My PC

Make sure it's a card with GDDR3 ram, don't buy anything that has DDR2 or standard DDR as it'll be far far inferiour!

x850xt's and 6800gt's are the models to be looking for really, 6800ultras aren't any better than gt's really.
 
You could do as I have done, get an X850 Pro and flash on the XT PE firmware to unlock the extra pixel pipelines and raise the default :) clock speed.

/posting from machine with dual Xeons and a reflashed AGP X850 Pro. :)
 
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Zefan said:
Make sure it's a card with GDDR3 ram, don't buy anything that has DDR2 or standard DDR as it'll be far far inferiour!

x850xt's and 6800gt's are the models to be looking for really, 6800ultras aren't any better than gt's really.
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- true the card I linked to is DDR2 but on the flipside until you get to 6800ultra speeds the difference between DDR2 and 3 isn't going to be apparent.

A small note - the x800 series does not support SM3, the 6800 and 7600 does... in some games that can make quite a visual difference with little performance penalty.
 
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Rroff said:
- true the card I linked to is DDR2 but on the flipside until you get to 6800ultra speeds the difference between DDR2 and 3 isn't going to be apparent.
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The reason the 6800/x800 series of cards was due to the massive increase in speed that the RAM had over other types. It really does make a large difference.

ffs double post :o
 
If you bench a 7600GS on DDR2 against a 7600GS on DDR3 at stock speeds you will see very little to no difference in performance in 3D Marks, quake 4, oblivion, etc. etc. clock them up to the max they will go and you will still only see a very slight difference, take a 7600GT on DDR3 and clock the core down to the same speed as a 7600GS on DDR2 and you will again see very little difference.

I can't say the same is true for ATI cards, but I have extensive experience overclocking nVidia cards in the 5xxx through to 7950GX2 range.

Just whatever you do... stay away from cards with a 64bit DDR memory interface!
 
Rroff said:
I have extensive experience overclocking nVidia cards in the 5xxx through to 7950GX2 range.
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Anyone else care to back me up, maybe using the 7300gt with ddr3 as an example?
 
the 7300GT and GS with DDR2 runs the memory at an extremely slow clock rate and in some cases even has a 64bit interface depending on the exact model of the card... its hardly a good example.
 
Rroff said:
its hardly a good example.
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The ones that run gddr3 are a LOT better however, which is why they are in fact a very good example of how it affects performance.
 
its a rare example, take almost any other card on DDR2 and they are running atleast 128bit interfaces and memory bandwidth well in excess of 12gig/s - typically 16-20, whereas the 7300 using DDR2 run between 6 and 10gig.

Put some of the same DDR2 as on the 7600GS (clock speed and interface) onto a 7300GT and it would probably keep pace with a 7300GT on DDR3.

I guess for the sake of those who don't want to bother going into the technical details then saying stay away from DDR2 could save them hassle...
 
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Yeah that's a great price, I'd have to double check it's not PCI-E though as most AGP's are going for higher.
 
Here is a little review of the performance you should be able to expect from both of those cards (The x800pro is modded to the xt pe as you said, and the 6800gt can be overclocked safely to ultra speeds), hopefully this should help you make your mind up.
 
I think instead of thinking if this or that is compatible, come up with a budget and get a new pc. Its abt time you do anyway..
 
Pretty much any AGP card should work fine on that rig, and AGP x4 won't be a huge drawback.

Something like a 6800 or similiar would get him where he could play any current game at a playable framerate without breaking the bank - tho future games are likely to quickly leave that generation of video cards behind...
 
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