Want the best AGP card available..please advise

romeotech · Mar 11, 2006, 11:50 PM

Ok right now I have an ATI AIW Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (any good overclocking advice in the meantime would be helpful) which has been good so far but I'd like to upgrade to something better. I'm looking for the best AGP card and after some searching and reviews it's come down to the Radeon x850XT PE and the GeForce 7800GS. It's hard to find ATI's version, so I checked newegg and they have a Visiontek one (any difference?), they also have the evga 7800GS. I understand some things about the cards but I rather hear from some pros on here. I know the GeForce has Shader 3 support and the Ati's don't, does it matter? Is something better coming out that I should wait? Can someone please point me in the right direction? Main games right now are BF2 and Half Life 2 (Fakefactory Cinematic Hi-Resolution mod, which takes a toll on my 9800 but the mod is awesome).

Many thanks on helping me make a decision.

LOGIN NAME · Mar 12, 2006, 12:16 AM

7800GS is a no brainer

H3X4D3C1M4L · Mar 12, 2006, 04:52 AM

X850xtpe

gangsterant16 · Mar 12, 2006, 05:07 AM

i have an x800pro and im happy with it i will not be upgrading for a long long time, because i have stop playing games on my pc i noe i noe sad story, but the xbox 360 and ps2 have conquered me lol.

fobis · Mar 12, 2006, 05:11 AM

The nVidia GeForce 7800GS is the AGP king at this point. And in most cases, it still costs less than the "inferior" Radeon X850XT PE AGP

BulletTheory · Mar 12, 2006, 05:43 AM

The X850XT PE is the best card u can get for AGP, because seeing as games have not adopted sm3 yet, the 7800GS isnt worth the buy atm.

Quote:

With the Radeon X850 XTPE holding the top spot on AGP hardware up until now, NVIDIA hasn't had a solid high performance AGP showing since the power hungry 6800 Ultra.

read this page

edit : I got a X850XT (overclocked at PE) and its a really great card. Alot of people will tell ya, the X850XT PE is the BEAST!!!

fobis · Mar 12, 2006, 06:00 AM

Yeah, but once you add the overclocking factor in, the 7800GS is the clear winner...

romeotech · Mar 12, 2006, 06:41 AM

So Visiontek and evga are the best variants of each?

fobis · Mar 12, 2006, 07:00 AM

EVGA is one of the top nVidia manufacturers, I think. I have never had any experience with Visiontek, sorry.

romeotech · Mar 12, 2006, 07:42 AM

Ok, so I looked further into the evga one and they have 4 versions. Newegg has only 2 of the 4, cheapest one being $300. The CO version is $10 more but it's 506-AX while the $300 is 507, both have same specs it seems. (430/1300) Is the superclocked version the best one to get or the newegg ones are just as good? I've never overclocked my card, worried too much about the ramifications, so hesitant upon seeing "superclocked".
I read on the evga forums that there are lots of problems when you try to game, but I guess those were just a bad batch. In addition someone posted of some new "knockout version" coming soon? Is it true, should I wait? Man the lengths we go thru for gaming. Ahh!

I do appreciate everyone's opinions though. Thanks.

mike2h · Mar 12, 2006, 08:28 AM

the 7800gs is the best card for agp, period. right now the evga SC(460/1350 mine is at 485/1400) is the best of the bunch & can be had at a reasonable price if you shop. i got mine at monarch, 2 day fedx for around $340. go for the 08 vers. it is usually $5 -$10 cheaper & the only diff is the fan. the 09 uses an evga fan & for whatever reason, if people do have problems, it seems to be with the 09 vers. bty evga has great support & warranty.
fyi, evga & probaly one or 2 other manafacturers are supposed to be coming out with faster vers of this card. so you might want to wait a couple of more weeks to see if something shakes loose. either way the price will still go down.

Necrosis · Mar 12, 2006, 09:38 AM

Is there going to be a 7900GS?

mike2h · Mar 12, 2006, 09:42 AM

i doubt it. while there are & will continue to be a LOT of agp based comps around for quite a few years, both ati & nv want us ugrading to pcie for a variety of reasons.
think it was cool of nv to offer the 7800gs like they did.

