Need some video card advice...

[HyPer50]

Not sure if this is the right section since they got rid of the computer section... but anyways, I need to upgrade my video card (my current one constantly locks up). I was planning on getting this card:
http://www.madshrimps.be/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=27897

for christmas, but since i can't find it anywhere... i'm thinking i'm gonna go with one of these 2. which one do you think would be best or can any of yall happen to find a place where i can buy the Powercolor card mentioned above? I need to stick with AGP only right now, so my options are kinda limited.. or if you know of a better AGP card just let me know. Thanks.

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=BROWSE&N=200105+403029&Ne=400000&product_code=338969&Pn=Radeon_X1600XT_Video_Card
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?pfp=SEARCH&Ntt=x1650&N=0&Dx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&D=x1650&Ntk=All&product_code=342119&Pn=X1650_PRO_Video_Card

[The Ninja]

WAIT WAIT WAIT!!!! don't buy any video cards yet and if you do I'd STRONGLY suggest newegg... www.newegg.com

I buy ALL my stuff through them, cuz they're simply the best and have the best prices and what not... Good sales too..

but as i was saying WAIT! DX-10 cards are coming out for vista soon, thus the current price drop on all dx-9 cards. And if you don't know what I'm talking about then it won't matter because you probably won't be getting Vista so u'll be set with a dx10 card.

and going by ur choices I'm guessing you want an ATI... I'd suggest an nvidia card simply because as of late ATI hasn't been performing up to par. Go with a nice 7600gs for $160-$200. It'll last, and it'll run most of today's games pretty well on okay settings.

[HyPer50]

WAIT WAIT WAIT!!!! don't buy any video cards yet and if you do I'd STRONGLY suggest newegg... www.newegg.com

I buy ALL my stuff through them, cuz they're simply the best and have the best prices and what not... Good sales too..

but as i was saying WAIT! DX-10 cards are coming out for vista soon, thus the current price drop on all dx-9 cards. And if you don't know what I'm talking about then it won't matter because you probably won't be getting Vista so u'll be set with a dx10 card.

and going by ur choices I'm guessing you want an ATI... I'd suggest an nvidia card simply because as of late ATI hasn't been performing up to par. Go with a nice 7600gs for $160-$200. It'll last, and it'll run most of today's games pretty well on okay settings.


I thought Nvidia was mostly (if not all) PCI-express now? I just want a really good AGP card to tide me over til I get enough cash to upgrade the mother board and everything to swap to PCI-e.

[v3rd1g0]

just continue saving, don't jump the gun and waste money yet

[HyPer50]

just continue saving, don't jump the gun and waste money yet

Well, I mean I"m not really jumpin' the gun, my current video card keeps locking up randomly. Not sure what the problem is, all I know is that Vanguard: Saga of Heroes is comin' out in January and I really wanna play lol.

[SL65AMG]

how new is your comp? do you even have a pci-express slot? if not you had better upgrade. most new motherboards are supporting only SATA hard drives and pci express. although not cheap.... if you are gonna buy a new AGP vid card, DONT spend more than about $100 cuz in 6 months you will be upgrading to said components anyways.

[Nemesis]

Im using an NVidia 7600GTOC PCI-E card and I love it.

[HyPer50]

how new is your comp? do you even have a pci-express slot? if not you had better upgrade. most new motherboards are supporting only SATA hard drives and pci express. although not cheap.... if you are gonna buy a new AGP vid card, DONT spend more than about $100 cuz in 6 months you will be upgrading to said components anyways.

I upgraded last december to a MSI K8N Neo2 motherboard along with a AMD 3800+xp... it was basically best available that wasn't PCI-E. looking back at it, I should of just went ahead and went to PCI-express, but I had just bought a brand new AGP video card and didn't want to trash it.

I'll be upgrading eventually to a PCI-e board, but seeing as how I'm moving out and getting married in 2 months, I can't really invest alot in a good rebuild right now, so I just want to get what I have now to run good with Vanguard heh.

[EJ25RUN]

Im using an NVidia 7600GTOC PCI-E card and I love it.

^ you can find it for $99.99 now and its worth the upgrade.

[unkn0wndj]

For agp id recommend the 6800 GS.. it's pretty nice.

[DemonEyez]

if you want absolutely the best video card in agp out
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143046

bfg 7800gs agp 256mb ddr3

206 after rebate

[The Ninja]

didn't read that u wanted an agp card. Well... go ahead and grab u a good'ole 9800pro. if ur on agp i'm pretty sure ur not a hardcoregamer, sot eh 9800pro should be fine, and be less than $100.

[DemonEyez]

the 9800pro is crap. bro has one. dont get it

[HyPer50]

didn't read that u wanted an agp card. Well... go ahead and grab u a good'ole 9800pro. if ur on agp i'm pretty sure ur not a hardcoregamer, sot eh 9800pro should be fine, and be less than $100.

You shouldn't assume that I'm not a hardcore gamer simply because I dont have the money to invest in an all new setup at this point heh. Anyways, after browsing through the newegg site I think I'm probably gonna go with the 7800GS that Demoneyez also recommended. It seemed to have the best reviews, hardly any negative thoughts on it at all.

[DemonEyez]

its a good powerful card.

you'll def enjoy it

[man]

just get the x1950 and be done with it

[DemonEyez]

just get the x1950 and be done with it

find him one in agp and then he could possibly be done with it..
but it doesnt come in agp.

[The Ninja]

>.>... my bad i'm at fault for assuming such. I apologize (honestly/sincerely). Well, good luck with the 7800gs, but I'd say go with the 7600 and Overclock, because they ahve the same mem setup, just the memory on the 7600 has to be unlocked by flashing the bios to a 7800's and then oc'ing the core. and it'll cost you less, hell with the money you save you can get aftermarket cooling for the memory and gpu. Then u'd be able to oc more and still end up saving money. If you are planning to stay agp, waiting it out would be useless because they aren't going to be making any dx10 cards agp compatible, sry. Hey after you get it up and running, send me some numbers and maybe i can help you overclock it some, or squeeze some more power out of it.

[Nippon]

Last year I upgrade my video card to the most powerful available. ATI 850XT PE. It's an AGP card that hasn't failed me yet. I know I've never felt the true potential of the card. Only because of my processor. You guys all have to realize that the CPU and of course northbridge, is the main bottleneck of our video cards.

Our GPU's are stand alone processors that are dedicated to shader and polygon/texture algorithms. But the GPU and CPU work hand in hand. The CPU also calculates things such as physics (very important in games now a days) and other low end calculations. Your video card will only works as good as your processor and FSB. You can buy the biggest baddest video card available but you will only achieve so much of a performance jump.

I have a gigabyte GA-7N400Pro2. "400" meaning a 400mhz front side bus (fsb). so I know my video card has a stable clock of 550core and 600mem. My video card works faster than the FSB now. Oh well. Its what I'll deal with until DX-10 is released.

So all that :blah: I just spoke of really means you should buy the video card that was meant for the era of main board and CPU you have. When did you get your motherboard and CPU? What top of the line cards did they have then??? Buy you card using that judgment. You'll be sure to save money.

Think about it. Buying all these bad ass cards now would be like buying an amphibious vehicle while living in death valley. NEWEGG is a good source. So it www.pricewatch.com (http://www.pricewatch.com/).

Good luck. Oh and don't discriminate between ATI and NVIDIA. Both companies have their strong and weak points. Choose a card, then research, research and then research again. If you like what you see? Bank on it.