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Last AGP card???

The Boxer

The Boxer

The Boxer

Associate
Joined
31 Jul 2005
Posts
27
Hi all,
I'm looking to get an other 12 months from my current rig, P4 @ 3.2gigs, Abit IC7 and 2 gig of Crucial BallX tracer, current card is a 6800gt agp which has served me well but it's just starting to show it's age with recent games.
I've found a new ati x1950pro 512 ddr3 agp for a whisker over £100, are these good reliable cards that are easy to set up and get running????, I've used Nvidia since 3dfx voodoo's, so a bit out of touch with ATIs.
I assume I would need to do a good clean up first before putting on the cats/drivers, is there a "top cat driver" that would suit my P4 system??.
Is there anything on the ATI driver/software disc which is not worth loading or that should be avoided, I don't like frills unless they serve a useful purpose, or should I just try and make do, any pointers or set up help would be great.

Thanks...... The Boxer...
:confused:
 
The X1950pro is the best card youre going to get on AGP at the moment.
You should have no problems with it as long as you remove the older Nvidia drivers and have a decent PSU (name brand 400W should be ok).

Id probably just grab the latest drivers of the AMD website & use those, though you could try the Omega drivers (http://www.omegadrivers.net/)
 
I might be mistaken, but the x1950 pro is a better card than the 2600xt....the newer one might be DX10 compatible, but the 128-bit memory will hold it back...I think the 2600xt is more a value card than the x1950 pro which is definately a gamer card...I think ATI's 3850 might be comming / has come out in AGP as well...
 
Munky1080 said:
I might be mistaken, but the x1950 pro is a better card than the 2600xt....the newer one might be DX10 compatible, but the 128-bit memory will hold it back...I think the 2600xt is more a value card than the x1950 pro which is definately a gamer card...I think ATI's 3850 might be comming / has come out in AGP as well...
Click to expand...
I agree with you, the X1950pro is the quicker card, as for the 3850 i was only aware of rumours that it was coming out in AGP, i havent heard or seen anything definite, unless you can point me in the right direction.
 
as mentioned above, just grab the latest drivers from the ati site.

i'm running an old school s478 setup with 2gb ram and an agp x1950pro too. :)
 
I've been waiting for the 3850 in AGP and a lot of sites have the card listed as coming out on 4th Feb. I guess we'll soon find out.


Maybe Gibbo can give us an idea ?!?!?!?!
 
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ACESHIGH said:
The X1950pro is the best card youre going to get on AGP at the moment.
You should have no problems with it as long as you remove the older Nvidia drivers and have a decent PSU (name brand 400W should be ok).

Id probably just grab the latest drivers of the AMD website & use those, though you could try the Omega drivers (http://www.omegadrivers.net/)
Click to expand...

disagree as the HD3850 is being released on AGP
 
It seems fairly certain that the 3850 will come to AGP. It is a fair chunk more powerful than the 1950pro (although that was a great card for it's time).
You already have enough system RAM.
Does your motherboard accept a Pentium D ? (normally 945 & above chipset) - if so, new GFX + dual core upgrade will keep your PC modern for a while.
 
No such luck, iirc the chipset is a i875, 478 pin.

So my next upgrade will be a costly move, new mobo,ram, cpu, gfx etc etc

OH damn.

Cheers and thx The B
 
The Boxer said:
No such luck, iirc the chipset is a i875, 478 pin.

So my next upgrade will be a costly move, new mobo,ram, cpu, gfx etc etc

OH damn.

Cheers and thx The B
Click to expand...

Dude - you're a prime candidate for the Asrock...it's what myself and others on this site have used with much success in upgrading one step at a time. I came from an AGP/DDR/socket 478 system to what I have now and am about to buy a 3870....
Asrock 4CoreDual-SATA2 won't get an FSB of more than 300 or so without volt modding, but it's a hell of a step up board. I just bought 1 component every month or two since i'm bad at saving money to splash out on big purchases.
 
I would definately wait for the 3850 agp :)

Trying to get 12 months more out of your system may mean your system isn't worth buying anymore though. Take a look at the prices on auction sites for 2nd parts, and guessimate how much you could get for your current bits sold individually, and how much it would cost to upgrade to pci-e system (Intel C2D preferably for MUCH better overclocking reasons). It might not be that much more than buying a new card since AGP cards are normally more expensive than the PCI-E equivalent.

I did as munky suggests. I got the asrock, and while it is limited by roughly 290-300fsb, with something like a 2160 or 2180 you'll be laughing with a 3Ghz C2D :) It will allow you to reuse existing components as it has ddr and ddr2 slots, and agp/pci-e slots. Slowly upgrade in your time then when ready with PCI-E gfx and ddr2 you can just sell that board and get a better board to overclock more and get a full pci-e 16x slot to play with :)

Matthew
 
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I'd upgrade mate. You'll be CPU limited in most modern games anyway I would have thought. Like others have said you might as well get a bit for your current rig now than nothing in a year.

Get a good Gigabyte or Abit mobo, E2140/2160@3gz, 8800GT and some RAM (DDR2 is madly cheap now as well), it won't set you back too much I wouldn't have thought if you sell your old rig.

It'll be well worth it.
 
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