Best AGP cards?

[hewybo]

It will be some time before I will feel like putting a new mobo in my system, and my ASUS P5P800 only supports AGP or PCI. After perusing many threads, I think PCI is not an option, so.....
Could someone please recommend both a good . stable, reasonably priced AGP x8 card; AND a kick-*** one? And tell me the why's for each? Also- mobo manual states: MUST be only 1.5V, or 0.8V. 3.3V not supported.

Thanks, and have a merry!!

 

[mattw]

i have an X850XT-PE agp card, it cost me £330... its such a mental card tho, well worth every penny. so i would recommend reading up about this card. my card also has a HIS IceQII cooling unit on it, which is awesome, as this has dramatically dropped my case temperature, as my case was overheating causing my pc to freeze. now i my pc is very stable. i would recommend getting a HIS card. the platinum edition has got the highest clock speeds out of all versions of this card, its got 16 pixel pipelines etc, i would read into it.

also look into 6800 nvidia cards.

 

[flavin]

http://forums.livingwithstyle.com/t34001p3-graphics-cards-best-worst.html

this list all AGP cards from best to worst. go to the last post on the 3rd for the updated version. i guess it all depends on ur price range.

 

[Sharkfood]

The best deal around right now for AGP for those of us in the USA is the AIW X800 XT. $265 after rebate!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102492

It's a 500mhz/16-pipeline card. I've seen many of these hit 530-540mhz overclocking as well (as they have an enormous heatsink/fan for the AIW components) so that's X850 XT PE performance at a substantially lower price.

Throw in TV Tuner, capture, HT out/in... pretty hard to go wrong. AIW's do have problems with the TV Tuner + HT P4 processors with the default WDM driver install though, but there is a simple work-around (manually change the tuner/audio drivers in the Device Manager with each upgrade as the ATI Drivers include NSP and SP Drivers... NSP = lockups with HT and default installation, SP = works great).

 

[Tommy529]

at best buy you can get a x700 for $200 but on black friday my friend picked one up for $100

 

[Arcanum]

Depending on the money you're willing to spend, get either an
ATi X800XL - around 230$
or an
nVidia 6800GT - around 265$
depending on your budget.

The latter is ofcourse faster + it has PS 3.0 support...
Both are really good cards, but I would go with 6800GT as it's more future proof (and of course it's faster ).

 

[kodrutz]

Hummm...

One of the best cards for the buck, I think it's 9800SE. The idea is to get one that is moddable into 9800/9800Pro using modded drivers, no need for hardware
tricks. Even if it's an old card, it's a big runner for its money.

Try and check this link
http://www.rojakpot.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=113&pgno=0

I think that for playing most of the latest games at 1024X768 and with medium-high quality settings you don't need to spend 250USD for a video card...
you forgot to let us know your budget for this - that would help a lot!

 

[Handyman]

Depending on how much money you are willing to spend these are the best options:
Radeon 9550 (same performance as the FX 5200\5500 but ONLY IN OLDER GAMES<DX7&8> )
THE FX 5200/5500 IS USELESS IN DX9 GAMES LIKE QUAKE4; SPLINTER CELL CHAOS THEORY AND NFSMW. BUYING ONE OF THESE CARDS FOR MOST NEW GAMES IS LIKE FUSION WITH A CORPSE.

Radeon 9600XT (quite fast; medium quality with 4x FSAA)*
Radeon X700 -heared lots of good things about it

FX 5700 Ultra ...if you can find one
GeForce 6800LE(unlock the pipes and occ the RAM)
GeForce 6800 GT

Also any videocard with 256-bit memory controller

*check the voltage for these cards!!!

 

[kodrutz]

Come on!!!

You gotta be kidding!

Radeon 9550 (same performance as the FX 5200\5500 but with DX9.0c support)

I don't want to start a flame here, but do you think about what you say? My 9200 is around the same level as a 5200, and a 9550 kicks my card's a*s big time.
If you have any links for us to prove that a 9550 has _the same_ performance as a 5200, please let us know, that would be something new for all of us, I am sure of that.

 

[Handyman]

The FX 5200 and the FX 5500 are almost the same! You've got to agree with that! (the 128 bit models of course!)
The Radeon 9550 and the GeForce 5200/5500 have very similar performance in DX7&8. Just think about Unreal Tournament 2004 and CoD 2 with the DX7 engine.

But in DX 9.0c the Radeon has almost double the performance of the FX.
That's what I meant with DX9 support! Anyway thanks for pointing out the missunderstanding.
I'll edit my previous post to keep the world happy!!!

I read a lot of reviews about these cards when they were launched. So I do know what I'm saying!
By the way Merry Christmas to everybody!

 

[hewybo]

budget

One of the best cards for the buck, I think it's 9800SE. The idea is to get one that is moddable into 9800/9800Pro using modded drivers, no need for hardware
tricks. Even if it's an old card, it's a big runner for its money.

Try and check this link
http://www.rojakpot.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=113&pgno=0

I think that for playing most of the latest games at 1024X768 and with medium-high quality settings you don't need to spend 250USD for a video card...
you forgot to let us know your budget for this - that would help a lot!

I'm on SS disability, so........... the closer I get to free, the better! I just read a review of a 5600 that said in essence: "NO Intel processor can play the latest games, such as Sims2." I have a P4 640 HT, so I guess I'll have to settle for Pinball?

MERRY, HAPPY Chrismahanukwaanzakahmadan TO ALL!!!!