AGP upgrade(Beating the Dead Horse)

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Hamsterstyle

Member
Oct 26, 2004
36
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After what is I am sure a dozen posts about upgrading our agp systems I have my own question, and since it is all about me, i DEMAND your undivided attention!

I have a Radeon 9800PRO 128, sure its a great card, but I need one step up, I need a small upgrade to another AGP card and I'm either looking to spend 100, 150 or 200 bucks, depending. This is a stopgap until I do a full upgrade this fall to a fanddoubletastic overclockers delite system with like a troglobite of memory and a fancydancy Opteron overclocked to rival god. But for now I'm unemployed and looking for a tiny step. So what do 'yall' recommend.

Also, does anyone have or can point me to a good roundup comparing speeds of the 9800pro vs 6800gt, 1600pro and 800xxx cards cause they never seem to compare down that far.
 
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Munky

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2005
9,372
0
76
The answer is no. The question is...?

Here's one article benchmarking old agp cards - http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/index0507.html
The problem is most x800-series and 6800-series agp card cost much more than equavalent pci-e cards, so you may just want to hold on to the 9800p until a full pci-e upgrade, or until better deals come along, like the rumored 7600 series agp cards.
 
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jiffylube1024

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2002
7,430
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71
There's so much debate because of fanboy loyalty, so I'll just give you a basic outline of the cards you should look at.

Right now you've got a 9800 Pro, which is an 8-pipeline card. The best cards for AGP are all 16-pipe cards. You should be able to get a good price on a 6800GT or X800XL, which are comparable in performance, have 16-pipelines, and are significantly faster than the 9800 Pro. An X800XT or X850XT would give you a tad more performance than the aforementioned cards, as would a 7800GT (AGP).
 
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Skott

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2005
5,730
1
76
If you know for absolute assurance you are upgrading this fall (only 4-5 months away) you'd be better off saving the money for a better PCIe card for your new system. If you simply must have something then its not too hard IMO. On the nVidia side you got the 6800 and the 7800GS. On the ATI front you have the 9800 and the x800 series. Basically pick the one thats closest to your budget. Not hard to figure out which is the better cards. The next model up in each of the two series is better than the one before it. Buy the best you can afford. x850XT PE and the 7800GS CO Superclock are the two best in each line. They run about $300, maybe a bit less now.
 
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Hamsterstyle

Member
Oct 26, 2004
36
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0
I always find that every time I think about doing a little upgrade like this I'm like..ok I wanna spend 140 bucks, but if I spend 180 I can just upgrade to PCIe video and a cheap motherboard(Refurbished)...but wait, I should shell out another 40 for a better motherboard. Hmmm, Perhaps I should get rid of my processor and ram and upgrade the whole thing, then i will probably need an opteron 144....and a new powersupply.....I guess I could keep my case......600 dollars later...WOOHOOO! then I think...wait, I wanted to do this cheapass.
 
Dkcode

Dkcode

Senior member
May 1, 2005
995
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0
Originally posted by: Hamsterstyle
I always find that every time I think about doing a little upgrade like this I'm like..ok I wanna spend 140 bucks, but if I spend 180 I can just upgrade to PCIe video and a cheap motherboard(Refurbished)...but wait, I should shell out another 40 for a better motherboard. Hmmm, Perhaps I should get rid of my processor and ram and upgrade the whole thing, then i will probably need an opteron 144....and a new powersupply.....I guess I could keep my case......600 dollars later...WOOHOOO! then I think...wait, I wanted to do this cheapass.
Click to expand...


QFT!!
 
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mancunian

Senior member
May 19, 2006
404
0
0
Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
There's so much debate because of fanboy loyalty, so I'll just give you a basic outline of the cards you should look at.

Right now you've got a 9800 Pro, which is an 8-pipeline card. The best cards for AGP are all 16-pipe cards. You should be able to get a good price on a 6800GT or X800XL, which are comparable in performance, have 16-pipelines, and are significantly faster than the 9800 Pro. An X800XT or X850XT would give you a tad more performance than the aforementioned cards, as would a 7800GT (AGP).
Click to expand...

