Outdated request... AGP card reccomendation?

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svak

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Jun 25, 2007
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I know that nobody in their right mind uses AGP anymore, but my roommate just bought a desktop from a friend of ours which is running on integrated graphics (ewww). This thing lags playing flash games, honestly.

So I figure AGP cards have got to be cheap by now, but want to know what would be the best bang for the buck. I'd prefer something with 2 DVI out, S-Video not required.
 
Its funny, the prices of decent AGP cards don't seem to have gone down. This is probably due to the reduced supply. You can get a new 2900xt in AGP but I think you would be better off saving that money.

What are the system specs. I'm kind of assuming that his comp is going to be heavily CPU limited.

You should also start a thread in the in the FS/T Forum. People always have spare parts lying around and you may be able to get a good deal.
 
ATI's 3850 is supposedly coming out in AGP by Sapphire. Which is a good price / performance ratio.
 
I didn't post the specs because I was posting from elsewhere, but here's what I've got now:

Intel Pentium 4 (2.4GHz, 1MB L2 cache, etc.)
ECS 661FX-M (Deluxe) / 661FX-M7 / SF2 / Abit SG-72 / Acer E61ML / AOpen s661FXm-US
512MB PC2100 Micron Tech. SDRAM
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80GB
Etc. - more upon request

Keep the budget low. Less than $100 would be nice, $60 or so optimal. This isn't a gaming machine by any means, but integrated seems like a punishment.
 
It doesn't cost the manufacturer any less to make an AGP card. Actually, with the bridge just a little more.

This is probably your best bet for your budget. Only one DVI output, though. Also, getting at least another 512 mem stick would help tremendously.

ATi X1650
 
I have that same proc in one of my older machines, and let me tell you now that its not worth getting anything from current generation. the ATi 1650 would probably be your best bet :D
 
Nvidia's 7600 series would suit you as well. Not saying Mr. Zion's suggestion is a poor choice, but I had an X1600pos... er pro and it was simply a piece of shit... maybe the 1650 is an improvement, I don't know....
 
Here are the specs. It goes either way.

X1650:

Manufacturer: ATi
Series: Radeon X1K
GPU: RV530 + Rialto
Release Date: 2007-02-01
Interface: AGP 8X
Core Clock: 500 MHz
Memory Clock: 400 MHz (800 DDR)
Memory Bandwidth: 12.8 GB/sec
Shader Operations: 6000 MOperations/sec
Pixel Fill Rate: 2000 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 2000 MTexels/sec
Vertex Operations: 625 MVertices/sec


7600:

Manufacturer: nVidia
Series: GeForce 7
GPU: G73 + HSI
Release Date: 2006-07-01
Interface: AGP 8X
Core Clock: 400 MHz
Memory Clock: 400 MHz (800 DDR)
Memory Bandwidth: 12.8 GB/sec
Shader Operations: 4800 MOperations/sec
Pixel Fill Rate: 3200 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 4800 MTexels/sec
Vertex Operations: 500 MVertices/sec
 
Yep... look pretty even.

And your advice as to adding another stick of ram is really good advice as well:)
 
I should have mentioned before that the RAM is 2x256MB... so that will have to wait until we want to replace them. I don't know what all the board will support, but that's for another thread on another day.

Anyway, I was looking at this card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814241043
I've never heard of "GeCube" before, but at $50AR, it's the cheapest AGP card with 2 DVIs by a significant margin. I would like to get this system functional first; I can worry about making it nice later.

Aside from this, how would an X800 or X850 stack up against the X1600s or 7600s? Purely arbitrarily, I'd think an X1600 would be twice as powerful as an X800, but somehow I doubt the numbering scheme works that way. Don't worry about overclocking or anything remotely as fancy -- this is going to be used by a guy who is still amazed by keyboard shortcuts.
 
Actually I think a X850 Pro is about the same as a 1600 while an X850 XT if faster iirc. I've got a X850 XT (its a pro with a successful bios flash). It plays CS:S at 60+ fps on the most demanding ones 200+ on the least demanding ones with max settings aside from HDR turned off. I've played CoV/CoH, WoW, FFXI, all on it w/o any problems. It's not going to play crysis or oblivion or anything with max settings though. It will be more than enough, and I think I've heard of several people picking them up for 50-75$ used. Which honestly is a robbery for the amount of preformance the card can deliver for the price.
 
svak said:
I should have mentioned before that the RAM is 2x256MB... so that will have to wait until we want to replace them. I don't know what all the board will support, but that's for another thread on another day.

Anyway, I was looking at this card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814241043
I've never heard of "GeCube" before, but at $50AR, it's the cheapest AGP card with 2 DVIs by a significant margin. I would like to get this system functional first; I can worry about making it nice later.

Aside from this, how would an X800 or X850 stack up against the X1600s or 7600s? Purely arbitrarily, I'd think an X1600 would be twice as powerful as an X800, but somehow I doubt the numbering scheme works that way. Don't worry about overclocking or anything remotely as fancy -- this is going to be used by a guy who is still amazed by keyboard shortcuts.
Click to expand...

This VGA Chart has it's issues, but overall it will give you a general idea of how the various card compare with each other. Personally, I think the 7600GT would be a good card for you friend, but given his specs the cheaper 1650 Pro would also make a good choice. As far as the X8xx series of cards go, there are various models of these cards which differ in performance and buying anyone of them new is incredibly expensive. Finding one used on Ebay would be your best option here. The various X8xx cards also represented on VGA Chart......

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=735&model2=716&chart=318
 
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