Worth upgrading or not?

[ghost recon88]

So I'm getting a rig I just bought from someone off the forums here in a couple days, and it has a 2.8GHz P4, and a nVidia 6800 128MB AGP that unlocks the extra pipelines and shadders. Now the CPU has good cooling, and I just bought 2GBs of DDR-4000 for it. So assuming I can hit 3.4 or 3.5GHz on the CPU, with 2GBs of dual-channel DDR-4000 @ 500MHz, are there any AGP video cards out there worth upgrading to?

I see ATI has the X1950 Pro, and of course nVidia has the 7800GS, but for the amount you would pay for those cards, is the improvement really be worth the money? And for the record, I'm not buying a whole new system. I just bought this system to game on for a couple years before it becomes totally obsolete.

 

[Rabidwerewolf]

It depends on what games you want to play, but for the money you might consider upgrading to a SAPPHIRE 100209L Radeon X1950GT. For the money it is a very good performing agp card. It is about 30 bucks cheaper than the 1950Pro, and it performs very close to the 1950Pro. From reviews I?ve read, it is easily overclocked to Pro speeds. Another card to consider would be the 7800GS you have listed, but it tests the 1950Pro edges it out slightly. It also lists for around $200, and to me that is pricey for an agp keyed card. The 7600GT is a good card as well, but again, at the same price as the 1950GT, the 1950GT is a better overall performer. On any of those cards listed you will notice a good bit of difference over the 6800, and they will not be bottle necked by your cpu.

 

[GEOrifle]

7800GS is slower than 1950 series but with LIFETIME warranty, which means after some time (3-4 year) card will die and company MUST replace it with another one. After 3 years
7800GS will be all dissapear and they gona send to you better card 4sample 7900 or 7950
and so on....

 

[evolucion8]

The X1950PRO is 30% average faster than the 7800GS, and sometimes is even faster than that, the 7800GS shares more similarities with the GeForce 6 series than the 7 series, the 7800GS is just a 6800 Ultra with slighly higher or lower clocks (Depending on manufacturer) and improved pixel shader performance and 8 less ROP's (Half the Pixel Fillrate), sometimes has a hard time even to outperform the X850XTPE. http://www.gpureview.com/show_...hp?card1=179&card2=382 If you want a nice performance jump to the X1950GT or X1950PRO which is the second fastest card in the AGP platform.

 

[GEOrifle]

7950GT 512MB has LIFETIME warranty, 1950's series just 1-2 year.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814150223

 

[evolucion8]

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: GEOrifle
7950GT 512MB has LIFETIME warranty, 1950's series just 1-2 year.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814150223</end quote></div>

Even though the X1950PRO is overall faster, the 7950GT is no slouch either. The X1950PRO beats the 7950GT in 35% of games, ties in 35% of games, and the 7950GT outperforms slighly the X1950PRO in the other rest of the 30%, it's a nice card.

 

[ghost recon88]

So assuming the x1950GT can overclock to x1950 Pro speeds, the battle really boils down between the X1950GT and the X7950GT. Now both are 512MB cards, while the 7950GT costs more, although it has more shaders and such, plus a better warranty. Hmm, does the 7950GT have any disabled piplines that can be unlocked or anything, or does it have the same amount as the 7950GTX?

 

[f4phantom2500]

if youre going ati go x1950gt, if you're going nvidia go either 7600gt or one of the 7900 cards (idk all what cards they make for agp, if they make a 7900gs id suggest that with some overclocking). dont get the 7800gs though, its only about as fast as the 7600gt; not worth the cash. there are no disabled pipes on the 7950gt.

however if i were you, id go with the x1950gt because it's a pretty good price for an agp card, and its still a pretty good performer, especially when you take overclocking into consideration.

 

[tigersty1e]

What kind of PSU does it have?

I have the same card, and I'm not upgrading yet because I would have to upgrade my PSU.

I'm just waiting on certain things to fall in place in my life before I rebuild.

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: ghost recon88
So assuming the x1950GT can overclock to x1950 Pro speeds, the battle really boils down between the X1950GT and the X7950GT. Now both are 512MB cards, while the 7950GT costs more, although it has more shaders and such, plus a better warranty. Hmm, does the 7950GT have any disabled piplines that can be unlocked or anything, or does it have the same amount as the 7950GTX?

The X1950PRO has more pixel shaders than any GeForce 7 of cards, and the 7950GT has all the pipelines enabled like the 7900GTX. X1950PRO has 12 pixel pipelines with 36 pixel shaders, 8 vertex shaders and 12 ROP's while the 7950GT has 24 pixel pipelines with 24 pixel shaders, 8 vertex shaders and 16 ROP's.

 

[GEOrifle]

I'm waiting for Dx10 AGP card from ATI thise year........

 

[onlyCOpunk]

I was in the same dilemma with a vanilla 6800. I just bought a 1950gt today from Newegg, because it was $120 shipped. My system is also comparable to yours, only it's AMD based. I figure this will be the last upgrade for this system, besides maybe more ram if I find a good price on it. And from what I've been reading and hearing peoples thoughts on this card it should last for quite a while.

 

[happy medium]

If your psu can't handle a 1950gt grab a 7900gs for 160.00$. Anything more will become cpu limited unless you have a pent 4 3.4 Extreme edition.

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: ghost recon88
So I'm getting a rig I just bought from someone off the forums here in a couple days, and it has a 2.8GHz P4, and a nVidia 6800 128MB AGP that unlocks the extra pipelines and shadders. Now the CPU has good cooling, and I just bought 2GBs of DDR-4000 for it. So assuming I can hit 3.4 or 3.5GHz on the CPU, with 2GBs of dual-channel DDR-4000 @ 500MHz, are there any AGP video cards out there worth upgrading to?

I see ATI has the X1950 Pro, and of course nVidia has the 7800GS, but for the amount you would pay for those cards, is the improvement really be worth the money? And for the record, I'm not buying a whole new system. I just bought this system to game on for a couple years before it becomes totally obsolete.

WOW! 2000MHz DDR RAM? Who wudda thunk it? And you're underclocking it to 500MHz?

Oh, and DDR-400 will not run at 500MHz. It will run at 250MHz when overclocked.

But I would second the 7950GT AGP.

 

[mkln]

Originally posted by: PCTC2
WOW! 2000MHz DDR RAM? Who wudda thunk it? And you're underclocking it to 500MHz?

Oh, and DDR-400 will not run at 500MHz. It will run at 250MHz when overclocked.

But I would second the 7950GT AGP.

by DDR-4000, i think the OP means PC-4000 or DDR 500MHz. for example:
http://www.ocztechnology.com/p...x_xtc_2gb_dual_channel

 

[PCTC2]

i was being sarcastic (and stupid, to a point)

 

[j0j081]

I've tried both of these AGP cards and here were my conclusions.

7800gs
-runs much much cooler than the 6 series
-overclocks like crazy. I run mine at 460/1350 but the core can easily go into the 500s and memory 1400 without any signs of trouble.
-gained more than 500 points in 3dmark06 over a 6800gt oc which translated into a pretty nice boost in newer games
-has digi vibrance

1950
-faster out of the box but not so much if you oc the 7800gs
-very loud fan with no control (might have just been the brand I had)

I heard later this year dx10 AGP cards will be out believe it or not. You might just want to wait until then but they'll prob cost double.

 

[Rottie]

I am hoping for HD2900 Pro (if any) for AGP but I doubt it, only HD2400 and HD2600 has AGP.