what is the best agp card available?

[Inspector Jihad]

i want to upgrade my 6600gt to the best possible agp card since my next upgrade will be to pci-e.

 

[f4phantom2500]

x1950xt: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814241049

that's the best...

x1950 pro: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...tion=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=

second best.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Actually if u got deep pockets tehe GainWard Bliss 7800GS + ( note the + ) is actually an AGP 7900GTX it has 512mb of 1.4ns memory capable of 1400mhz+ and all. But the only place you'll find one is eBay nowadays if you're lucky and expect to spend $300 - $500.

The GainWard Bliss 7800GS ( without the + ) is a 7800GT and will still run you close to $300 though it is slower than the X1950XT from GeCube at that point.

Given that it would take a better cooler to get the GPU on the Gainward to 650+ and the memory they used seems to max out at 1450mhz or so making it a competitor for an X1900XT. Some people are noting 700/1600 with the GeCube X1950XT's though putting them closer to an X1900XTX

Compare the 7900GT/GTX and X1900XT here and the Gainwrd bliss will score between the GT/GTX for the memory bandwidth difference.

Also keep in mind that the GainWard Bliss 7800GS+ has 512mb and not 256mb like the GeCube X1950XT. THis will net it better performance at higher resolutions.

 

[Summitdrinker]

ya well...........................back to what's your cpu and your power supply spec's
games you play, there settings and what ever else you use the card for

 

[honestjohn]

Originally posted by: Dazed and Confused
Actually if u got deep pockets tehe GainWard Bliss 7800GS + ( note the + ) is actually an AGP 7900GTX it has 512mb of 1.4ns memory capable of 1400mhz+ and all. But the only place you'll find one is eBay nowadays if you're lucky and expect to spend $300 - $500.

The GainWard Bliss 7800GS ( without the + ) is a 7800GT and will still run you close to $300 though it is slower than the X1950XT from GeCube at that point.

Also keep in mind that the GainWard Bliss 7800GS+ has 512mb and not 256mb like the GeCube X1950XT. THis will net it better performance at higher resolutions.

I had the Gainward Bilss 7800GS+ several months ago and yes it use to be top-dog but the readily available 7950GT 24-pipe 512MB AGP card is just as fast if not faster and easily overclocks to 640 Core / 1500 Mem or higher. Mine runs at 1600 Mhz. effective without issue. XFX also has a lifetime warranty which includes death by overclocking and even includes a how-to overclock doc on the setup CD beileve it or not. So, no need to pay the outrageous EBay fees anymore for the Gainward card. You just have to pay the outrageous normal AGP fee.

So I'd rankem as follows .....with just a slight change from f4's post......

1. Gecube X1950XT TEC 256MB - the fastest - number of TEC issues reported/heatsink not contacting GPU / simple mod to fix / - 3 molex connections for power or 1 molex & 1 PCI-E required to power card / 3-slot cooler / owned for 3 months

2. XFX 7950GT 512MB - next fastest - benches on my rig, same as X1950XT in 3DMark06 / 900 pts lower in 3DMark05 / single-slot solution with only 1 molex required for power.

3. Sapphire X1950 Pro 512MB - extremely close third - best bang for the buck / owned for 3 months

 

[f4phantom2500]

http://www.tomshardware.com/20...r_the_money/page4.html

I just read that the other day, check it; they have AGP recommendations for different price points, from sub-$100 (X1650 Pro) to $260 (X1950XT). The reason they don't mention cards like that 7950GT and the 7800GS+ are either because there are better deals (I'd still go with the X1950XT over the 7950GT personally), and that 7800 is too rare and thus expensive to recommend in a guide like that.

 

[Aeros]

If you want overclockability then the GeCube X1950xt is #1...Remove the stock cooler though. You can Find it cheaper then some Pro version too

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: honestjohn

Originally posted by: Dazed and Confused
Actually if u got deep pockets tehe GainWard Bliss 7800GS + ( note the + ) is actually an AGP 7900GTX it has 512mb of 1.4ns memory capable of 1400mhz+ and all. But the only place you'll find one is eBay nowadays if you're lucky and expect to spend $300 - $500.

