best agp card under $300

[pontifex]

so whats the best agp card under $300 thats better than a BFG 6800 OC (preferably around $250 or less)?

 

[Matthias99]

Well, the only ones that are (noticeably) faster are the 6800GT, 6800U, X800XL, X800XT, and X850XT. I think you could find most of those under $300 at this point, and definitely if you want to look at used/refurb cards.

 

[CalvinHobbes]

6800GT for ~$225 on the for sale forums.

 

[nitromullet]

You should be able to pick up an 6800GT or an X800XL for around $250-300. I would imagine that you can probably find better deals in ATI cards, since there appears to be greater availability of higher-end AGP ATI cards than NVIDIA.

 

[Nextman916]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
You should be able to pick up an 6800GT or an X800XL for around $250-300. I would imagine that you can probably find better deals in ATI cards, since there appears to be greater availability of higher-end AGP ATI cards than NVIDIA.

it didnt used to be that way...

 

[pontifex]

the real question is how much more performance will i get out of a 6800gt compared to my 6800.

the Ultras are out of the question because they are still around $400.

i don't want to buy a used one either. after working with pc equipment for a long time, i know that there's lots of stuff that can be wrong with an item and you can't tell until you try to use it. i don't trust used stuff from people i don't know. i tend to not trust refurb either, because if its broken once, its probably going to again. i've seen too much stuff that was refurbed come back still not working or go bad in a very short time.

 

[JimmyH]

I gonna say its the agp x850pro. ~$270 buxs its top of line AGP. Looks like they unlock to 16pipe and clock real good. Think x850xt +. Check this link out:

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=417884

$220 there's the Vivo x800pros that flash to x800xt. I bet u could unlock this Asus X800pro vivo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121519

Under $200 keep eye on ATI.com refurb page for apg x800pros and don't forget the fatwallet coupon code for another $10 off. My bud got one shipped for $184 and it clocks nicely.

If you don't mind throwing in a mobo, then:
$55 refurbed PCI-E mobo + $180 Connect3d X800GTO

 

[CraigRT]

You could easily find an X850XT on FS/FT for under $300 if you look, and/or wait a week or 2.

 

[pontifex]

can you reliably unlock the extra pipelines on an x850 pro?

circuit city has one for $299. or they have the x850xt for $319. both ATI manufactured.
the xt is cheaper than on newegg and the pro is only $10 more expensive than newegg.

they have a eVGA 6800GT for $289 but only the PCI-e version.

heh, i thought i could wait a bit but turns out i can't, lol

 

[pontifex]

hmm...now i'm thinking i should just take the plunge and upgrade mobo, cpu and vid card at once.

because if i buy another agp video card now, that still means i have to upgrade later down the road and thats another $300 to add to it already. but to do the upgrade to what i want is like $780.

I guess i could go for a cheaper pci-e vid card but then i don't get what i want.

 

[Rage187]

You should use that money to upgrade to PCI-Ex.


Mwave has the ASROCK Dual Uli board and a Dual core 3800 for $390. The board comes w/ AGP and Pci-Express so you can upgrade the graphics later when you feel like moving over.

I had the board and Anandtech showed it gave some of the best AGP and Pci-Ex performance.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Rage187
You should use that money to upgrade to PCI-Ex.


Mwave has the ASROCK Dual Uli board and a Dual core 3800 for $390. The board comes w/ AGP and Pci-Express so you can upgrade the graphics later when you feel like moving over.

I had the board and Anandtech showed it gave some of the best AGP and Pci-Ex performance.

see, i tooka really good look at that board and had a few thoughts on it. its sounds great for all the future-proofing it has, but the layout sounds really crappy. how much is that daughter board for the 940 cpu going to cost? i would think performance would be less going through a daughter board than mounted directly? will you be able to run both a 939 and a 940 processor at the same time? that system is going to be pretty cramped with all that stuff in there, especially with the size of some video cards and 3rd party heatsinks and fans.

this is a stupid question and i think know the answer but i just want to verify.
can i use a ati card in a motherboard with the nforce chipsets? i'm pretty sure you can, would be dumb if you couldn't, but i better make sure.

 

[Rage187]

Yep, you can absolutely use an Ati card in an Nforce board and get great performance.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Well if you have a 6800 then I'd say you won't notice a performance improvement unless you get atleast a 7800GT. Did you try to unlock your 6800 and OC it ?

 

[pontifex]

yes, i tried to unlock it but got artifacts. didn't try to overclock. nothing on my system is overclocked except the video card and that was done by BFG.

i can't figure out how to overclock my stuff.