Stuck on AGP--Keep the 9800xt or go 1600Pro

SSEnigma

Hey Guys, let me say that I am STUCK on AGP and CANNOT afford to go to PCI-EXPRESS, so because of that, I have two choices.

1) Buy a X1600PRO (That is overclocked or a regular one that is not--575mhz over 500mhz)
2) Keep my radeon 9800XT

I am upgrading because I want to play armed assault. Is the jump worth it?

Lucky Cynic

If you are going to just play a single game, its a good card to get, the 1600 that is. But if your computer is running an AGP graphic card, the rest of it probably isn't too beefy. Just be wary of game performance.

vonPoonBurGer

SSEnigma wrote:

1) Buy a X1600PRO

Do yourself a favour, if you're replacing a 9800XT don't get an X1600 pro. On many benchmarks, it's barely any faster than what you've already got. Example. You'd do much better to get an Nvidia 6600 or 7600 based AGP card for not much more money.

SSEnigma

What about a X1650PRO?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102057

vonPoonBurGer

SSEnigma wrote:

What about a X1650PRO?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102057

Definitely a better choice, if $130 is roughly your budget and you're an ATI kinda guy. I'm glad you mentioned it, I didn't even know it came in an AGP flavor. It's comparable to a 7600GS AGP in terms of performance, and both of them will outperform an X1600, or your current 9800XT. Past that point, though, I think it's all Nvidia parts for AGP options: 7600GT, or 7800GS AGP, with 7800GS being top dog for AGP performance, but the price jump is pretty dramatic for each. ~$190 for the 7600GT, $250+ for the 7800GS.

SSEnigma

Thanks a lot mate.

Fibretip

I put a geforce 7800 GS overclocked model this summer in my new build,

http://www.amazon.com/BFG-7800-GS-OC-Graphics/dp/B000EH5A5Y this one

and i can do nothing but sing it's praises!

(the rest of the system is a 3.6GHz celeron D, 2gb no name ram, cheapy intel mobo... a cheap system all around, whole thing (Excluding gfx) only came to about $500 with a nice case and hdd's etc, i was on a tight budget this time)

I can crank out F.E.A.R. at 1280*1024 with all the bells and whistles on and still hit about 35fps except in the most crazy of gunfights, far cry never drops it's frame rate at all, oblivion runs at the above resolution with everything on full at about 20 fps, and tomb raider legends is the biggest hog, hitting about 15 as standard in the graphics heavy areas, rising back to about 25 the rest of the time. I'm not somebody that notices frame rates until they drop below ten, so i've not been bothered by that one. Prey, quake 4, doom 3, just cause, call of juarez and tons more things run a dream on it, you wouldn't know the system pushing them was that cheap.

so if you have the cash to spend, and are sure you don't want to upgrade the rest and go pci-e (i only ended up agp because i made a mix up buying the mobo...annoying!) i'd most highly recomend the above card... it's worked for me!

robaal

That X1650Pro has a bit low core clock - it's supposed to be 600MHz - so do try to "overclock" it back to normal values (they might be some crappy core samples though that wouldn't run any faster...).

OTOH you can get a normal-clocked 7600GS (400/800) for +$5 and the same core is used on 7600GTs, so it might be easier to overclock or some of them are passively cooled,

As always, I suggest checking eBay for a used 6800GT/Ultra - you might be able to snatch one for not much more and it should be significantly faster than the above cards.