6600gt. Should be around $100. Anything better than that will be overkill for that machine.
 
Overkill for a 3200+? I dont think it would be. I had a 2800+ barton and it seemed pretty perfect with my x800xt AIW.

Globe
 
My reccomendations:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143045

6800GS -- 12 pipelines, 256-bit memory, 256 meg memory, HUGE overclock/unlockability!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130046

7800GS Recert -- 16 pipelines, the "best" AGP card to be released in mass quantitites. Covered for 90days under eVGA warranty, 15 from newegg.

You could also look around for an X800XT/X850XT/X800XL AGP.

That processor isn't bottlenecking as bad as some may tell you, it can easily handle even the top AGP cards.
 
xonik, what are your brother's future upgrade plans? If he'll be able to do a full Conroe build in the spring, then he should probably do one of the cheaper options now. OTOH, if he's going to need to use this vidcard for a while (either with the AXP or on an Asrock xxxDual), a better card makes sense.
 
Go with an X800. Mine worked great in my Socket A rig and continues to work with my X2.
 
if you check ebay, there are a whole slew of brand new x850 pros for $150 after shipping, probalbly from ATI's clearance not to long ago.
 
look in the hot deals section. There is a thread about ati.com and their x800xl and x850 pro both of which are under $120. The x800xl has better performance than the x850pro but less overclockability(it is the replacement to the pro actually). I jumped o nthe x800xl deal and i have a similar setup as your brother. I went from a 9800pro 128mb to the x800xl and noticed almost double the score in 3dmark05 and my fps average higher in all games. Worthwhile upgrade. Would not bother spending more cause u do not want to sink a lot of money into a computer that is getting harder and harder to upgrade. My 2 cents.

EDIT: Nevermind the ati.com deals are all done. If i were you I would get the x800xt AIW for 179.99 and send in your old card for 50 bucks back (like a previous poster said). Ati.com has a trade in program to help offset the costs of a new graphics card. So in the end, u end up sinking 129.99 into a new graphics card. a fairly good one too.
 
FS/FT section is great too, I picked up a 6800GT 256MB GDDR3 AGP card for $100 a few weeks ago.
 
freakycody said:
EDIT: Nevermind the ati.com deals are all done. If i were you I would get the x800xt AIW for 179.99 and send in your old card for 50 bucks back (like a previous poster said). Ati.com has a trade in program to help offset the costs of a new graphics card. So in the end, u end up sinking 129.99 into a new graphics card. a fairly good one too.
Click to expand...
Correct me if I'm wrong, but the AIW X800XT doesn't apply to the trade-in program.
 
Well, it did yesterday. But i just looked today and didnt see it. Dang, that was a really good deal too. :(

Oh well

Globe
 
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