What's the best video card I can get? (AGP)

[OleBoy]

Well, I can not afford a new PC, or even close. I am however considering a different video card if it would help.

I've got a plan to possibly trade a Saitek x52 unit if at all possible

 

[stansdds]

AGP slot? Nothing has been made for the AGP slot in a long time. There were several versions of the AGP slot, so it's best to know what you have before you buy a new card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Graphics_Port



I think there were some Nvidia 7800GS cards made, that would be the best AGP card from Nvidia, but they came at the very end of AGP support and relatively few were made. You might be able to find a 7600 for the AGP slot, if it is compatible with your slot.

 

[OleBoy]

AGP slot? Nothing has been made for the AGP slot in a long time. There were several versions of the AGP slot, so it's best to know what you have before you buy a new card.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerated_Graphics_Port

I've looked for cards better but never bought any. The card I have now is an X850XT pro. I had a HD3850, but it didn't last long. I can buy another one, but my experience has left me gun shy that it will happen again. I'm not necessarily hooked to any brand of card. I just want to spend my money wisely to lengthen the enjoyment I get currently.

I think there were some Nvidia 7800GS cards made, that would be the best AGP card from Nvidia, but they came at the very end of AGP support and relatively few were made. You might be able to find a 7600 for the AGP slot, if it is compatible with your slot.

You're referring to number of pins I'm assuming. I'd have to get out my literature and see

 

[OleBoy]

The slot for the card is AGP Pro. It says in the book;

This motherboard has an Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) Pro slot that supports AGP 8X (+0.8V) cards and AGP 4X (+1.5V) cards.
...When you buy an AGP card, make sure you ask them for one with +0.8V or +1.5V specifications

I found one of these but don't know for sure if it will work.

ATI Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit GDDR3 AGP 8X/4X DVI+VGA Video Graphics Card

with Professional Dual Slot Cooling System Optimized by Award-Winning ARCTIC COOLING​

Comes with Driver CD & Quick Install Guide in Retail Box​

Card Dimensions: 7" (17.8cm) in Length x 4" (10.1cm) in Width x 1 3/8" (3.5cm)in Thickness​

Advanced Active Heatsink Fan Design Ensures Maximum Heat Dissipation​

Works in Desktop PC System Utilizing AGP 8X/4X Technology​

[FONT=&quot]Supports OS Windows 7/Vista/XP[/FONT][FONT=&quot]<o></o>[/FONT]​

One Year Direct Warranty​

in Stock! Ship Worldwide Immediately!​

Pictures are of Actual Item​

*******************************​

<table class="specification" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody> <tr> <td class="title" colspan="2">Interface</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">Interface</td> <td class="desc">AGP 8X/4X</td></tr> <tr> <td class="title" colspan="2">Chipset</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">Chipset Manufacturer</td> <td class="desc">ATI</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">GPU</td> <td class="desc">Radeon HD 4670</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">Core Clock</td> <td class="desc">750MHz</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">Stream Processors</td> <td class="desc">320 Stream Processing Units</td></tr> <tr> <td class="title" colspan="2">Memory</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">Memory Clock</td> <td class="desc">1600MHz (effective)</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">Memory Size</td> <td class="desc">1GB</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">Memory Interface</td> <td class="desc">128-bit</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">Memory Type</td> <td class="desc">DDR3</td></tr> <tr> <td class="title" colspan="2">3D API</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">DirectX</td> <td class="desc">DirectX 10.1 / Shader Model 4.1
</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">OpenGL</td> <td class="desc">OpenGL 2.0</td></tr> <tr> <td class="title" colspan="2">Ports</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">D-SUB</td> <td class="desc">1</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">DVI</td> <td class="desc">1</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">TV-Out</td> <td class="desc">0</td></tr> <tr> <td class="title" colspan="2">General</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">RAMDAC</td> <td class="desc">400 MHz</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">Max Resolution</td> <td class="desc">2560 x 1600</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">CrossFire Supported</td> <td class="desc">No</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">Cooler</td> <td class="desc">With Fan</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">Power Connector</td> <td class="desc">4 Pin</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">Dual-Link DVI Supported</td> <td class="desc">Yes</td></tr> <tr> <td class="name">HDCP Ready</td> <td class="desc">Yes</td></tr></tbody></table>​

<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" width="100%"><tbody><tr class="f11_link"> <th class="f11_black" scope="col" align="left">Graphics Engine</th> <th class="f11_orang_bg" scope="col" align="left" width="62%">RADEON HD4670</th></tr> <tr class="f11_link"> <th class="f11_black" scope="col" align="left">Video Memory</th> <th class="f11_orang_bg" scope="col" align="left">1GB GDDR3</th></tr> <tr class="f11_link"> <th class="f11_black" scope="col" align="left">Engine Clock</th> <th class="f11_orang_bg" scope="col" align="left">750 MHz</th></tr> <tr class="f11_link"> <th class="f11_black" scope="col" align="left">Memory Clock</th> <th class="f11_orang_bg" scope="col" align="left">800MHz x 2</th></tr> <tr class="f11_link"> <th class="f11_black" scope="col" align="left">Memory Interface</th> <th class="f11_orang_bg" scope="col" align="left">128bit</th></tr> <tr class="f11_link"> <th class="f11_black" scope="col" align="left">DirectX Support</th> <th class="f11_orang_bg" scope="col" align="left">10.1</th></tr> <tr class="f11_link"> <th class="f11_black" scope="col" align="left">Bus Standard</th> <th class="f11_orang_bg" scope="col" align="left">AGP 8X/4X</th></tr></tbody></table>


I also have questions concerning BIOS (graphics aperture size) settings. IE; Allows you to select the size of mapped memory to AGP graphic data.
Configuration options (4mb) (8mb) (16mb) (32mb) (64mb) (128mb) (256mb)

How do you know what to set it at?

