Trying to upgrade a 9600 SE, what should I get for AGP?

[Indus]

I'm thinking of XFX PVT42KUDE3 Geforce 6800XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card for $129.

Is that the best I can get for the price range for around the $150 range?

Also my rig atm is:

Antec SLK 3700 AMB case with Powmax 500 watt p/s
AMD Athlon 64 2800+ Newcastle 1.8GHz Socket 754 Processor
MSI K8N Neo Platinum Socket 754 NVIDIA nForce3 250Gb ATX AMD Motherboard
CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200)
POWERCOLOR R96E-D3 Radeon 9600XT 256MB DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card
LITE-ON Black 16X DVD+RW burner
D-Link DFE-530TX+ 10/20/100/200Mbps PCI Network Adapter
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Plus ST3120026A 120GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive
Maxtor 40gb 7200 rpm ATA 100 Hard Drive
Soundblaster 5.1
Samsung Syncmaster 915n 19" lcd

What do you think is a good/ best choice for me

 

[snes tor]

i'd see of you can pull an x850 off the forums,

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Newegg has been selling X800 GTOs for about $140.

 

[Indus]

I'm looking for an nvidia though.. the ATI gives me problems. I've owned 3 nvidia's before and been happy with them. Any one of them good?

 

[imported_Kiwi]

nVidia is overcharging. That 6800 XT is a crippled POS. You want a Leadtek 7600 GT if you can find one. They didn't make many (AGP) and most got snatched up very quickly. No one else seems to be ready to do that card in AGP, so to stay with nVidia, you get either an inferior part, or a big step outside your budget!

 

[LW07]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102606
I would get this X850pro for $140($130 after instant rebate). It's much better than a 6800XT.

 

[apoppin]

it's TigerDirect:

but

BFG GeForce 6800 GS OC / 256MB GDDR3 / AGP 8x / DVI / VGA

Price:
$164.99
Less Rebate:
- $30.00
Final Price:
$134.99

 

[Vinnybcfc]

Originally posted by: Indus
I'm looking for an nvidia though.. the ATI gives me problems. I've owned 3 nvidia's before and been happy with them. Any one of them good?

What kind of problems?

 

[Indus]

If I play with aa and af on, I have freezes and reboots. I thought it was powersupply but going from a 350 to a 500 hasn't changed this.

My older p4 1.8ghz with gf3 ti200 can even play movies on top of games and no freezing.. this rig constantly hangs and I'm forced to reboot. I've tried checking every hardware via test but the only thing that made a difference was lowering aa/ af settings and then it doesn't.

 

[apoppin]

if you're talking about your 9600se, it's WAY underpowered for most modern games.. . . it cannot handle AA/AF except for very old games.

if you install from an nvidia card to ati [or the other way 'round], make SURE your use driver cleaner to remove all traces of the nvidia drivers before you install the new ati card.

 

[Indus]

That 9600 SE has been in my system since I made it.. but yes I want an nvidia now. I'll try and remove all.. but hmm that bfg is nice apoppin.

Is there any 7600 in the price range and agp format that compares or that 6800 GS OC is the best I can get?

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Indus
That 9600 SE has been in my system since I made it.. but yes I want an nvidia now. I'll try and remove all.. but hmm that bfg is nice apoppin.

Is there any 7600 in the price range and agp format that compares or that 6800 GS OC is the best I can get?

i don't think in your price range
faster but really expensive:

7800GS $209 AGP/BFG Retail After $30 Rebate - Best card for AGP

the 6800GS is excellent bang-for-buck . . . probably more than 6 times faster than your current card.
you are expecting too much from it to expect any AA/AF

maybe someone else will know for sure about the 7600s in AGP

 

[Captante]

Want the best card for your money? Get over the exaggerated "ATI has problems" mantra & buy this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102042

Want to spend more for the Nvidia name & get the roughly the same performance?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143045

Admittedly $34 isn't a whole lot more for the GS and its still avery fast card, but I'd give the edge to the X800GTO & thats what I'd by myself..
stay away from the 6800XT & especially anything in the X1600 line-up, they'll let you down.