What high-end AGP cards are supported in Win 7?

[VirtualLarry]

My friend has a P4 2.4Ghz system with 2GB of DDR-400 RAM, with an 8x AGP slot (at least I think it's 8X, it's an 845PE chipset).

He currently plays warhammer online with it, with a GeForce FX5900XT. If you recall, "XT" for NVidia cards is like "LE' for ATI cards - it's the lower-end board.

He claims that gameplay is acceptable (I don't know how he can say that, seeing warhammer online on my other friend's rig, an E5200 @ 3.75Ghz with a 9600GSO). But he was asking me about a video card upgrade. (Personally, I think it's the CPU holding him back.)

So what would be an acceptable solution, keeping in mind that the OS is Windows 7, and that most newer AGP ATI cards are not supported by ATI's generic Catalyst package, you have to install Vendor-specific drivers off of the mfg's web site. Which might not support Windows 7 for quite some time.

I was thinking that the BFG 7600GS on NewEgg for $85 might be a good solution, since that should, in theory, be supported by ForceWare generic packages.

He currently games at 1024x768 on a CRT, but might be moving to a 1280x768 widescreen LCD soon.

Edit: It is a socket 478 system. It's an 845PE board by QDI, with overclocking options to support 800FSB. The CPU is a mobile P4 2.0 Ghz (without heatspreader), which has a 12x and a 20x multiplier (speedstep switches between them), but in a desktop board, in the few that support mobile P4 CPUs (this one does), it only runs with the 12x multi. But it has a default FSB of 400, so running it at the 800 FSB gives me 2.4Ghz out of it. No HT support either AFAIK.

 

[nenforcer]

I have a 7800GS w/ 256MB DDR3 on Windows XP and it is one of the faster AGP cards ever made.

The drawback to buying a new 7600GS for Windows 7 is that it doesn't support DirectX 10.

If your going to buy a new AGP video card I would recommend the Sapphire Radeon 3850 AGP.

I just checked the Sapphire web page

http://www.sapphiretech.com

and their appear to be Catalyst 9.4 HOTFIX drivers released on April 9, 2009 which should give you DirectX 10.

Recently there were a lot of problems with both nVidia and ATI drivers for AGP cards in Vista / Windows 7 as you could easily find in the forums.

Hopefully most of these have been resolved with the latest WHQL drivers from both companies.

 

[Sylvanas]

3850 AGP or I think there is a 4670 AGP but even then that would be the upper limits of the system as you'd become CPU bottlenecked in games etc.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
3850 AGP or I think there is a 4670 AGP but even then that would be the upper limits of the system as you'd become CPU bottlenecked in games etc.

I guess he can get another card just for the sake of getting one but with that cpu hardly any modern game will run worth a crap. a 2.4 P4 doesnt even meet the minimum requirements to play most games from the last couple of years and most the ones that do play will run like crap no matter what card he puts in there. even a 4670 is miles ahead of any video card that should be in a 2.4 P4 system.

 

[Candymancan21]

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: Sylvanas
3850 AGP or I think there is a 4670 AGP but even then that would be the upper limits of the system as you'd become CPU bottlenecked in games etc.

I guess he can get another card just for the sake of getting one but with that cpu hardly any modern game will run worth a crap. a 2.4 P4 doesnt even meet the minimum requirements to play most games from the last couple of years and most the ones that do play will run like crap no matter what card he puts in there. even a 4670 is miles ahead of any video card that should be in a 2.4 P4 system.

Yea ^^ what he said. A 2.4 P4 is lower then the minimum specs of some games that have been out for a couple years now...

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Do not discount all AGP systems like that. There are a fair amount of S775 boards that support quads that also have AGP, so its not a completely dead solution.

I remember fry's had a killer combo a couple years back on a S775 board w/ AGP and a Q6600 for $345 or so.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Do not discount all AGP systems like that. There are a fair amount of S775 boards that support quads that also have AGP, so its not a completely dead solution.

I remember fry's had a killer combo a couple years back on a S775 board w/ AGP and a Q6600 for $345 or so.

