I am trying to upgrade my graphics (9600xt) and I have enough budget for the best of the best AGP gaming card ... Is x1950PRO the best AGP gaming card? if not then what is?

Lol, if you have extra money and want the best of the best then get the 8800 GTX. If you have extra money then get the 8800 Ultra, though I think it's overpriced and not worth it.

The OP's talking AGP.

To the OP: The X1950XT is the best AGP card money can buy...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814241049

Better make sure your power supply can handle it. You're going to need at least a 450W PSU with 30amps on the +12v rails.

read mate..he said AGP not pci-e

@ OP: nope, its very good but not the best. Last time i checked that belonged to the X1950 XT agp card.

edit: dang beaten again..by a few seconds damn you kaotao!

oops.

no i didnt....i see your post before mine


edit: hahahahaha oops indeed

That's what I get for doing more than one thing at a time.

what is OP lol


original poster?

anyways... should i get http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161071 ? its about 50 bux less than the xt

actully best gaming card you can buy is the Gainward Bliss 7800GS+ its a 7900GT G71 AGP card, and mostly everyone has oced them to 7900GTX speeds and they all come with 512mb DDR3.

yeah OP is original poster. any who, if you are going for the pro, then you may aswell save some more money and get the 256Mb version. cause unless you play at fairly high resolutions the 256 mb version should be enough.

Too bad they don't sell that version of them anymore, and haven't for a while. Also, they were only available in Europe.

luckily i managed to buy one while they were still available

they're on ebay

Well, the Gainward use to be the best but the new XFX 7950GT 512MB AGP is now the NVidia card to get. It's also no slouch in the overclocking dept.

As far as the "best" AGP card goes, I really think it depends on your idea of what best means. The Gecube X1950XT is certainly the fastest, but only beats the Pro by a slim margin. On my rig, an overclocked Gecube X1950XT bested an overclocked Sapphire X1950 Pro 512MB card by only 500 points in 3DMark05 and by less in 3DMark06. The Gecube X1950XT also demands a lot of power from your +12v rail and uses 3 slots. For power on the Gecube an addendum with the manual says a 550w PSU is recommended and it requires 3 Molex Connections or 1 Molex Connection & 1 PCI-E Connection. There have also been a number of complaints regarding the TEC cooler on the Gecube. Quite a few people have returned their card due to overheating, primarily because the TEC is making poor contact with the GPU. A simple mod can be done by taking off the back heatsink plate and adding some more padding using electrical tape or whatever, but it really shouldn't have to be done in the first place. Also, one more thing regarding the Gecube X1950XT, the default memory clock is only 1400 Mhz. effective. Most PCI-E XT's come at 1800 Mhz. Gecube probably kept it low because they did not use any Ramsinks/Heatsinks on the VRAM, the memory chips are bare under the TEC.

Now on the green side you have XFX 7950GT 512MB card which has a lot going for it. It's not the fastest but in performance I would place it between the Gecube X1950XT 256MB and the Sapphire X1950 Pro. This card scored about 900 pts lower than the XT did in 3DMark05 in my rig, but scored the same as the XT in 3DMark06. It comes with a great lifetime warranty which includes death by overclocking. XFX even puts an overclocking document on the setup CD. As far as power goes, just 1 molex connection is required and it's a single-slot solution. XFX recommends a 400w PSU with only 20a on the +12v rail. The only bad thing I can say about this card is the price. It generally costs $40-$50 more than the Pro does and about the same as the XT. But at least with this card, you're probably not going to have to run out and pick-up new PSU. Oh, forgot the XFX gotcha, there is always one isn't there? Nvidia has not yet added the 7950GT AGP to the .inf setup file, so you need to either get your drivers directly XFX or learn to modify the .inf file by adding two lines to it. It's not difficult, just a pain in the ass.

Now as far as my pick goes for the "best" bang for you buck AGP card, I would have so say it's the Sapphire X1950 Pro 512MB card. You can't beat the price and it's also a single slot solution. Performance wise, it's not far behind the Gecube and as far as power goes, it does need a healthy +12V rail. Manufacturers are recommending 30a on the +12v rail which may be a bit overstated, but not by much from what I have read on a dozen or so forums. I still think this is the card to get, although I am currently a happy XFX 7950GT AGP user.

If what hon