Good AGP card?? Help Please

[demontrace]

I'm very curious as to what would be a good AGP video card to buy. I have a computer that is a few years old, and I don't have enough money to build a new computer. I can't use a PCI Express video card, as I don't have that on my board. Just AGP.

I would prefer an NVIDIA card, but it seems like ATI is the only one still supporting it. If anyone knows of any good NVIDIA cards that will allow me to play today's games, it'd be much appreciated.

I want one with at minimum, 256MB of memory, preferably 512, so it'll last longer.

I want it to be at or under $200. It can be around that range, if it's slightly higher.

But yeah, a fast, AGP, NVIDIA, 512MB of RAM preferably around $200

ATI is a possibility if there simply isn't any NVIDIAs around anymore

Thanks!

 

[IlllI]

list the rest of your system specs and what resolution your monitor is

 

[demontrace]

does it really matter? cause i mean I really just want a fast AGP 8x card, that preferably NVIDIA, and is around or under $200

I got a 3 Ghz Pentium 4, and I think 1.5 GB of RAM

I have a 17" Monitor.

 

[Skunkwourk]

It matters because seeing as you have an older system, some cards will be too powerful for you to take full advantage of (meaning you'd be wasting money, although the fact that you'd spend up to $200 might make that a non issue).

The last NVIDIA card for AGP was the 7900 or 7950 which is pretty hard to find, but last I heard they had issues with heat and drivers. The 3850 AGP is available but since you're on an older single core chip its a bit of overkill for your system. If you really want to save money you can look for a used x1950 Pro 512, but if you absolutely want the best, for a little over $100, you can get the 3850 anyway. They're not much more than the used X1950's and theyd be new too. Make sure to check your PSU for power requirements.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814131090

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: m0mentary
It matters because seeing as you have an older system, some cards will be too powerful for you to take full advantage of (meaning you'd be wasting money, although the fact that you'd spend up to $200 might make that a non issue).

If you're willing to spend the $$, getting the most out of your video card doesn't matter. What matters is using a video card to get the most out of your system.

That 3850 you linked to is the way to go, provided the OP's PSU can handle it.

 

[OCNewbie]

With a little effort, you could probably replace all core components (Motherboard, CPU, RAM) AND buy a new video card (perhaps a Radeon 4670) for $200. I put together a wishlist on Newegg that includes an Intel E5200 CPU (can get cheaper on Ebay), cheap motherboard (but rated 5 stars on Newegg), 2 Gigs of Corsair Memory, AND a Radeon 4670 PCI-e card for like ~$202. There are 3 rebates totaling $60 involved, so your delivered price would be approx $262 before rebates.

I'm sure there are more options avail though. With a little research you can turn your available $200 into something that'll last you quite a while and be a MUCH bigger upgrade than trying to continue to support that old outdated system of yours.

Edit: Do you happen to know what video card you currently have?

 

[Leyawiin]

Nvidia has pretty much abandoned the AGP market and officially, ATI isn't far behind. The HD 3000 cards are Frankenstein monsters cobbled together by their third party partners without ATI's blessing. Driver support is a mess and there are numerous threads in various forums about people having issues with card installation (the card not being recognized by the system). If I were buying an AGP card for some reason I would find an X1950 Pro. The last officially supported AGP card of decent specs (well, for 2006).

http://www.tigerdirect.com/app...dpNo=2918625&CatId=318

$140, but thats what you're up against now with an old interface.

 

[MustangSVT]

you've got $200 to spend?

just buy new mobo + CPU and ram, if you choose a board with built in video something like 6100 , you can get by until you can get a decent PCI E card. spending anything on AGP would be a waste now. What card do you have now?

but bottom line is, dont get AGP card anymore.

and when you DO get a PCI E videocard, its stupid to get something slower because "it will not take full adv of cpu, cpu is bottle necked... ". ALWAYS get best value for the money in your budget.
so if 9800gtx is $90 and there is a 9500gt for $70, no matter what cpu you got, its stupid to buy gt.

 

[BladeVenom]

Look around for a used one, real cheap. Then save up for a new system. I don't think it's worth sinking much money into such an old system.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Is this for gaming? What AGP video card do you have now? What game(s) do you want to play?

As everyone else is telling you, it probably makes more sense to just keep saving up for a full upgrade, the few AGP cards that exist cost much more than they should for the speed.