BoomerD · Mar 13, 2006, 01:58 AM

Saw this thread and thought I'd chime in with my experience with the 7800GS. I had a 6800GT that I was happy with, (until I accidentally killed it...) and needed a replacement card. Looked around a bit, and decided to get the XFX 7800GS Extreme, factory overclocked model. Looks GREAT, but right out of the box had some problems. First is a layer of protective plastic film that they neglected to remove from inside the cooler cover. Rubs on the fan, makes a hella noise, and affects fan performance. No biggie, XFX will authorize you to remove it without affecting warranty. (?) Next is the constant crashing and black-screens in games, when running at stock clock settings. The various forums are FULL of complaints about that. Not only XFX, but EVGA and BFG as well. I had card version 1.0, which seems to be the biggest offender. v. 1.3 has (hopefully) corrected many of the problems and is getting better reviews.
Giving credit where it's due, the graphics rendered are gorgeous. My 6800GT did a good job, but the 7800GS ROCKS (when it worked right) Far Cry and Half-Life2 never looked so nice, and BF2 was great. Unfortunately, I had to UNDER CLOCK the card to get anykind of stability, and that's not what I paid for. I could have gotten the stock card with NO overclock for a bit less. I ended up RMA'ing the card back to the seller, and ordered the VisionTek Xtasy X850XT P.E. which will be my first ATI card since the original All-in-Wonder card, 10 yrs ago. I realize there is a bit of difference in the technology, and this card won't support SM 3.0, but most games haven't adapted that yet anyway, so for me, it's no loss at this time.
Anyway, read the various forums before you drop $300.+ into the card, and see what I mean. I don't know if it's just simple "software" glitches that new bios fixes will correct, or it it's hardware related issues, but XFX (for one) is having problems with the 7800GS.

mike2h · Mar 13, 2006, 02:20 AM

good post & welcome!
unfortunately there have been a lot of problems with this card that seem to have nothing at all to do with specific companies. it also seems like newer vers are much better as there are a lot less complaint posts.
guess i lucked out with mine.

Kombatant · Mar 13, 2006, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fobis

The nVidia GeForce 7800GS is the AGP king at this point. And in most cases, it still costs less than the "inferior" Radeon X850XT PE AGP

As far as performance is concerned, X850XT is still the AGP king. The only thing that the 7800GS has more, is SM3.0.

mike2h · Mar 13, 2006, 06:07 PM

actually it is the pe variant that is slightly faster & seeing as how it costs considerably more, uses more power, is a 2slot solution & is not as 'future proof' as the 7800gs i think it is a no brainer.

Lchevy79 · Mar 13, 2006, 08:52 PM

7800gs trust me i have an 850xt and wishes i had the 7800 gs

fobis · Mar 13, 2006, 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kombatant

As far as performance is concerned, X850XT is still the AGP king. The only thing that the 7800GS has more, is SM3.0.

Well, okay, maybe at stock... But once you incorporate overclocking into the mix... well, the X850XT is left in the dust....

TaWasNe · Mar 14, 2006, 12:29 AM

Well i asked the same thing last week about a AGP card got to say had a look round on the net at reviews about the PowerColor X850 XT.

Well got one and what a card i would go for one bud, wanted it that bad its cost an £8 more for next day

got it and happy as pig in shit LOL

Blazer · Mar 14, 2006, 05:39 AM

If you go the ATI route I might suggest you go with a X1600PRO 512 mb version. it is reasonably priced, and has sm3 support.

If you go the Nvidia route, then go for the 7800GS.

mike2h · Mar 14, 2006, 06:33 AM

the x1600 pro is pcie only. as is all the x1000+ series.

romeotech · Mar 14, 2006, 07:30 AM

Didn't know the 850XT PE is a 2-slotter. 2AGP or 1agp-1pci?
I think I'm gonna go for the evga 7800 GS route, I just got to find a good price (SC version)and with my luck once I get it, something better will come out. Does anyone know if the supposed "KO" version is coming out soon? If anything evga has that great step-up program. It's becoming clear now, must.............click...........checkout.... hahaha

fobis · Mar 15, 2006, 12:00 AM

The X850XT just an AGP card that takes up two slots of room, not actually 2 AGP slots or anything...

