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It's up there now!

Which is useless to me - I've still got XP and an ancient CRT so ever if the 3850 went AGP it would still be overkill... and probably very pricey to boot.

Until I finally build a new rig with PCIe and slap in a 8800GT (or 3870...) my best bet is a X1950GT... cheapish even for AGP but still good for some AA/AF at moderate resolutions on newish games. Give me some time to get together the cash for the new machine

i am building a new system next year sometime but need a good cheap graphix card to hold me over till then. here is my system: AMD Athlon XP 2600+ @2.13ghz 768mb RAM AGP 4x. I want something that won't bottleneck the 4x agp so price probably isn't a concern because of the 4x agp. is this a good card to buy then unlock the pixel pipelines and vertex shaders, some people are getting it from 8/3 to 16/6?http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814141060

AGP 4x isn't a bottleneck... I've run tests and it's as fast a AGP 8x even on X1950 PRO class cards.

However, your 2600+ CPU will be a bottleneck on newer titles.

The best fit for that platform is a Geforce 7600 GT or Radeon 2600 XT.

Here's an AGP review showing different AGP cards performing on an Athlon XP 2500+:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/0 [...] -analysis/

Here's an AGP review showing there's no difference between AGP 4x and 8x on the 7600 GT and X1950 PRO:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/0 [...] page6.html

hey all i have just purchased a ati HD 2600 Pro His card
it has 512mb of gDDR2 It is AGP
and im having power problems plzz help there is my thread: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] rter-plzzz

PLz Help??

does anyone know a good site where the 3850 and 3870 are priced correctly

Does anyone know of a reliable US site to get a decent price on a Radeon X1650 AGP DDR3? Thanks.

This is probably a really stupid question, but I've looked around and can't seem to find a clear answer.

I understand that PCIe 2.0 is much better than 1.0.... but then what type are the majority of PCI x16 cards? I understand that "x16" denotes the number of lanes, but this doesn't indicate whether the card is 2.0 or 1.0, does it? Or is the number of lanes inherently designated to the type of PCIe?

Also, would a 768mb 8800GTX PCI x16 card work better than a 512mb 8800GTS PCI 2.0 card?

I'm upgrading from an AGP card..... and I'm thoroughly confused. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

1. PCIe isn't much better than PCIe 1.0, from a real-world standpoint. Maybe it'll make a difference in videocards we see 5 years in the future, it won't make a difference now.

2. PCIe standards can use a number of different lanes. A given PCIe slot can have 16, 8, etc. The same with PCIe 2.0.

Almost all graphics slots have 16 lanes. some have 8 lanes, and the performance difference between the two can not be seen by the naked eye.

I couldn't help but notice that on the AGP list, at the end, it say "BEST PCI-E CARD FOR >$200: WAIT" A bit of a Freudian slip, mayhap?

Also, as they've been available for a while now, and the current list is for January*, so I ws wondering why there wasn't the G92 revision of the GeForce 8800GTS listed up there; it's price-comparable to the old 8800GTS at some $330US on NewEgg... As far as performance goes, I'd remind you that the GPU charts here only record the OC version, which is some 10% faster. So it may be very likely that the 8800GTS 512MB would actually be a suitable "next step up" over the 8800GT.

*I bet you felt so relieved when you switched to only month-by-month!

Naw, I doubt it would be overkill. Remember that Crysis crushes at DX9 (in windows XP) as well, and all the settings are available. And "ancient CRTs" are still quite respectable monitors: they still provide image quality that can shred even some of the best LCDs out there.

I've VERY WARY of the GeForce 6800XT. I was years ago back when it first came out, and still am now. I'd recommend staying the heck away from it; chances are not 100% that you'd be able to "unlock" it. If you want something in that price range, go, as Cleeve's list suggests, with something like a Radeon X1650pro; that alone, for the same price, would get you about as much power as the 6800XT would even IF you managed to unlock the whole thing... As well as full HDR+AA support in everything.

I'd recommend NewEgg; checking now, it's $170US for a 256MB 3850, $190US for a 512MB 3850, and $230US for a 512MB 3870.

Again, NewEgg: $130US ($100US after MIB) for one. Note that the card Cleeve lists and recomends does NOT have GDDR3 memory; it's clocked at 800MHz, and is DDR2.

To add onto what Cleeve said:

• No, it's NOT actually "much better." Performance wise, it'd mean nothing. HOWEVER, as another side, PCIe allows for more power to be drawn through the connectors, which COULD mean fewer direct power connectors from the PSU needed, yielding a case with less clutter.
• Almost all PCIe cards are of version 1.0; this was the version used from its introduction with the GeForce 6xxx and Radeon Xxxx cards, and PCIe 2.0 just FIRST started showing up with the Radeon HD 3xxx and GeForce G92-based cards, so only a HANDFUL use it now.
• The GeForce 8800GTX would not be as potent as the 8800GTS 512, though this has nothing to do with the fact that the latter has PCIe 2.0 support, and more to do with the fact that it uses the more efficient G92 core, and is clocked faster.

Don't try and upgrade that aging system, you will wind up disappointed.

I had a 2.4ghz p4 HT 800mhz fsb 8x agp 1.5gb ddr 400 ram.

my 6800gt finally croaked on me, and my system just wasnt cutting it anymore. I did a little research and picked up a 7900gs (according to the agp charts here, it was my best option for agp) I like you, planned on building a new system this summer. After the install, and seeing ZERO real owrld performance gain and marginal 3dmark increase, I returned the card and bucked up and ordered new parts for a grand total of 850.

Intel c2d E6750 2.66 (Oced to 3)
eVGA 8800GT 512
2gb ddr6400 ram
200 gb sata drive
cooler master stacker case
thermaltake toughpower PSU
MSi Sli 650i p6n platinum board.
(highjacked my net card, dvd drive and audigy sound card from my other pc)

There is nothing like getting that thing built and cranking games up to high without a hiccup. When you were stuggling for frames on med to low settings prior. Although I havent played crysis yet, that review of it getting 15 frames in some instances with tri-sli 8800 gtx's running didnt make me feel positive.

Which would be better for 1204x1024 res 8800GT 256 or 512 or HIS iceq 3850 512

His iceq3 turbo x 3850 512mb would be better.

If there's an option for a 512MB 8800GT, (I can't quite tell from your post) then go for that.