 

[demontrace]

Okay, so you guys are warning me about the aftermarket Radeon boards that are the Frankenstein's monster equivalent. That's too bad, cause I was actually looking at those boards, and was thinking about getting one of them.
I was under the impression a new motherboard+CPU+memory would be a lot more than $200, of which, I barely have an extra $200 to spend, I definitely can't go over that.

These are the boards I was looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161225

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161226

They both appear to be faster, and better than that X1950 Pro, and one is actually cheaper than that X1950 Pro, with the rebate and all.

I'd actually rather go with the cheaper of those two, but they say the board runs hot, so maybe it'd be better to pay the extra $70, for the cooler board, that also runs faster?

EDIT: The card I have, is a Radeon 9800, Pro I believe

Basically, the reason I want to buy this video card, is to play Fallout 3, and if my system can handle it with the new card, maybe try out assassin's creed.

 

[qbfx]

imho you'd better go with the upgrade OCNewbie pointed out (really!) and the 4670 is a very good choice, it performs about the same as the 3850 you'd get for 199$.

 

[demontrace]

Okay, if you guys really think I could get a good motherboard, CPU, memory, and maybe a vid card for around $200, that'd leave me with the option of upgrading a lot of those cheap parts in the future, to keep up with the times, then I'm hooked. I understand all the parts wouldn't be the best, but knowing that I could upgrade the CPU to something much better, or get a better PCI-e video card, would be nice. Much better than my current, old rig.

Can I get any help with what the motherboard is that OCnewbie is talking about? Is Intel the better choice? And an ATI card?

 

[OCNewbie]

I would go with the Intel E5200 processor found here - Link. It's $73.15 including shipping after 15% live.com cashback.

For RAM, you can get 2x1GB (2GB) Corsair memory for $9.99 after $30 MIR from Newegg - Link. Or you could get 2x2GB (4GB) for $24.50 after $30 MIR from Amazon.com. It comes with a free subscription to Wired magazine too, which I believe you can decline somehow and get another $8 MIR offer, so net price would be $16.50 after the $30 + $8 MIR.

This video card - Gigabyte HD4670 512MB GDDR3

And this motherboard (I have no experience, just basing it on price ($39.99 after MIR) and reviews) - Link

Use the 2.75% live.com cashback on all your newegg purchases, and total, including shipping, etc., and after you get the 3 MIR's totaling $60 back, your end result price will be $187.36

Your up front costs are going to be around $250-$260, so keep that in mind if you go this route.

There is a combo for 4 Gigs of OCZ DDR2 + an EVGA 8600 GT for like $42 after $70 worth of MIR's, which could save you some more dough, though the 8600 GT would be substantially slower than the 4670 I believe.

 

[CurseTheSky]

With the Phenom IIs (AM2+ / AM3) on the horizon, and Intel moving to a new socket, you might do just as well getting a decent AM2 / AM2+ motherboard, a cheap dual core Athlon X2, 2GB DDR2, and spending whatever's left on the video card. It may not be as powerful as a Core 2 right now, but I believe it would give a better upgrade path.

 

[Skunkwourk]

Originally posted by: demontrace
Okay, so you guys are warning me about the aftermarket Radeon boards that are the Frankenstein's monster equivalent. That's too bad, cause I was actually looking at those boards, and was thinking about getting one of them.
I was under the impression a new motherboard+CPU+memory would be a lot more than $200, of which, I barely have an extra $200 to spend, I definitely can't go over that.

These are the boards I was looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161225

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814161226

They both appear to be faster, and better than that X1950 Pro, and one is actually cheaper than that X1950 Pro, with the rebate and all.

I'd actually rather go with the cheaper of those two, but they say the board runs hot, so maybe it'd be better to pay the extra $70, for the cooler board, that also runs faster?

EDIT: The card I have, is a Radeon 9800, Pro I believe

Basically, the reason I want to buy this video card, is to play Fallout 3, and if my system can handle it with the new card, maybe try out assassin's creed.

FYI I think Assassin's Creed requires a dual core cpu. Not sure about Fallout 3.

 

[Concillian]

Originally posted by: demontrace

I want it to be at or under $200. It can be around that range, if it's slightly higher.

For that kind of money, you should really do a full platform upgrade to dual core:
AMD 4850e ~$60
780G mobo ~$70
4 gig RAM ~ $50
9600GT ~ $70

total cost ~$250.

This will get you a lot further than $200 spent on a severely outdated platform.

