Video Card Recommendation

[t0mmyb0y]

Looking to replace my 9800XT with something new The fan is dying, and I'm itching to upgrade.

I mainly play WoW and websurf. I'm thinking I probably don't need top of the line for that. Monitor is a Dell 19" LCD. I'm looking to spend around $200 bucks or less if possible. I have an AGP board, and don't really want to upgrade to a new one (unless that option is really the best one available). I've been out of the market for awhile, and all of the new ATI and NVidia cards confuse me...

Can anyone point me to a decent comparison of the cards in my price range, and/or give a recommendation?

 

[Mloot]

Are you looking to buy a brand new video card, or is buying a used one from the FS/FT forum an option you would consider?

 

[t0mmyb0y]

Used isn't a bad option I suppose. Never really considered it. I'll poke around over there

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: t0mmyb0y
Used isn't a bad option I suppose. Never really considered it. I'll poke around over there

Yeah, you can probably get something like a 6800GT/X800XL/XT these days for under $200 used. That would be a pretty big upgrade from the 9800XT.

 

[t0mmyb0y]

Would your recommend the 6800GT or the X800XL/XT? (and whats the diff on the XL vs. XT ><)

 

[BassBomb]

i say at least 6600GT.... 6800GS would be good too

XT is much better than XL

a good idea would be to check out toms hardwares graphics card roundups, the last one done for AGP shows the top cards in AGP ever

(although its changed by one card still good)

now the top is
7800GS
X850XT PE
X850XT
6800ULTRA
X800XT
6800GT

 

[jd103]

Heres a pretty good deal for under $200

6800GS

 

[LW07]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814241010

Get this instead

 

[Mloot]

If I didn't already have one, I would have snatched up this guy's X800XT.

 

[SolMiester]

I didnt think any of those ATI AGP cards had SM3, which all the new games use?

 

[t0mmyb0y]

Originally posted by: Mloot
If I didn't already have one, I would have snatched up this guy's X800XT.

I'm inquiring whether this is still available. Looks like the best option. Any other suggestions if that's sold out?

 

[t0mmyb0y]

Originally posted by: SolMiester
I didnt think any of those ATI AGP cards had SM3, which all the new games use?

Do the 6800 Nvidia cards have this SM3? And is it really that important, considering I don't really buy new games right now?

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

yes above 6800 but chances are you wont use it

 

[t0mmyb0y]

Originally posted by: AzNPinkTuv
yes above 6800 but chances are you wont use it

All cards above 6800 have it, or all cards 6800 and above?

 

[Shortass]

I wouldn't say it's very important, especially since it's a 6800 and if you were using lots of shaders your performance would probably plummet. It will look pretty sexy for all new games at at least 12x10 and most graphics up (except perhaps Oblivion), so it would be a nice card to have.

 

[SolMiester]

All 6xxx series have SM3...smoke/fog and stuff look wicked

 

[t0mmyb0y]

bump for the late night crowd, any more recommendations?

 

[Mloot]

If the X800xt is sold and/or you don't want to spend as much, this guy has an unlockable 6800 for $110/shipped.

 

[orangat]

Originally posted by: t0mmyb0y
Looking to replace my 9800XT with something new The fan is dying, and I'm itching to upgrade.

I mainly play WoW and websurf. I'm thinking I probably don't need top of the line for that. Monitor is a Dell 19" LCD. I'm looking to spend around $200 bucks or less if possible. I have an AGP board, and don't really want to upgrade to a new one (unless that option is really the best one available). I've been out of the market for awhile, and all of the new ATI and NVidia cards confuse me...

Can anyone point me to a decent comparison of the cards in my price range, and/or give a recommendation?

What cpu? If its old and slow, it will be a bottleneck.
AGP at this point is a deadend upgrade you'll have to balance whether the cash you dump into your upgrade is worth it instead of upgrading the mb+gfx.

The 6800gs is slower and uses an older core(nv40) compared to its pci-e equivalent. The agp 7800gs is also much slower than the pci-e version for the same price.

 

[t0mmyb0y]

I'm rockin an AthlonXP 2400+ with 1GB of RAM. I've thought about upgrading that and getting a new mobo vid card and memory, but thats like a $500 upgrade ><

 

[weirdichi]

Originally posted by: t0mmyb0y
I'm rockin an AthlonXP 2400+ with 1GB of RAM. I've thought about upgrading that and getting a new mobo vid card and memory, but thats like a $500 upgrade ><

I'm running the same XP2400+ with 1GB of RAM and my 9600 Pro AGP card just died. I'd like some suggestions, but my budget is hovering around $120ish.

 

[t0mmyb0y]

Bump.

Would like some information about upgrading to another AGP card now, or saving my pennies for a new motherboard/processor/memory and a PCI-E card of that type.

 

[Mloot]

PM sent.

 

[Washoe]

X800XL is a good suggestion if you're going to go AGP.

Consider the ASRock 939 board to make the switch to PCIe