:thumbsup:
 
B

Budarow

Golden Member
Dec 16, 2001
1,917
0
0
Originally posted by: Hamsterstyle
I always find that every time I think about doing a little upgrade like this I'm like..ok I wanna spend 140 bucks, but if I spend 180 I can just upgrade to PCIe video and a cheap motherboard(Refurbished)...but wait, I should shell out another 40 for a better motherboard. Hmmm, Perhaps I should get rid of my processor and ram and upgrade the whole thing, then i will probably need an opteron 144....and a new powersupply.....I guess I could keep my case......600 dollars later...WOOHOOO! then I think...wait, I wanted to do this cheapass.
Click to expand...

Very true for most (if not all) of us;)
 
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OvErHeAtInG

Senior member
Jun 25, 2002
770
0
0
Too bad you didn't post 3 weeks ago, I sold my X800 XTPE for $170

Anyway yeah, I say find someone selling a 6800GT or something. $150-160 should get you that?

Edit, and keep your eye on the 7800GS. At $300, it's way overpriced, but you could get (extremely) lucky and get one for $200 (which would prolly be worth it)
 
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HGC

Senior member
Dec 22, 1999
605
0
0
Originally posted by: kmmatney
This card is pretty good, and can be unlocked to 16 pipes quite easily.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102609

Anything cheaper than this one won't be much of an upgrade. You are probably best off waiting and going to PCIE, though.
Click to expand...

I'm about ready to replace my 128 MB 9600XT with that one. I also thought about buying a PCI-E mobo with integrated video and a cheap Athlon 64 processor for about $200. total and hanging on until I can save for a 7600GT.
 
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iRaven

Junior Member
Jun 1, 2006
11
0
0
I'm also very interested in this, I remember reading that only the gto^2 were unlockable. Can anyone confirm that the agp version, gto, are also unloackable?

Thanks in advance,
 
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mancunian

Senior member
May 19, 2006
404
0
0
Originally posted by: iRaven
I'm also very interested in this, I remember reading that only the gto^2 were unlockable. Can anyone confirm that the agp version, gto, are also unloackable?

Thanks in advance,
Click to expand...

Yes they are. I have one and it's unlocked to 16 pipes.

Go here and you'll find a few posts about it.


Sapphire ones seem to be the most successful at unlocking. The success rate once unlocked appears to be 100%.


Good luck. :)

 
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imported_Sincity

Senior member
Dec 24, 2005
404
0
0
Too late now. But Circuit City had plain AGP 6800s for $79 after rebate incl tax earlier in the year. It was posted in Hot Deals.

 
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Hamsterstyle

Member
Oct 26, 2004
36
0
0
Well, I actually found a decent deal on craigslist for a evga 6800gs, paid the guy 150 for it. Now I could probably have gotten a slightly better card for that price or found it online cheaper, but this was local, quick and so far it works perfectly. HDR in Oblivion looks wonderful too.

Going from the 9800pro to the 6800gs has doubled my framerates adn more than doubled my 3dmark score. Windows however looks a little less sharp.

I unlocked the card(12/5>16/6) but I'm getting some minor artifacting in Oblivion so I may have to tweak it a bit more.
 
Captante

Captante

Lifer
Oct 20, 2003
30,353
10,876
136
Originally posted by: Hamsterstyle
Well, I actually found a decent deal on craigslist for a evga 6800gs, paid the guy 150 for it. Now I could probably have gotten a slightly better card for that price or found it online cheaper, but this was local, quick and so far it works perfectly. HDR in Oblivion looks wonderful too.

Going from the 9800pro to the 6800gs has doubled my framerates adn more than doubled my 3dmark score. Windows however looks a little less sharp.

I unlocked the card(12/5>16/6) but I'm getting some minor artifacting in Oblivion so I may have to tweak it a bit more.
Click to expand...

Thats not a bad deal on a 6800GS AGP card at all, I sold my 6800GT AGP for $160 about a month ago & I likely could have held out for a bit more.
Try lowering the clock speeds on the your card & hopefully the glitchs will clear up... good
luck!

 
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Hamsterstyle

Member
Oct 26, 2004
36
0
0
I disabled the extra vertex shader making it 16/5. All the artifacts disappeared with only a tiny hit in speed. Going from 12to16 pipelines hasnt caused any problems...yippie. 3dmark05 went from 4200 to 4750. Now Ill try overclocking it.
 
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