The GainWard Bliss 7800GS ( without the + ) is a 7800GT and will still run you close to $300 though it is slower than the X1950XT from GeCube at that point.

Also keep in mind that the GainWard Bliss 7800GS+ has 512mb and not 256mb like the GeCube X1950XT. THis will net it better performance at higher resolutions.

I had the Gainward Bilss 7800GS+ several months ago and yes it use to be top-dog but the readily available 7950GT 24-pipe 512MB AGP card is just as fast if not faster and easily overclocks to 640 Core / 1500 Mem or higher. Mine runs at 1600 Mhz. effective without issue. XFX also has a lifetime warranty which includes death by overclocking and even includes a how-to overclock doc on the setup CD beileve it or not. So, no need to pay the outrageous EBay fees anymore for the Gainward card. You just have to pay the outrageous normal AGP fee.

So I'd rankem as follows .....with just a slight change from f4's post......

1. Gecube X1950XT TEC 256MB - the fastest - number of TEC issues reported/heatsink not contacting GPU / simple mod to fix / - 3 molex connections for power or 1 molex & 1 PCI-E required to power card / 3-slot cooler / owned for 3 months

2. XFX 7950GT 512MB - next fastest - benches on my rig, same as X1950XT in 3DMark06 / 900 pts lower in 3DMark05 / single-slot solution with only 1 molex required for power.

3. Sapphire X1950 Pro 512MB - extremely close third - best bang for the buck / owned for 3 months

I agree with this guy.

 

[honestjohn]

Originally posted by: Aeros
If you want overclockability then the GeCube X1950xt is #1...Remove the stock cooler though. You can Find it cheaper then some Pro version too

With the TEC Cooler I got mine to 675c / 1600m effective which isn't bad. Probably could have gone a lot higher if Gecube had seen fit to use ramsinks on the memory. When I first got the card I couldn't believe it when I looked under the cooler and saw the memory chips were bare. Perhaps this is why the Gecube AGP ships with a default mem-clock of only 1400 Mhz. effective rather than the 1800 Mhz. like most of the PCI-E boards do. Overall, I think the Gecube has a really bad cooling design and I agree with you that the stock cooler needs to be removed if you're serious about overclocking the card.

 

[Summitdrinker]

1, X1950XT
2, 7950GT
3, x1950pro 256 or 512MB

often the performance in the real world between these three is so close does it really matter? esp if your cpu is the limiting factor in the end

just get the one you can get the best deal on and go with it

 

[honestjohn]

Originally posted by: Summitdrinker
1, X1950XT
2, 7950GT
3, x1950pro 256 or 512MB

often the performance in the real world between these three is so close does it really matter? esp if your cpu is the limiting factor in the end

just get the one you can get the best deal on and go with it

I agree with you about the performance gap between cards being small, but I wouldn't pick a card based on the best deal either.

Power requirements should be a big factor in anyones decision as well as warranty considerations. For example, the Gecube X1950XT needs a very strong +12v rail and the addendum to the manual states a 550w PSU is recommended and I'm sure that TEC beast is partially responsible. So if you get a good deal on this card, one needs to take into account the extra $100-$150 a new PSU is going to cost them if their current PSU isn't up to it.

The X1950 Pro also needs a healthy +12v rail but it's power demands aren't anywhere near as high as the Gecube XT. Now as far as the Sapphire X1950 Pro goes which is my recommendation for best bang for the buck card. I've heard numerous horror stories regarding RMA's to Sapphire. Make sure you get it from an e-tailer with a good return policy because if you have to deal with Sapphire you're are going to wait 3-4 weeks for your new card and they are going to charge you a "processing fee" for the RMA.

Now the not so big gotcha with the 7950GT is the driver situation. Currently Nvidia does not have this card included in it's list of supported cards and you have to depend on XFX for driver support or learn to modify the card setup .inf file by adding 2 lines. If it wasn't for the $40-$50 premium for this card and driver support, this would be my recommendation for best of the bunch. As I stated earlier, it has a lifetime warranty which is actually transferable if you decide to sell it and it only needs one molex connection for power so most won't need to go out and buy a new PSU to run the card.