H3X4D3C1M4L · Mar 15, 2006, 04:06 AM

There is an X1600Pro AGP...

mike2h · Mar 15, 2006, 06:01 AM

really? got a link? did not think they were doing any of the 1000s agp.

BoomerD · Mar 15, 2006, 06:57 AM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...rice=&maxPrice=

Mar 11, 2006, 11:50 PM	#1
romeotech DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 24 Rep Power: 0	Want the best AGP card available..please advise Ok right now I have an ATI AIW Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (any good overclocking advice in the meantime would be helpful) which has been good so far but I'd like to upgrade to something better. I'm looking for the best AGP card and after some searching and reviews it's come down to the Radeon x850XT PE and the GeForce 7800GS. It's hard to find ATI's version, so I checked newegg and they have a Visiontek one (any difference?), they also have the evga 7800GS. I understand some things about the cards but I rather hear from some pros on here. I know the GeForce has Shader 3 support and the Ati's don't, does it matter? Is something better coming out that I should wait? Can someone please point me in the right direction? Main games right now are BF2 and Half Life 2 (Fakefactory Cinematic Hi-Resolution mod, which takes a toll on my 9800 but the mod is awesome). Many thanks on helping me make a decision. __________________ Alienware Area-51 \| ASROCK 4CoreDual-SATA2 \| Intel Core 2 Duo E4500\| 2GB RAM \| Sapphire Radeon X1950 PRO 512MB GDDR3 \| Soundblaster Audigy 2 6.1 \| Enermax Liberty 620 Watt Power Supply

Mar 12, 2006, 12:16 AM	#2
LOGIN NAME DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 32 Rep Power: 0	7800GS is a no brainer __________________ Tandy 8088 with turbo button

Mar 12, 2006, 05:07 AM	#4
gangsterant16 The tRu NigGa tO CoME 2 Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: New Jersey Posts: 153 Rep Power: 0	i have an x800pro and im happy with it i will not be upgrading for a long long time, because i have stop playing games on my pc i noe i noe sad story, but the xbox 360 and ps2 have conquered me lol. __________________ AMD Athlon(tm) 64 3700+ 2.4ghz(san diego) Asus Av8 motherboard revision 2 i think lol Ati Radeon x800pro Default Clock 1.5 gigs of corsair xms 3200 (2sticks of 256 and 2 of 512) Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatality Logitech 680's (1000 watts max)! 80gig sata seagate hard drive and a 100gig wd "main hd' dvd drive, dvd burner 520 watt OKIA psu(suck ass psu!)

Mar 12, 2006, 05:11 AM	#5
fobis DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 716 Rep Power: 49	The nVidia GeForce 7800GS is the AGP king at this point. And in most cases, it still costs less than the "inferior" Radeon X850XT PE AGP __________________ MacBook Pro Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.4 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz 2GB DDR2-677 ATi Mobility Radeon X1600 256MB 120GB 7200RPM SATA HDD

Mar 12, 2006, 06:00 AM	#7
fobis DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 716 Rep Power: 49	Yeah, but once you add the overclocking factor in, the 7800GS is the clear winner... __________________ MacBook Pro Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.4 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz 2GB DDR2-677 ATi Mobility Radeon X1600 256MB 120GB 7200RPM SATA HDD

Mar 12, 2006, 04:52 AM	#3
H3X4D3C1M4L DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 6,794 Rep Power: 0	X850xtpe

Mar 12, 2006, 06:41 AM	Thread Starter #8
romeotech DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 24 Rep Power: 0	So Visiontek and evga are the best variants of each? __________________ Alienware Area-51 \| ASROCK 4CoreDual-SATA2 \| Intel Core 2 Duo E4500\| 2GB RAM \| Sapphire Radeon X1950 PRO 512MB GDDR3 \| Soundblaster Audigy 2 6.1 \| Enermax Liberty 620 Watt Power Supply

