Need help choosing AGP card

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c2rex

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 26, 2003
Messages
76
I've got a 2100+ and a 9800 videocard. I don't want to completely rebuild, only looking to upgrade the videocard. I'm lost with the numbering schemes after theGeForce 4 and 9800 series.

I'm guessing the end-all-be-all AGP card probably isn't necessary due to my CPU, so what should I be considering.

Also, is there anywhere that has a listing of AGP cards based on their performance?

I'm lost.
 
I have a Sapphire X1950 PRO, and have been very happy with it. That being said, you should tell us what games you plan to run.
 
The X1950Pro will eat the 7600GT.

try to get the 512 MB eddition.
 
7600GT, based on the small amount of information you've given...Your cpu is going to bottleneck just about anything more than that...
 
UT 2004, HL2, Doom 3, Far Cry, Flatout 2. I can play them, but I'm turning stuff down to do so. I'd like to try Flight Sim X, but I was told it wasn't gonna look very good with my 9800. I've not tried anything new, because I wasn't sure if it'd be playable with what I currently have. I don't mind investing in another AGP card, and I'm not sure if I can go much higher on CPU with my motherboard, but I don't want to have to get XP again.

I'm OK with 1024X768, but would like to go a little better if possible. I've not been able to run anything that has the eyecandy turned up.

The bottleneck was what I was wondering about. Am I throwing money away on a better card if its not doing anything for me.

I'm wanting something to hold me for a year or two, then maybe rebuild with PCI-e.
 
Alternative suggestion (since you have a decent agp card), and assuming you have a decent amount of PC2100 / 2700 ram.

Get an Asrock 4Core Dual Vsta mobo - it has 2 DDR (will work with PC 2100 / 2700 / 3200 ram) and 2 DDR2 ram slots (only one type at a time), and an 8X AGP slot as well as a PCI-E slot (X16 formfactor, 4x electrically). $65. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157107

Toss in a low end intel dual core:
e2140 - $75 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116037
e2160 - $88 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116036
e4300 - $122 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115013

Plus your existing kit, including the 9800. You should get a noticeable boost from the more powerful cpu.

Then between now and xmas - save up for a better PCI-E video card - which will also be cheaper than the AGP versions you're looking at now, which will help offset some of the cost.

At some point a couple of $29 1gig sticks of ddr 667 valueram might help too (though if you've got pc3200, there's probably no point).

You can find some good reviews over at Anandtech on the 4Core Dual's previous version - the Asrock 775 Dual VSTA on performance, and impact of DDR versus DDR2 ram.
 
Appreciate the info, but

e4300 - $122
+ Vsta mobo - $65
+ XP Home - $95
$282

Not to mention reformatting harddrives and backing everything up. This also assumes no hardware issues/conflicts. This was the reason I'd pretty much decided to just go the better AGP card route. Again, I'm hoping to put off rebuilding for a year or two. Also figure by then maybe I'll be ready to go with Vista. If Microsoft didn't charge a small fortune for their OS, it'd not be an issue to upgrade sooner, but I really don't want to pay for XP again.
 
I hate to say it, but every single card offered here would be extreme overkill for his comp. I think a 7300GT 512MB AGP 8x card would be the best option (without bottlenecking on the CPU).

Just make sure your PSU is big enough to hand the card (a 350 watt should be fine for this card).
 
Red Falcon said:
7300GT 512MB AGP 8x
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to be rude.... but why bother?

Assuming the OP's 9800 is a 128m pro, and still working... there would be no reason to go that route... the difference in performance would be minimal, at best....

A 7600gt is going to bottleneck his CPU, but it will perform better than his 9800... I went from a 9800128m pro to an X1950pro 256m... and it bottlenecked the shit out of my 3g Northwood, but the difference is very impressive.....
 
The 2100+ and the 9800Pro are a good pair; upgrading will probably show the processor just holding you back. My advice would be to save your money and just go out and upgrade all at once so that the system is all at the same level.
 
c2rex said:
Appreciate the info, but

e4300 - $122
+ Vsta mobo - $65
+ XP Home - $95
$282

Not to mention reformatting harddrives and backing everything up. This also assumes no hardware issues/conflicts. This was the reason I'd pretty much decided to just go the better AGP card route. Again, I'm hoping to put off rebuilding for a year or two. Also figure by then maybe I'll be ready to go with Vista. If Microsoft didn't charge a small fortune for their OS, it'd not be an issue to upgrade sooner, but I really don't want to pay for XP again.
Click to expand...

Okay. Well... your options seem to be 7300GT for $105, 7600GT for $110 AR, X1950 Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161071 for $155 AR.

When you decide to rebuild in a year or two, you'll probablly be abandoning the AGP card, and starting over completely (and either parting out the existing gear, or more probably selling it or giving it away) - with an outlay of $700 to $1000.

Just thought I'd point out a piece-by-piece upgrade path. With the Asrock, once you're up and running it's pretty easy to drop in a PCI-E card.

I bought one of their 939 mobos almost two years ago with a 3700+ and started with a 6600GT agp brought over from an older P4 2.8 (and saw a really good increase from the increased cpu), then moved to a PCI-E 7600GT, 7900GS, and 8800GTS 320.
 
Hi,

YGPM c2rex

I have a 2500+ and went from a 9800 to X850 with no problems. I just made sure the PSU would handle it and went from there. Yeah you do see the bottleneck but it's fine and it runs well enough for most games. The 2500 now is rellagated to the shop now as my main shop machine since I upgraded my system to PCI-E.

Later,
shaggy
 
i have sapphire x800gto .. $70 buck and it your.. play doom 3, farcry, prey, utk4, AA all high resolution
 
ANGRYEAGLE said:
I have a Sapphire X1950 PRO, and have been very happy with it. That being said, you should tell us what games you plan to run.
Click to expand...

i have the same card 512mb version and would not look anywhere else. the card runs hot , and can be overclocked also . this card does without question eats up power big time . but the pay-off is you can basically play any game on the market right now with full settings set to high and AS + AA on . im running BioShock with this card and the only thing i cant turn on is the DirectX10 option . there r 2 version of this card the 256mb and 512mb . pay the extra cash for the 512mb the ram will help out in the long run and keep a smile on your face. the 256mb version has much faster memory chips on-board but you might want to ask others if the extra 256mb would be for you . good luck , crysis right around corner need 512mb to play lol.
 
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