 

[f4phantom2500]

honestjohn, good point about the power requirements.

OP, your 6600GT doesn't take much juice at all, so perhaps an nvidia card would be the way to go since the ATI cards suck up so much power. Also, you never mentioned the rest of your system specs. If you have a slow processor, then you'd just be wasting your time with these high-end cards. There are plenty of AGP cards that are faster than your 6600GT, if your CPU can barely utilize a 7600GT then what's the point in a 7950GT?

 

[Inspector Jihad]

hey guys, thanks for all the info...i'm starting to understand it a bit more and have been browsing some of the e-sellers. i never considered the power requirements, so i should take a look at my ps.

my specs are listed in my sig.

 

[Assimilator1]

You badly need to overclock that CPU

Btw ,what PSU have you got?

 

[Summitdrinker]

another thing is size and heat, my x1950 pro is about 9 inchs long, it creates some heat (not massive amount) it's not a problem with my large well cooled case thou

what about noise too


remember to think about the games you play, look at the benchmarks, look around for driver problems too etc

 

[f4phantom2500]

Originally posted by: Assimilator1
You badly need to overclock that CPU

yes, most definitely. do that asap. a lot of those chips i've seen hit the high 2ghz range. idk how good via's a64 chipsets are for overclocking, but i know the venice-core processors overclock well.

 

[Inspector Jihad]

my motherboard has an option to overclock 10% which is what i've set it at. it's running at 1.98ghz now. should i go higher...i remember i tried to take it up to about 2.4 ghz but prime95 gave me errors so i backed down.

as for my psu, its whatever came in my antec case

 

[honestjohn]

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
my motherboard has an option to overclock 10% which is what i've set it at. it's running at 1.98ghz now. should i go higher...i remember i tried to take it up to about 2.4 ghz but prime95 gave me errors so i backed down.

as for my psu, its whatever came in my antec case

You definitely need to crack the case and read the label off that PSU, at least the model # would be helpful.

 

[GEOrifle]

Don't even think with your CPU about X1950XT or X1950PRO, even 7800gs is too much for
preinstaled 3-4 year system, X1950 GT will be perfect for yea $135.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102093

 

[Munky]

A 6600gt uses almost as much power as a 7900gt, the 6-series were power hungry cards. In your case, I'd recommend either the 7950gt or the 1950pro. The 1950xt is the fastest, but it consumes the most power, and will most likely be held back somewhat by your cpu. Since you'll be upgrading to pci-e eventually, you might not want to spend much money on your last agp card.

 

[honestjohn]

Originally posted by: munky
A 6600gt uses almost as much power as a 7900gt, the 6-series were power hungry cards. In your case, I'd recommend either the 7950gt or the 1950pro. The 1950xt is the fastest, but it consumes the most power, and will most likely be held back somewhat by your cpu. Since you'll be upgrading to pci-e eventually, you might not want to spend much money on your last agp card.

Yup, Munky's right. Good call, give this guy a banana. The 6600GT consumes 75 watts under load and the 7900's are at 82 watts. So your current PSU should support the 7950GT no problem.

 

[Assimilator1]

Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
my motherboard has an option to overclock 10% which is what i've set it at. it's running at 1.98ghz now. should i go higher...i remember i tried to take it up to about 2.4 ghz but prime95 gave me errors so i backed down.

It'd be worth trying higher ,from your 2GHz go up in ~50MHz steps (CPU speed of course) & do a quick & dirty 5min test with Prime95 each time.When it fails you can either increase vcore 1step or drop CPU MHz 25MHz (depending how CPU temps are going & if you have a decent cooler) then retest with Prime95.
To be as sure as you can its stable you need to do a 24hr P95 test for the final run.

Btw I see you have a VIA chipset ,does it have a working AGP/PCI bus lock?
If not you'll need to be careful about AGP/PCI speeds (e.g I wouldn't exceed ~37MHz for PCI).

 

[Nathelion]

OCing might not be the best idea if he's going to be strapped for power anyway?

 

[Assimilator1]

True ,depends on the PSUs specs.