Anything better than ATI AGP X1300 512

[Vajurewi]

total newb here on upgrading vid cards.
I have a 2003 Gateway Pentium 4 HT 3.06 GHz w 1 GB RAM.
over the weekend the origininal ATI vid card failed and Gateway tech on chat line
recommended
ATI AGP X1300 Pro 256 so I went down to the BBuy and picked up
the Visiontek ATI AGP X1300 512 for $149.

I use my system w 2 flat panels mostly for home office work. most intense gaming
I do is playing Diablo II in spare time (yes D2!!). although Ive bought Doom 3 I
have not played it on this system.

1. should I get a 'better' card than this X1300?
2. any specific webstores that I can get a good deal (ie newegg, buy, amazon)

thanks in advance

 

[happy medium]

This card is much faster and will run the games you listed just fine and 20.00$ cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150190

And the 7600gt fastest agp for under 170.00$ here http://www.3gplaza.com/estore/control/Computer3G/productdetails?id=49053

 

[Captante]

If you care about gaming performance at all, you really should get somthing other then an X1300 because its performance in newer games is terrible... also 512mb's video RAM on that card is a waste of money because the GPU isn't fast enough to make use of it, hope you can return it!

The best ATI AGP card you can get at the moment is either an X850 Pro or X800GTO which are both available for about $130 on Newegg & for Nvidia the 6800GS is the best readily available model for about $165, but its only a little faster then the ATI options. (Regardless of the lower model number, its a much faster card then the 7600GS)

If you can afford to spend $200, try to find a Leadtek 7600GT AGP or for a bit more you can get the slightly faster 7800GS which is the fastest AGP card currently available. (However at this price point I'd suggest getting a PCI Express motherboard & PCIe 7600GT for about the same money!)


X850 Pro @ $135 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102606

X800 GTO @ $130 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102042



6800GS @ $165 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143045

7800GS @ $235 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143046 *($205 after $30 mail-in rebate)


Edit: One additional point is that the X800/850 above both have a decent chance of being easily modified to perform the same as an X850XT with a BIOS flash & that would make them very close to as fast as an overclocked 7800GS.

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: happy medium

And the 7600gt fastest agp for under 170.00$ here http://www.3gplaza.com/estore/control/Computer3G/productdetails?id=49053

Forget the 6800GS, for $170 this is the way to go for sure! (I've never purchased from 3gplaza personally though)

 

[imported_johnsonx]

$150 is too much for a X1300, and 512Mb of ram is a waste.

I myself have an HIS X1600Pro AGP which I got from Newegg for about $85 (open box). If I were willing to spend $150 today (as you already have) I'd look at a X1650Pro (rebadged X1600XT but 10Mhz faster) such as:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161033

The HIS heatsink/fan on my 1600Pro is very quiet.

If you want to spend less, a 1600Pro like mine can be had for $95 if you want to mess with a rebate (and it's only $110 straight up, still among the cheapest):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102038

The NVidia 7600GS cards others have suggested are good choices too, I just tend to be a fanATIc rather than an NVidiot