 

[stansdds]

Really need someone who knows ATI cards to step in here. To me, it sounds like that card should work. Does it get all of its power through the AGP slot or does the card also require a 12 volt 6 pin connection to the power supply? If it does, does your PSU have a 12V 6 pin line that is not being used?

As to the AGP port settings, I really don't remember the significance. I had an AGP machine for a short period of time and went to the PCI Express slot shortly after it was introduced.

 

[scottmm73]

Yeah, it looks like it will work. It is powered by the flat 4 pin (I believe Molex) connector. The only concern I would have is it is a double wide card. Will he have the room for it in his case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161284

The above link is a description and note it is out of stock at newegg.

As far as aperture size, this link should help.

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/43

Here is a comparison done by the Tweak3D guys, though dated it still is pretty definitive.

http://www.tweak3d.net/articles/aperture-size/

 

[Meshman]

I'm slowly waking up, so I hope I sound coherent?

A faster video card may yield better results, maybe? What are your system specs and are you talking FS9, FSX or both?

It wouldn't do any good to cram a 390ci engine into an old Datsun pickup, all in the hopes of bringing home more bags of cement from the hardware store. Know what I mean?

 

[OleBoy]

I'm slowly waking up, so I hope I sound coherent?

A faster video card may yield better results, maybe? What are your system specs and are you talking FS9, FSX or both?

It wouldn't do any good to cram a 390ci engine into an old Datsun pickup, all in the hopes of bringing home more bags of cement from the hardware store. Know what I mean?

Got ya. And the answer is both if I can. I have the asus p4p with a intel 3.0 processor and 2 gig of memory. I thought of getting a different mothrboard and processor so I could least change over to the PCIE cards if it would help things. It's a fair amout less and easier on our bank account.

 

[Meshman]

I don't know that I'd put any more $$ into that Datsun. My prior-prior computer was similar to your system and handled FS9 pretty good. It has the same video card. If you were using a large screen monitor, such as 1680x1050 or more, then a more powerful video card could help with image quality settings. But it's not going to increase the FPS, only the CPU, memory and motherboard will help you out there.

Computer parts are reasonably priced, if you're not going for the hard core gaming aspect. And putting it all together doesn't have to be a chore with a little preparation and planning.

But I tried FSX on my prior-prior system. A dressed up FS9 was more enjoyable than the stripped down FSX I was looking at.

 

[OleBoy]

well, I'll put this subject to sleep then. when it kicks the bucket I'll be a ghost of days past anyway.

thanks for the help sir

 

[strykerpsg]

Well, I can not afford a new PC, or even close. I am however considering a different video card if it would help.

I've got a plan to possibly trade a Saitek x52 unit if at all possible

Oleboy, it seems you are set on ATI, but if you're interested, I am selling my old GTX295 with 1792mb of video memory. It's a real screamer and asking $150.00 plus shipping if interested?

Matt

 

[Dangerousdave26]

The last AGP Video card that Nvidia made was a Geforce 7800. Finding a new one will be pretty hard unless some get dumped on the market like happened last year about this time.

For a short while the you could get the 7800 GS at a bunch of the online retailers.

Today you can only find 5200 and 6200 cards. Both of which would probably fail miserably when trying to run FS9 or FSX.

I know my 7800 GS blows away my old 6600 card I had.

The card you are looking is compared to a Nvidia 9600 and seems to have more than blown it away. The only thing I would question is the comparison comes from AMD's Internal Testing which owns ATI.

It will probably be better than the 7800 you can't get anyway but AMD releasing the results means little to me. It makes me think of the old adage "Figures Lie and Liars Figure".

As New Egg is my friend when it comes to computer parts

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161337

Here is a link for comparison

 

[Dangerousdave26]

One thing that I think we are over looking.

This AMD video card still only has 128 bit back plane. Which will act like a bottle neck no matter what you do.

You might not see a whole lot of improvement over what you have now but that is just a reasonable guess.

 

[strykerpsg]

The last AGP Video card that Nvidia made was a Geforce 7800. Finding a new one will be pretty hard unless some get dumped on the market like happened last year about this time.

For a short while the you could get the 7800 GS at a bunch of the online retailers.

Today you can only find 5200 and 6200 cards. Both of which would probably fail miserably when trying to run FS9 or FSX.

I know my 7800 GS blows away my old 6600 card I had.

The card you are looking is compared to a Nvidia 9600 and seems to have more than blown it away. The only thing I would question is the comparison comes from AMD's Internal Testing which owns ATI.

It will probably be better than the 7800 you can't get anyway but AMD releasing the results means little to me. It makes me think of the old adage "Figures Lie and Liars Figure".

As New Egg is my friend when it comes to computer parts

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161337

Here is a link for comparison

Oops, you are right. Mine is a PCI-E card. However, it is for sale.....if interested. ; )

 

[OleBoy]

Hmm, I'm better off waiting to buy a new motherboard and progress from there. Unless something arises for good cards. Discouraging.
...Thanks for the replies everyone