I highly doubt that his board supports anything faster than a P4 though.

 

[SickBeast]

Video drivers are really hit-or-miss with Windows 7. For example, the 955 chipset in my laptop is completely unsupported, yet it is only a few years old. I would suggest that most AGP cards will be SOL, but perhaps AMD is doing a better job than intel in terms of drivers right now.

There's really not much risk in installing Windows 7 and seeing for yourself if it will work.

 

[evolucion8]

He should try to find in ebay a 3.0GHz or 3.2GHz processor if his motherboard supports 800Mhz FSB CPU's, if not, the fastest CPU that he could get is the P4 3.06GHz which has Hyper Threading. A typical single core Pentium 4 can bottleneck any card beyond the X800XT PE in games, so don't expect miracles, but at least some performance can be gain with a CPU upgrade, a card like the HD 2600XT or HD 3650 is enough for such CPU and will give you DX10 support.

 

[SickBeast]

I could swear I saw an AMD 4650 AGP last week.

 

[CurseTheSky]

I would tell him to get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16813157115. It's not top-of-the-line by any means, but it has AGP, PCI-E (x4), DDR and DDR2 slots. It's LGA775, so he could pair it with a cheaper processor such as http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819116072, and get a noticeable increase no matter what he plays. He could reuse his current AGP card, and invest in a newer PCI-E card and power supply when he has the cash.

If he'd rather save money, I'd suggest just getting a newer processor, motherboard, power supply, memory, and graphics card all at once, though. Something like a 780G / 790X AMD motherboard, dual or tri-core AMD processor, Antec Earthwatts or Corsair 450w PSU, any old DDR2, and a 9600GSO, 4850, or 4830 would be a great mid-range combo.

 

[Scali]

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Do not discount all AGP systems like that. There are a fair amount of S775 boards that support quads that also have AGP, so its not a completely dead solution.

I remember fry's had a killer combo a couple years back on a S775 board w/ AGP and a Q6600 for $345 or so.

I highly doubt that his board supports anything faster than a P4 though.

Yea, with a 2.4 GHz P4, chances are that it's not even S775 in the first place. Could be a S478 system. I had a 845PE system with S478, don't think that chipset was ever used for S775.

I agree with what the others say, better to buy a cheap PCI-e board, CPU and memory and a cheap videocard.
You'd be less CPU-limited, so the actual performance may be better.
Besides, you pay a premium for AGP cards anyway. They're always considerably more expensive than their PCI-e counterparts, simply because of the lower demands and the special care the manufacturers have to take for the products (new board design, PCI-to-AGP bridge, special drivers etc).

 

[yh125d]

Powercolor has an AGP 4670 for those wondering

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: Scali
I agree with what the others say, better to buy a cheap PCI-e board, CPU and memory and a cheap videocard.
You'd be less CPU-limited, so the actual performance may be better.
Besides, you pay a premium for AGP cards anyway.

+1

Did you folks see this amusing comparison page?

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Originally posted by: Scali

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Do not discount all AGP systems like that. There are a fair amount of S775 boards that support quads that also have AGP, so its not a completely dead solution.

I remember fry's had a killer combo a couple years back on a S775 board w/ AGP and a Q6600 for $345 or so.

I highly doubt that his board supports anything faster than a P4 though.

Yea, with a 2.4 GHz P4, chances are that it's not even S775 in the first place. Could be a S478 system. I had a 845PE system with S478, don't think that chipset was ever used for S775.

I agree with what the others say, better to buy a cheap PCI-e board, CPU and memory and a cheap videocard.
You'd be less CPU-limited, so the actual performance may be better.
Besides, you pay a premium for AGP cards anyway. They're always considerably more expensive than their PCI-e counterparts, simply because of the lower demands and the special care the manufacturers have to take for the products (new board design, PCI-to-AGP bridge, special drivers etc).

Woah. You ventured out of the Physx thread?

Nice..

 

[Scali]

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Woah. You ventured out of the Physx thread?

Nice..

If you want to say something, just say it. Otherwise, hold your silence.