Why are agp users upgrading their gfx cards?

[Cyber-Mav]

people still use gf4 cards, it all depends on the settings you use in games. i found that with the 6800 in games that struggled the best thing to do was disable shadows first and a massive speed boost is given which is awsome.
6800nu if thats what your on about will still last a very long time. just fiddle with game settings and it will always work.

 

[doodleplop]

Cool thanks guys, but which gives better performance, the 6800 or the 7600gt?

Thanks

Jonny

 

[Cyber-Mav]

7600gt. im getting one now for my agp system to replace the 9800pro it has in it. thought id go for the 7600gt agp since they can now be had for £100 inc vat.

 

[melbourne720]

7600gt, by about 20% (depending on games)

 

[doodleplop]

Ah good, I'll check them out in detail now, I'm hoping to get whatever I decide on second hand so that the cost is minimised.

EDIT: The only ones I can see on OCUK that are 100 squid including VAT are pci-e ones . You must be buying from someone else. I will have to do some searching.

Thanks

Jonny

 

[doodleplop]

Would the 7600 gs still beat a 6800??

Thanks

Jonny

 

[melbourne720]

Would the 7600 gs still beat a 6800??

Nope, memory is too slow methinks (GDDR2, instead of GDDR3).

 

[doodleplop]

Yep it is GDDR2, but I was wondering if the core was fast enough to still beat the 6800, but alas its not.

Thanks

Jonny

 

[Cyber-Mav]

at lower resolution stuff with low or no AA the 7600gs would be faster than a 6800nu any day.

but once you start to go to higher resolutions or AA settings the 6800 MAY bull ahead a little.

remember a 7600gs is quite a bit faster than a 6600gt and the 6600gt has 1ghz ddr3 where the 7600gs has 800mhz ddr2. its not always raw bandwidth that prevails you have to remember than the efficiency of the 7 series is a lot higher than the 6 series cards.

 

[Hellsmk2]

I dream of having a PCI-E card, but I simply cannot afford the upgrade costs. I'd need a new mobo, CPU and GPU. It just isn't going to happen anytime soon.

To be fair the system I use at the moment is still good enough to play the games I play most (BF2 mainly). It's an old 9800Pro, Asus mobo and a AMD 3400+. The difference being I play all my games at 1024*768 with medium detail on most. It still plays most games more than well enough at that setting. I never understand why people play with such high resolutions... everything becomes too small to focus on, let alone hit in a multiplayer game.

To be fair, I'm considering upgrading at the moment just to play Neverwinter Nights 2 as I've been waiting for it for years. Hopefully soon...

 

[fish99]

I was just wondering why agp uses are upgrading their graphics cards when they will be obsolete within a year and a bit, im not having a dig i just want to get other peoples opinions.

Just to give an example, my Dads PC was P4 2.4 skt 478 / 1.5 GB DDR400 / Radeon 9600 Pro. As bad as the CPU in that system may seem, the video card was a hundred times worse. It ran Oblivion on lowest settings at under 5 fps so it was unplayable.

For £126 we were able to put a 7600 GT AGP in there and tripple the performance (based on 3DMark06 score, probably even more than 3X performance in Oblivion). My dad is now happily playing Oblivion on decent settings (inc HDR) at 20 fps average.

There was no other alternative for that sort of money. PCI-E 7600 GT + 939 board + 939 CPU (also a dead end) would have been about £200. They just didn't have that sort of money. Even as it was I had to pay half the 7600 GT AGP cost for them.

 

[melbourne720]

at lower resolution stuff with low or no AA the 7600gs would be faster than a 6800nu any day.

A 6800 GT would be faster than a 7600GS as it has more pipes and faster memory

but once you start to go to higher resolutions or AA settings the 6800 MAY bull ahead a little.

remember a 7600gs is quite a bit faster than a 6600gt and the 6600gt has 1ghz ddr3 where the 7600gs has 800mhz ddr2. its not always raw bandwidth that prevails you have to remember than the efficiency of the 7 series is a lot higher than the 6 series cards.

But the 8 series have more pipes than 6 series, and card speed seems to be a combination of bandwidth, memory and core speed (and a bit of luck? )

Correct me if I'm wrong...

 

[doodleplop]

Thanks mate, I have found a 6800gt on an auction site that I like the look of, I think that when the money bringer (my dad) gets in I can finally tell him what that present for doing well in my GCSEs will be and I'll pocket the rest of the cash to go towards my next upgrade. (I hope I get some for doing ok in A levels lol)

Thanks guys

Jonny

 

[Cyber-Mav]

A 6800 GT would be faster than a 7600GS as it has more pipes and faster memory



But the 8 series have more pipes than 6 series, and card speed seems to be a combination of bandwidth, memory and core speed (and a bit of luck? )

Correct me if I'm wrong...

yea 6800GT vs 7600GS is a different story alltogether. but 6800nu vs 7600GS would be very similar in speed although the 7600GS has only half the memory bandwidth of the 6800nu.

than again, for people powering wise screen lcd displays at a resolution of 1280x720 the 7600gs would be very good for the job on a budget.

im gonna order the 7600gt though since i would like to run 4xAA at 1360x768 on my lcd tv. and with big screens AA is a must.

 

[melbourne720]

Thanks mate, I have found a 6800gt on an auction site that I like the look of, I think that when the money bringer (my dad) gets in I can finally tell him what that present for doing well in my GCSEs will be and I'll pocket the rest of the cash to go towards my next upgrade. (I hope I get some for doing ok in A levels lol)

Work hard at your exams, kid, then when you grow up you can spend your days, err, posting on a graphics card discussion forum when you should be working!

<boss shouts>

"What's that boss? Yep, I'm working very hard. Like to chat, but I gotta get this done..."

 

[doodleplop]

Just surfin the web for other agp graphics cards aswell, what do people think about the x850 pro 256mb?

Thanks

Jonny