Please Recommend AGP Card

[BUTCH1]

Originally posted by: wired247
My recommendation...

when my AGP system recently had a video card die...

I went with 7600GT

example
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130099

I've got a 7600GT, good card for the price and about as much as you would want to spend
for AGP at this point in time..

 

[johnsonbrewer]

Just bought a VisionTek HD 2600 Pro.

 

[ManWithNoName]

Originally posted by: johnsonbrewer
Sorry for the confusion. I am shopping for a raptor now so it will be an empty drive. I want XP and a few programs to load faster so that's why I'm looking at the raptor.

By ghosting, it will just exactly copy the entire contents of my current C: drive ( PATA HD ) onto the SATA raptor, correct so far? I have never ghosted before but I think I know whats happening. Question -- Will I be able to put just the OS onto a partition by itself, and will this be after I delete any other programs except the OS? In the end, I want XP on the SATA raptor on a partition by itself.

You have it exactly right, the disk utility will mirror your drive exactly as it is. If you want the OS on a seperate partition, after the drive is mirrored to the Raptor, you'll need to uninstall all the programs and then re-install them on the drive you want them on. This sounds like a large pain in the ass to me depending on the amount of Apps you have installed. If I were you I would buy a new copy of XP, life would be a lot easier.

 

[johnsonbrewer]

I know a new copy of XP would be the easy way out...........

I don't have ANY programs installed on the C: drive with XP that I can't back up or reinstall, I'm just afraid that XP is slightly corrupted. Although it seems to run fine at the moment.

Just looking for suggestions.

 

[ManWithNoName]

Originally posted by: BUTCH1

Originally posted by: wired247
My recommendation...

when my AGP system recently had a video card die...

I went with 7600GT

example
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130099

I've got a 7600GT, good card for the price and about as much as you would want to spend
for AGP at this point in time..

Definitely a good card Butch, as it's been recommended multiple times in this thread. Unfortunately the only one available at this time is the one from EVGA and they decided to use GDDR2 for some reason on their card rather than GDDR3 used by XFX and others. This was one of the faster 7600GTs ....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814150210

 

[johnsonbrewer]

Option 1) 50%

Option 2) 25%

Option 3) 0%

Option 4) 25% Mirror the drive, delete programs, Partition Magic, then wait to see if there are any problems going forward.

 

[johnsonbrewer]

Originally posted by: Steve
No problem, basically make sure all your previous video drivers are thoroughly uninstalled. I like to do the Add/Remove uninstall first, then shut down, install the card, boot into Safe Mode, and run Driver Cleaner to remove any lingering files and registry entries.

Then boot normally, and install drivers of your choice. I simply downloaded and installed Catalyst 8.1, followed by the "AGP hotfix" driver that the VTek forum mentions.

I don't have it in front of me, but I think the card has two DVI ports, along with ATI's proprietary S-Video out (which can do S-Vid, composite or component with each respective adapter and cabling).

You can make sure your drivers are installed correctly by Start-> Run-> dxdiag, and under the Display Tab, click on Test Direct3D. If it errors out (failed to create device) you either need the AGP Hotfix driver (this package installs 'over top' of the Catalyst 8.1), or there's something wrong with your driver install and you need to try again.

Thanks again, Steve. Just installed the HD2600Pro and all Tests of Direct3D passed on the first time through. This was installed in XP, and am going to load in Vista tomorrow for a dual boot so hopefully that will go smooth too.

 

[Steve]

Excellent! Glad to hear it's working out

 

[johnsonbrewer]

Update

I've got this card running on the Vista Home Premium side now as well using dual boot with XP. I plan to run 3DMark06 on both the XP and Vista sides, so does anyone know what scores I should be close to? I will run tests tonight to check out the card.

Also, does anyone know if the VT HD2600Pro can be bios flashed to an 2600XT to unlock the clocks? The Pro is locked but it appears the XT is unlocked.

This is the AGP version, btw.

 

[Denithor]

I probably wouldn't try flashing that personally, instead just use ATI tool to push up the clocks manually. Often they don't use the same memory on the Pro cards as on the XT cards so the Pro versions won't hit the same speeds and therefore flashing will result in a toasty card.

 

[johnsonbrewer]

Thanks, I was just on the Visiontek site and saw a post by Goku about this very thing. He OC'd it a little with a beta of AtiTool. Wheeee!

 

[Qkhanh]

Steve I think the issues with AGP and ATI's newest cards(2600 series) are from resolved.

Issues here
http://www.sapphiretech.com/en...showthread.php?t=18262
and
http://www.phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7350

I've installed the 8.1 hot fix drivers you mentioned that will resolve the issue, but honestly games such as Medieval Total War 2 and UT3 won't even start up without crashing my system.

I wouldn't recommend this card for anyone

 

[Steve]

Interesting Qkhanh, my only tests have been the Direct3D tests since I don't do any gaming at all.


That said, there *may* be something different about those Sapphire cards, is that what you have?

 

[Qkhanh]

Every problem so far I've had had to do with gaming, so far everything else seems fine.

Mine is a Sapphire product, and Visiontek looks to have some kind of an issue too. One thread for example http://www.visiontek.com/forum...816b1fb27034176c808123

I'm going to give Sapphire and ATI another chance for future purchases(I still remember the good ol' 9800XT), I'm off to get an AGP 3850 for an extra $100, and frankly if the same driver issues occur, ATI or its partners will likely never get any money from me again.

 

[Skunkwourk]

Originally posted by: Qkhanh
Every problem so far I've had had to do with gaming, so far everything else seems fine.

Mine is a Sapphire product, and Visiontek looks to have some kind of an issue too. One thread for example http://www.visiontek.com/forum...816b1fb27034176c808123

I'm going to give Sapphire and ATI another chance for future purchases(I still remember the good ol' 9800XT), I'm off to get an AGP 3850 for an extra $100, and frankly if the same driver issues occur, ATI or its partners will likely never get any money from me again.

Let us know how it goes, if I can slap an Accelero 1 on the 3850 agp I just might pick one up.

 

[Qkhanh]

I just installed the card and everything looks good.

Haha but my CPU is such a huge bottleneck I don't think any kind of FPS in games I give you would be at all accurate(Its a P4 2.6ghz).

I just ran Crysis and didn't run fraps but it was okay. 1280x1024 with everything medium but textures and water on high. It was running pretty nicely, probably around 30-40 fps range, it dipped below 30fps in gun fights for sure though.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albu.../calvindu/HPIM0511.jpg
Compared to my old 6600gt
http://i4.photobucket.com/albu.../calvindu/HPIM0515.jpg
A shiny little thing among dusty old parts

 

[evolucion8]

Is a huge bottleneck, I experimented bottlenecks with my P4 EE 3.4GHz and the X1950XT, I could not imagine the bottleneck that will ocurr with the HD 3850.

 

[Qkhanh]

The bottleneck is pretty bad.

The issue is usually at the start of a game, such as when Crysis is finished loading, I'd try to move the mouse around and it stutters a lot. After a while it settles down but it still occasionally stutters on various settings. Even BF2 stutters sometimes.

I'm looking foward to transferring the card from its current P4 2.6ghz into my other P4 3.2ghz rig.

Hopefully there would be some kind of difference.

 

[cubeless]

i just gave a xt850 that overclocks to pe speed to one of my kids' friends with a p4 2.8 and it's totally cpu bottlenecked... he's getting better performance than with his 6800oc, but the p4 is a dog...