Mar 12, 2006, 07:00 AM	#9
fobis DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 716 Rep Power: 49	EVGA is one of the top nVidia manufacturers, I think. I have never had any experience with Visiontek, sorry. __________________ MacBook Pro Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.4 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz 2GB DDR2-677 ATi Mobility Radeon X1600 256MB 120GB 7200RPM SATA HDD

Mar 12, 2006, 07:42 AM	Thread Starter #10
romeotech DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 24 Rep Power: 0	Ok, so I looked further into the evga one and they have 4 versions. Newegg has only 2 of the 4, cheapest one being $300. The CO version is $10 more but it's 506-AX while the $300 is 507, both have same specs it seems. (430/1300) Is the superclocked version the best one to get or the newegg ones are just as good? I've never overclocked my card, worried too much about the ramifications, so hesitant upon seeing "superclocked". I read on the evga forums that there are lots of problems when you try to game, but I guess those were just a bad batch. In addition someone posted of some new "knockout version" coming soon? Is it true, should I wait? Man the lengths we go thru for gaming. Ahh! I do appreciate everyone's opinions though. Thanks. __________________ Alienware Area-51 \| ASROCK 4CoreDual-SATA2 \| Intel Core 2 Duo E4500\| 2GB RAM \| Sapphire Radeon X1950 PRO 512MB GDDR3 \| Soundblaster Audigy 2 6.1 \| Enermax Liberty 620 Watt Power Supply

Mar 12, 2006, 08:28 AM	#11
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	the 7800gs is the best card for agp, period. right now the evga SC(460/1350 mine is at 485/1400) is the best of the bunch & can be had at a reasonable price if you shop. i got mine at monarch, 2 day fedx for around $340. go for the 08 vers. it is usually $5 -$10 cheaper & the only diff is the fan. the 09 uses an evga fan & for whatever reason, if people do have problems, it seems to be with the 09 vers. bty evga has great support & warranty. fyi, evga & probaly one or 2 other manafacturers are supposed to be coming out with faster vers of this card. so you might want to wait a couple of more weeks to see if something shakes loose. either way the price will still go down. __________________

Mar 12, 2006, 09:38 AM	#12
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 129 System Specs	Is there going to be a 7900GS?

Mar 12, 2006, 09:42 AM	#13
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	i doubt it. while there are & will continue to be a LOT of agp based comps around for quite a few years, both ati & nv want us ugrading to pcie for a variety of reasons. think it was cool of nv to offer the 7800gs like they did. __________________

Mar 13, 2006, 01:58 AM	#14
BoomerD DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 21 Rep Power: 0	Saw this thread and thought I'd chime in with my experience with the 7800GS. I had a 6800GT that I was happy with, (until I accidentally killed it...) and needed a replacement card. Looked around a bit, and decided to get the XFX 7800GS Extreme, factory overclocked model. Looks GREAT, but right out of the box had some problems. First is a layer of protective plastic film that they neglected to remove from inside the cooler cover. Rubs on the fan, makes a hella noise, and affects fan performance. No biggie, XFX will authorize you to remove it without affecting warranty. (?) Next is the constant crashing and black-screens in games, when running at stock clock settings. The various forums are FULL of complaints about that. Not only XFX, but EVGA and BFG as well. I had card version 1.0, which seems to be the biggest offender. v. 1.3 has (hopefully) corrected many of the problems and is getting better reviews. Giving credit where it's due, the graphics rendered are gorgeous. My 6800GT did a good job, but the 7800GS ROCKS (when it worked right) Far Cry and Half-Life2 never looked so nice, and BF2 was great. Unfortunately, I had to UNDER CLOCK the card to get anykind of stability, and that's not what I paid for. I could have gotten the stock card with NO overclock for a bit less. I ended up RMA'ing the card back to the seller, and ordered the VisionTek Xtasy X850XT P.E. which will be my first ATI card since the original All-in-Wonder card, 10 yrs ago. I realize there is a bit of difference in the technology, and this card won't support SM 3.0, but most games haven't adapted that yet anyway, so for me, it's no loss at this time. Anyway, read the various forums before you drop $300.+ into the card, and see what I mean. I don't know if it's just simple "software" glitches that new bios fixes will correct, or it it's hardware related issues, but XFX (for one) is having problems with the 7800GS.

