One AGP question?

There isnt much of a performance difference of those cards. Just dont expect a 3850 agp to perform like a pci e version of the card.

So which one do you all prefer, A sapphire or powercolor? I am leaning towards the powercolor, but need some different opinions besides the online stores salesmanship. Thanks

long cards

Yeah buddy. My 3850 just barely fit into an ATX case. Works fine though with 500 w PSU

Sapphire over PowerColor IMO. There is an HIS HD 3850 ICEQ3 AGP card, but it's for $200 or so on TigerDirect. The extra cooling could allow you to OC the card and squeeze some more performance out of it. The Sapphire reference card is almost $100 cheaper here though, so you just have to decide whether or not you want to spend an extra $100 on the card, or save it for a system upgrade.

I'm probably not going to be overclocking it. So i am just looking at which one cools better and runs better?

All of the cards out there, with the exception of the Sapphire Toxic and HIS ICEQ3 editions, have the same cooler. So it's more a matter of just choosing one of the other cards..

Ok, well i am running a p4 3.2ghz. socket 478. i know the 3850 will bottleneck and would just be a waste of money. but i am wanting to get the highest card with minimum bottlenecking.

I have found a hd 2600 xt card, is this a good card for my setup? i am currently running a x850 xt. but it won't play shader model 3. so my game i got for xmas won't play. Will i notice any difference in the 2600?

Bottlenecking is non-relevant, since games depend far more on a powerful GPU than a CPU, and even with the bottleneck, it will not prevent you from raising graphics options like FSAA etc. So IMO go for the HD 3850.

As for the 2600XT, it is slower than the HD 3850 and the X1950PRO. I don't see any reason to go with it.

Yes, i knew it was slower, but is it faster than a 850? as far as, will i be able to see a difference in gaming? I am hoping to build a new pc soon. Ima skip the 775 socket and go on to the core i7. So i am just needing something a little better than a 850, but not to cause other issues also. I would like to get the 3850, but some reviews on the net said it would cause bottlenecking of the cpu and i would rather take a lesser card of that, but more than the 850 i currently run.

The 2600 XT would be a bit better than the X850 XT. You'll see a boost with the 2600 XT, probably most notable in newer games, but it might not be earth-shattering in some older stuff.

And I agree, if you're saving up for a new system, it makes sense to go with a cheaper card.

Thats probably what i will do, if i can get the 2600 at a good price. Is there a hd card between the 2600 and 3650?

Not really, no. The 3650 occupies the same place that the 2600 occupied before the mainstream Radeon HD 3xxx series was released.

I had a X1950Pro in my old AGP rig.

Worked great, system was a dog, but it played Counter Strike : Source with great frame rates, and it chewed WoW up with no problem.

It would probably suit your needs just fine.

u selling that old x1950 damak?

Well this is a perfect example relating to my other post... http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic119623.html

Unfortunately I am not, nor am I allowed to sell it to you via communication over these forums, even if i were :-(

I actually still use the rig, well sorta... but it has a TON of my old files on it, and I need to be able to fire it up at a moments notice.

For PSU estimated requirements, check here:

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I usually go about 100 watts over the recommended.