Need an AGP card

ajm · 31 May 2008 at 16:40

I am looking for the best card that will suit the system in my sig. Can't afford to move to pci-e just yet so need something that will tide me over for a while. Need it to play the latest games as my ageing 6600gt is not enough any more. Looking for something that won't be way over priced too but i know it will probably be around the £100 mark.

Also wonder about power requirements with these cards

thefishdude · 31 May 2008 at 16:52

well *** fastes agp card is the 3850 pro but that is more like £120.

x1950pro AGP is another good one but you may have to find that second hand.

2600xt agp can be got got about £70 thats a reasonable card make sure its ddr3 though.

guess depends on how much you want to spend.

ajm · 31 May 2008 at 16:55

Thanks for the quick reply. I don't mind paying around the £100-£130 if it gets me a card that will a lease last a while and play the latest games on reasonable high quality.

My power supply is a 460w X-pro.

ajm · 1 Jun 2008 at 10:45

Have just been looking at the 2600xt agp, how does this compare to the other cards you have listed?

Also what is the 7900 like in comparison.

ajm · 4 Jun 2008 at 08:13

Can anyone help me out with these questions please?

Also with the cards listed, will they be bottlenecked by my system?

Pilky01 · 4 Jun 2008 at 12:28

Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L Intel P31 £41.99
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NQ PC2-6400C5 (2x1GB) £31.71
HIS ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro 256MB GDDR3 £76.36

That works out at £155.06 including vat.
Thats what i would do.

Janesy B · 4 Jun 2008 at 12:32

Get a 7950GX2 for around £100, that'll do

uv · 4 Jun 2008 at 12:35

qwerty321 said:
Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L Intel P31 £41.99
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 NQ PC2-6400C5 (2x1GB) £31.71
HIS ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro 256MB GDDR3 £76.36

That works out at £155.06 including vat.
Thats what i would do.

As above, but I'd go for an e21** chip as well..

Whatever you do, you're going to be bottlenecked by the P4 you currently have in newer games.

The total would come to ~£190, and It'd be a much better path to take.

Upgrading to a newish grfx card won't give you a massive fps boost whilst you're still on a netburst chip

ajm · 6 Jun 2008 at 08:31

Post somehow seems to have got confused. I asked about an agp card upgrade and are now getting suggestions for a new system. Thanks guys, but if possible i would like to stay with agp card for now. If i were to upgrade to pci-e then i would need cpu/ mem/ motherboard/ Psu/ graphics card which could add upto more than i am wanting to pay just now.

hp7909 · 6 Jun 2008 at 08:44

ajm said:
If i were to upgrade to pci-e then i would need cpu/ mem/ motherboard/ Psu/ graphics card which could add upto more than i am wanting to pay just now.

As qwerty321 has shown, not really. That mobo will take your current CPU & PSU will handle a 3850 fine

IMHO go for that unless budget strictly £130 inc. VAT & P&P.

EDIT: Alternative mobo here.

ajm · 6 Jun 2008 at 08:51

Thanks hp7909

That mobo that was mentioned is pci-e and i thought that with my psu not having the pci connectors then i would need to upgrade that too.

hp7909 · 6 Jun 2008 at 09:07

ajm said:
That mobo that was mentioned is pci-e and i thought that with my psu not having the pci connectors then i would need to upgrade that too.

Nope. GFX should come with a PCI-E power connector to draw the power from 2 molex (see here, bottom left).

But just to be on the safe side, any chance you can read & provide its specs...

If +12V Rail is (combined) 28A or more, then good-to-go

Admiral Huddy · 6 Jun 2008 at 09:15

It's a little contradictive asking about a new AGP card, then asking if there would be potential bottlenecks. It would be like upgrading from 56k modem to 512MB broadband, for example.

Unless you can grab a bargain, possibly second hand, 7950GX2, then I would def go with the advice given above.

mame · 6 Jun 2008 at 10:12

I agree with others, do a full upgrade. It's only worth getting a 3850 AGP if you had an s939 athlon 64 x2. I would either do a full upgrade or get a cheap 7600gt for about £30-£40 and make so with that. I went from a 6600gt to a 7600gt and was impressed with the results.

The P4 will hold you back. Once you get thr 3850 and realise this, you will be stuck with an AGP card then

ajm · 6 Jun 2008 at 16:51

Hope this helps

It's a little contradictive asking about a new AGP card, then asking if there would be potential bottlenecks

Why is this so? I am only asking as i don't want to make a mistake.I will certainly have a look for a 7950GX2 first.

get a cheap 7600gt for about £30-£40 and make so with that

Will this play all the latest games on high settings? I will only be playing @ 1024x768 res

Wayne~ · 6 Jun 2008 at 17:28

Well high settings at that resolution shouldn't hold you back TOO much buy the P4 will do

J.D · 6 Jun 2008 at 17:52

Hi ajm. Huddy's analogy is terrible

, so just ignore it.

I'd recommend the 3850Pro but how long are you thinking of keeping this system?. I don't think it would be the best idea to get the fastest AGP card if you are thinking of upgrading in the near future.

The 3850Pro is a lot faster than your 6600GT (6600GT and 9800Pro are comparable). Maybe 5, 6 times or more faster in some games. The 2600XT is just a little bit slower than the X1950Pro and the X1950Pro is about 3.5 times faster than the 9800Pro. Obviously games will tell different but I went from the 9800Pro to the X800XT PE, X800 to X1900XT, X1900 to the 2900Pro so I know of the performances of these cards pretty well.

Go for the 2600XT or the HD 3650. Thing is the 3650 is only DDR2 so I'd look for a review of both cards to see where they are at regarding gaming performances before purchasing.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...MB GDDR3 HDTV/DVI (AGP) - Retail (11118-00-20)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...12MB DDR2 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (AGP) - Retail

If the DDR2 performances are dire then the 2600XT should do nicely. I do think your PSU will cope but maybe wait for others opinions on that.

jeggsy · 6 Jun 2008 at 23:50

What about a 7600GT AGP ? ?

Can be had cheap and would be sensible upgrade without spending too much money. Low cooling & PSU required and would be sensible pairing with P4 CPU.

I'm running a 7600GT AGP with my AMD Athlon 3000XP CPU and it runs FS2004, TOCA 3, Autocad, Inventor 3D CAD, all at 1024x768, a treat ! !

Not worth going much above this sort of VGA card as CPU would limit any advantages and end up wasting money. This was my last upgrade of my system before spending out on a whole new system.

I did look at ATI X1950's and XFX 7900 & 7950's which would be better than a 7600GT but all had some drawback like silly PSU requirments, running hot, unreliable, driver issues etc. etc.

hp7909 · 7 Jun 2008 at 04:42

ajm said:

That's more than enough. You've got about 360W on the +12V Rail

ajm · 9 Jun 2008 at 10:30

Hi, J.D

Thanks for the info on those different cards i will have to look a little further into each.

I'd recommend the 3850Pro but how long are you thinking of keeping this system?. I don't think it would be the best idea to get the fastest AGP card if you are thinking of upgrading in the near future.

I am not sure how long i will be keeping this system before upgrading to Pci-e, but when i do i will be giving this system to my son as he likes to game and his system is getting a litlle old now. So it won't be wasted.

Will the 2600XT cut it with the latest games on high using 1024x768 res?

@jeggsy

What about a 7600GT AGP ? ?

Can be had cheap and would be sensible upgrade without spending too much money. Low cooling & PSU required and would be sensible pairing with P4 CPU.

I will have to look into this as i thought that it would struggle with latest games with it only being a 7600.

@hp7909

Thanks for the reassurance