Who knows video cards AGP / what to buy?

[Tomkah]

Hi all,

I am thinking about upgrading my video card before I won't find anything for my aging AGP bus.

My system is a Intel 3 Gigahertz, 1 GB RAM running Windows XP. The current video card is an ATI Radeon 9800SE running an omega driver.

I am using it for the odd game, mostly 1st person shooters, currently Half Life Episode 1 (which for some reason keeps crashing at the same spot).

I have been looking on Ebay but quite frankly have no idea if this, that or the other card is better. Can anybody pls have a look on Ebay and advise, I am looking at spending about $150 max.

eBay Australia - video agp, Video, Sound, Multimedia, Components, Upgrades, Wholesale, Bulk Lots items at low prices (http://search.ebay.com.au/search/search.dll'sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&dfsp=1&from=R10&_trksid=m37&satitle=video+agp&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=4011&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ga10244=10425&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1)

Cheers,

Thomas

[Pedro_The_Swift]

For a start Thomas go here--
VGA Charts 2007 | Tom's Hardware (http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html'modelx=33&model1=859&model2=722&chart=311)

choose any cards to start with,,
see if you can find your old 9800,,

then look for any agp model,, they are still making them,, an ATi1950 is possibly your best bet,, but $$$.

[coedman]

An nVidia GeForce 6600GT is probably a good choice, decent performance on older games and very stable drivers.

AGP pretty much died off a couple years ago so I don't know if there's much newer stuff using it, but a lot for the 7 series geforce cards would also suit your needs well if you can find one.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

NEW($150), somewhere around an ATi 2600AGP

now go back to toms,, and see where you stand,,

[shorty943]

I picked up an nVidea NX6800GT\512 VRAM, on ebay for $100.50, that included postage.

That card out paces the next gen 7600 series.

The 7000 series are the last of the nVidea AGP's.

And I don't use, or know anything about ATI.
Sorry. Linux likes nVidea. I like Linux.

It also depends on the game developer to a big extent as well.
Some develop on ATI, some on nVidea. And the game does actually run better on the system it was built on.

Just keep on searching ebay. And check Tom's Hardware site.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

SNAP!
I have a 6800GT (in my second box,, but only the 256 one,,)

what a great card,, played Halflife 2 EP1 no probs,,
also Fear, and it just LOVED Painkiller:TakeABow:

it was for sale on here,, but I couldnt bear to part with it---

[RobHay]

I run an ASUS card Nvidia GeForce EN7600GS Silent PCI Express 512MB DDR2 DVI, Dual VGA, HDTV, TV_OUT cost me a bit but well worth the $

My motherboard is a Gigabyte S-series Dual AMD Socket AM2 (running dual AMD 64 Athlon 3800 processors) Model GA-M55SLi -S4 (2nd revision)
also cost me a bit but not as much as the PCI Graph Card:p

[Pedro_The_Swift]

and not as much as my 8800 GT,,,,,;):p:D
I have a GA -X38-DS5,
I was an AMD guy,
so I know your MB is nice ;)

[milney]

Thomas,

I’ve been running an Nvidia 7900GT PCI-e card for 18 months in an AMD 4400 64 X2 system with 2 Mb of Kingston RAM, on an ASUS A8N-SLI board. I have no need to upgrade, chews through Battlefield2 to Call of Duty 4 easily, it’s a lot of fun. I believe there is an AGP version of the video card, I read it in a magazine 6 months or so ago but no idea where the magazine is now. I just got home from nightshift so I’ll leave the Google search to you although a little Google found a Radeon™ X1650 PRO AGP on the ATI website. EBay has them between $100 - $150 but I don’t know anything about the ATi card.

What I will say is your specs on your post aren’t clear to me, is it P3 with 1Mb of RAM, or a 3Ghz P4? Higher end graphics cards may be restricted by your system. Perhaps you should double your RAM instead... All your applications will benefit from a memory upgrade. I made sure I got 2Mb as a minimum. I've no idea what memory you’re running but for example 1 Gb of Generic RAM (go for Kingston or Corsair if you’ve already got it) will set you back around $50.00… Computer World Online - Australia's best prices on Commercial PCs, Laptops and Software (http://www.cworld.com.au/product_info.php?ID=138221). 1GB Corsair PC-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 RAM will be about $70.00.

Walk into a computer shop and ask them, on many occasions a memory upgrade is the best/most cost effective upgrade. That's certainly what I've found. That said, if you’ve got a P3, upgrade you whole box, the world’s left you behind.

Cheers,

Milney

[coedman]

We've had nothing but problems with ati cards at work, and we play a lot of games here.

I'd personally stick to nvidia since the original problem sounded more like a driver issue than anything else (and ati aren't known for having good drivers)

[HangOver]

As mentioned avoid ATI, stick to anything with an Nvida chipset, (except sparkle).

Off topic slightly, may I suggest spending say $100 or so on your video card and with whats left get another 1GB of ram?
1GB on XP is OK but I think you may benefit more "all round" by increasing you ram and reduce the size of your swap file from standard.
More so if you are a game player.
IMO

[milney]

I agree with HangOver, well almost… Get the RAM for $50 – $70 and keep the remainder of your $150.00 ($80.00 to $100.00) in reserve for a video card if you’re still not happy. I’m confident I’d be able to advise better (or at least have awesome resources to draw on) to help you with more detailed specs on your current machine. I’m new to the 4WD forums but have been involved in building/upgrading machines (as a hobby) and contributing to IT forums for many years.

Milney

PS. Whilst I didn’t want to appear bias, Nvidia all the way… especially for the mid to low range cards (AGP).

[GeorgeZ]

look at centrecom.com.au

agp ATI9600 for $69
xpertvision agp $41

No difference between ati or nvidia at this level under xp

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Hi all,

I am thinking about upgrading my video card before I won't find anything for my aging AGP bus.

My system is a Intel 3 Gigahertz, 1 GB RAM running Windows XP. The current video card is an ATI Radeon 9800SE running an omega driver.

I am using it for the odd game, mostly 1st person shooters, currently Half Life Episode 1 (which for some reason keeps crashing at the same spot).

I have been looking on Ebay but quite frankly have no idea if this, that or the other card is better. Can anybody pls have a look on Ebay and advise, I am looking at spending about $150 max.

eBay Australia - video agp, Video, Sound, Multimedia, Components, Upgrades, Wholesale, Bulk Lots items at low prices (http://search.ebay.com.au/search/search.dll'sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&dfsp=1&from=R10&_trksid=m37&satitle=video+agp&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=4011&sabfmts=1&saobfmts=insif&ga10244=10425&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1)

Cheers,

Thomas

to answer your question Thomas,,
go here,, buy this, never look back,
dx10, blu-ray, etc etc
Sapphire HD2600 PRO 512MB AGP DDR2 video graphic card - eBay, Video Cards, Video, Sound, Multimedia, Computers. (end time 27-Feb-08 20:40:59 AEDST) (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Sapphire-HD2600-PRO-512MB-AGP-DDR2-video-graphic-card_W0QQitemZ280201642954QQihZ018QQcategoryZ40156 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

[Pedro_The_Swift]

C'mon Thomas,, tell us which one!!:D