You can actually find stuff cheaper than that if you really hunt, but that's definitely the better option than buying a new AGP card if you have a little room in your budget.

 

[demontrace]

I was checking out that Live.com cashback thing, since I'd never heard of it, and that seems very cool after having signed up for it.

However, I did not see EBAY listed as a live.com partner, and did not see this 15% discount you were mentioning.
I did see that E5200 listed elsewhere, for around $78, which is close enough for me.


Okay, I actually just did the purchasing. I'm crossing my fingers here that that live.com cashback thing actually works. I'm also hoping that I'll actually have a chassis for this setup here. It's a micro-atx, so I should be able to fit it in one of my cases, but I am wondering about USB, and all that jazz. I'm hoping I can take my audigy 2 card out of my current rig, and use that in the soon to be, new computer.

I also want to thank everyone for their input so far, and their help. It's been much appreciated. I'm very excited about this rig, and can't wait to find out more information about the motherboard, the socket type, what further upgrade options are available to me, and so forth. Haven't had this rush in quite a few years.

 

[Leyawiin]

Originally posted by: demontrace
Okay, I actually just did the purchasing. I'm crossing my fingers here that that live.com cashback thing actually works. I'm also hoping that I'll actually have a chassis for this setup here. It's a micro-atx, so I should be able to fit it in one of my cases, but I am wondering about USB, and all that jazz. I'm hoping I can take my audigy 2 card out of my current rig, and use that in the soon to be, new computer.

I also want to thank everyone for their input so far, and their help. It's been much appreciated. I'm very excited about this rig, and can't wait to find out more information about the motherboard, the socket type, what further upgrade options are available to me, and so forth. Haven't had this rush in quite a few years.

Spending money on tech is fun. Good luck with your build!

 

[OCNewbie]

Grats on the purchases! Re-bump this thread when you get it all installed and up and running! =)

 

[demontrace]

I am curious if this will all work with Windows XP? I figure I'd just use that install disk that I was using for this computer with the new computer. It's either Windows XP, or Windows 2000. I figure Windows 2000 isn't to even be considered. I can't remember what's the max amount of RAM for Windows XP, and does it even support Dual Core?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Max amount of RAM for XP is 4GB, but you won't get all of that because your memory-mapped hardware (like your video card's framebuffer) take away address space from the 4GB. So with 4GB installed, you will probably see 3.25GB in Windows.
XP supports dual-core, quad-core, you-name-it-core. It's licensed by the socket, not by how many cores are in the socket.

 

[Stumps]

hmmm for a 3ghz p4, I wouldn't go any faster than a X1950 pro...But even that is overkill for such a system...they are easy to find however and the Sapphire model is pretty damn good, I still have mine in my old AGP C2D E4300 system that serves as a secondary gaming rig.

 

[demontrace]

Great, well I got my parts today, and put together the computer, AND IT DOESN'T WORK.

I believe the term is that it won't POST. I've checked the connections, and tried multiple different tests, and it won't start up. The monitor is completely blank, I hear no beep, no activity on the hard drive. The CD drives won't open when I press the buttons on them.

I have tried connecting the monitor to the onboard video, and I've tried having it connected to my video card. I've tried starting the computer with the video card in, and out, and no change.

Tried connecting the sound card, and then tried it with it unconnected, no change.

Tried pulling out the memory, then putting them back in, no change.

Removed the heatsink and CPU, put them back in, no change.

Disconnected the hard drive power, and cable, same with DVD-roms, no change again.

I'm not really sure what else I can do. Could try disconnecting everything but the motherboard, cpu, and memory, but i doubt that'll change anything.

I have a power supply tester, I can try using that, but unless I come back here real quick with an update on that, I'm pretty sure it's not the problem. I've never even used this power supply before, and I know the motherboard is getting at least SOME power, as a little red light shows up in the bottom corner, and the CPU's fan will start up when I hit the power button.
If the video card is plugged in, it too, has it's fan start up.

This is such a major buzzkill, especially if I DO have a bad component. I bought all the products from Newegg, not sure how helpful they are in this situation. And Zotac, the motherboard company, doesn't seem to have terribly much support. No troubleshooting section whatsoever in their manual, and no easily found phone #. Tried making an account on their forums to get some support, and have been waiting forever for a validation email to arrive so I can actually post on there.

 

[ther00kie16]

Did you plug the 4 pin into the connection by the CPU?