New AGP GFX card help?

[GlacierMint]

Hey all!

What with Elder Scrolls Oblivion arriving soon I thought I'd get a new gfx card. Problem is I'm on an Abit IC7-MAX3 board so AGP only And no, I can't afford a new motherboard.

So the question is...Which card to get? I've been away from the market for a while so have no clue how all the numbering on the cards works now. Is a 1600 better than an 800? :/

Current card is a Hercules 3D Prophet 9800XT Classic.

PC Spec:

P4 3.2 Extreme Edition
IC7-Max3
1Gb OCZ PC4000
2x74Gb Raptors in RAID1

Thanks for any help!!

Baggy

 

[Frippy]

This week only 6800GS £135.

 

[redline]

Yep...this is one of the best upgrades...pound/perfomance...available to you. Get it while it's cheap.

Should get nice balance of performance/visual quailty with this card with your current setup, in Oblivion.

 

[GlacierMint]

Better than PowerColor ATI Radeon X850 XT 256MB DDR3 or the Sapphire X1600 Pro 256MB DDR2? And why the 6800 not the 7800?

 

[Frippy]

Here we go.........

add liberal doses of petrol/flammable substances
toss in a match for good measure

 

[GlacierMint]

Have I stumbled on an ATI\NVIDIA thorn perchance?

 

[Frippy]

And in the left corner we have EGT sporting a fetching green cape with "I LOVE NVIDIA" on it, and in the right corner we have (you get the picture by now?)

 

[GlacierMint]

Got it So why the 6800 not the 7800 then?

 

[Frippy]

From what I have read the best VFM card is the 6800GS. Try by all means to get a Radeon X800 card, there are enough out there. The 7800 is not that quicker than a 6800ULTRA which in turn is fractionally faster than a 6800GT.

List as I see it.

X850XTpe / 7800GS
X850XT
6800 ULTRA
X800XL / 6800 GT / 6800GS / X800 PRO

 

[hairyhen]

...Is a 1600 better than an 800?

The general consensus is that the x1600 is a rubbish card, so avoid it!
There has been many recent threads about upgrading agp systems similar to yours, so I would advise maybe going through the next 5 or so pages as a lot has been discussed already, and you would also learn a lot! I know I did!

I myself went for the BFG 6800GS AGP as an upgrade from a Hercules 9800pro. Hope this helps!

Got it So why the 6800 not the 7800 then?

Because in the minds of many (including myself), the performace gain over a 6800 is not worth the extra £70...

 

[molinari]

Well, I've just placed my order for a BFG 6800GS card to replace my 9800 Pro . I was going to go for the 7800GS but thought perhaps the extra cost isn't worth the extra £.

£140 spent on a graphics card just because of one game being released this Friday .