Hi folks! Video card advice?

[Iniamyen]

Hi all,

It's been awhile since I've browsed the forums but now that I need advice I'm back! :cool:

Instead of buying a new computer for myself this holiday season I want to upgrade my video card to squeeze the last little bit of life out of my old AGP motherboard. After browsing Newegg it looks like these are the two I'm considering in my price range (keep in mind I'm limited to AGP interface):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150210

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102093

Although I have an ATI card at the moment and have been happy with it, I don't really have a preference between the two brands. At this point I believe my CPU may be the bottleneck with either one. To be honest, my main concern would be reliability with my PSU. I know the newer chipsets take more power, but the ATI card has two power connectors which would lead me to believe it sucks more juice. However based on the reviews it looks like either may run fine with my PSU. Suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

[ski]

The 1950 GT offers more bang for the buck. Your 430W PS should be fine.

[liambl]

Get the X1950GT. It is the same price as the 7600GT and will pwn it running games and the like. You 430W Antec will suffice.

[Iniamyen]

Thanks for the responses guys. Unfortunately it looks like the 1950 just disappeared today! Oh well, I may go ahead and pony up a little more for another brand if it's a good chipset.

[Alaron]

Try the X1950Pro: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161071 :)

[gunguy09]

i am in the same boat as you, with only having AGP.
i am going to upgrade mine soon.

i would recommend either of these cards.

http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgr78256gsoc.aspx
http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgr78256gsoc.aspx

[liambl]

You posted the same link twice.

In my opinion the X1950pro would offer faster perfromane to the 7800gs, but it depends on what newegg is offering the 7800 for.

[ski]

The X1950 Pro performs faster than even the 7900 GS in most games, and the latter has a faster GPU and faster RAM than the O/C 7800 GS referenced in that link.

[glc]

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/11/06/best_graphics_card/page5.html

The X1950 XT - manufactured exclusively by Gecube - is simply the most powerful card ever to grace the AGP bus. This card's closest competition is the XFX 7950 GT, which costs slightly more but is a lot less powerful.

At $235, it is a bit of a tough pill to swallow for a dying interface. I would only recommend the X1950 XT AGP to someone with a very fast AGP system who already has a power supply with enough juice to handle the X1950 XT.

It must be noted that if you have $235 to spend on an AGP card - and possibly an extra $100 for a power supply that can handle it - you may be much better off purchasing a PCI Express motherboard, CPU and PCIe graphics card.

PCIe graphics cards are cheaper than their AGP cousins. If you upgrade your system to PCIe and sell your old components, you may actually spend a similar amount of money compared to buying an expensive AGP card alone.

To put this in perspective, I just did an interim upgrade for my son-in-law for his 2.4 Ghz P4 AGP system. He was running an old GF2 MX which wouldn't even let a modern game install. We threw a 7600GS in it until he has the dough to build a new PCI-E system.

A X1950 GT is around $130 and is probably your most cost effective upgrade that will make a big difference over your 9800 Pro.