Mar 13, 2006, 02:20 AM	#15
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	good post & welcome! unfortunately there have been a lot of problems with this card that seem to have nothing at all to do with specific companies. it also seems like newer vers are much better as there are a lot less complaint posts. guess i lucked out with mine. __________________

Mar 13, 2006, 06:07 PM	#17
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	actually it is the pe variant that is slightly faster & seeing as how it costs considerably more, uses more power, is a 2slot solution & is not as 'future proof' as the 7800gs i think it is a no brainer. __________________

Mar 13, 2006, 08:52 PM	#18
Lchevy79 -=[DHzer0point Team]=- Join Date: Nov 2003 Posts: 725 Rep Power: 0	7800gs trust me i have an 850xt and wishes i had the 7800 gs __________________ msi K7N2 delta2-AMD 2800xp@2083-1gig of pc2700ram -ati x850xt 256mb -Audigy mp3+ - 1 80gig maxtor 8mb and 1 250gig 16mb maxtor -48x24x48 buslink burner-and a lite on 4x +/- dvd burner xp home samsung lcd (19") 930b monitor

Mar 14, 2006, 12:29 AM	#20
TaWasNe DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 83 Rep Power: 0	Well i asked the same thing last week about a AGP card got to say had a look round on the net at reviews about the PowerColor X850 XT. Well got one and what a card i would go for one bud, wanted it that bad its cost an £8 more for next day got it and happy as pig in shit LOL

Mar 14, 2006, 05:39 AM	#21
Blazer Tweeker Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Kitchener Posts: 611 Rep Power: 61 System Specs	If you go the ATI route I might suggest you go with a X1600PRO 512 mb version. it is reasonably priced, and has sm3 support. If you go the Nvidia route, then go for the 7800GS. __________________ ASUS Maximus Formula, OCZ 780MXS ps, Core2 Duo 8400 @ 3.80GHz,Corsair Water cooling kit, 4x2gb Mushkin DDR2 8000, 5 hardrives totalling 1.75 TB, Sapphire Theatrix, SyncMaster 2343, Logitech MX-518, 2 Sapphire Radeon HD 4870 Crossfired , running on Windows7 64 bit, all in an Antec P160w Case.

Mar 14, 2006, 06:33 AM	#22
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	the x1600 pro is pcie only. as is all the x1000+ series. __________________

Mar 14, 2006, 07:30 AM	Thread Starter #23
romeotech DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 24 Rep Power: 0	Didn't know the 850XT PE is a 2-slotter. 2AGP or 1agp-1pci? I think I'm gonna go for the evga 7800 GS route, I just got to find a good price (SC version)and with my luck once I get it, something better will come out. Does anyone know if the supposed "KO" version is coming out soon? If anything evga has that great step-up program. It's becoming clear now, must.............click...........checkout.... hahaha __________________ Alienware Area-51 \| ASROCK 4CoreDual-SATA2 \| Intel Core 2 Duo E4500\| 2GB RAM \| Sapphire Radeon X1950 PRO 512MB GDDR3 \| Soundblaster Audigy 2 6.1 \| Enermax Liberty 620 Watt Power Supply

Mar 15, 2006, 12:00 AM	#24
fobis DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 716 Rep Power: 49	The X850XT just an AGP card that takes up two slots of room, not actually 2 AGP slots or anything... __________________ MacBook Pro Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.4 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33GHz 2GB DDR2-677 ATi Mobility Radeon X1600 256MB 120GB 7200RPM SATA HDD

Mar 15, 2006, 04:06 AM	#25
H3X4D3C1M4L DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 6,794 Rep Power: 0	There is an X1600Pro AGP...

Mar 15, 2006, 06:01 AM	#26
mike2h DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: norcal Posts: 6,483 Rep Power: 89 System Specs	really? got a link? did not think they were doing any of the 1000s agp. __________________

Mar 15, 2006, 06:57 AM	#27
BoomerD DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 21 Rep Power: 0	http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...rice=&maxPrice= __________________ ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe P4 3.06/533 FSB Northwood NOT overclocked 3x512 mb PC3200 Xtasy Radeon X850XT P.E.