Thread: Desktop video card: Best bang for the buck?

This will probably be the last AGP 8x video card purchase I do for this computer. I still have a year or so warranty on the Intel mainboard, so when it finally craps out, I'll retire it forever and move up to whatever is current as far as video technology goes.

So, for the meantime... What is my best bang for the buck as far as a video card goes? I really only do 2 main things with this computer. AutoCAD 2007 and Half-Life 2.

My purchase will most likely come from newegg, but maybe directron.

Any suggestions?

-B

It has to be AGP, not PCI express?

I don't own anything with PCIex...

What do you have now that you really need to upgrade?

One of my other computers crapped a video card, so I'm going to bump them all down a level. The main computer gets the new parts, and the old (functional) ones cascade down the fleet. The card that gave it up was a Ti4600...

AGX is all but dead I think. I just checked NewEgg, the ONLY place to shop for Computer Parts, and here is what I found that might suit you. Not sure on your exact dollar range, but these are the only ones that will give you ANY kind of satisfaction for your gaming needs.

This is the "top of line" ATI AGX Video card...
Newegg.com - HIS Hightech H165GTQT512GDDAN-R Radeon X1650GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 AGP 8X IceQ Turbo Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

And this is it's cheaper cousin...
Newegg.com - HIS Hightech H165PRQ512AN-R Radeon X1650PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

This is one is an Asus that is fairly decent and comes with a $20 discount and a free purchase of Worlds of Warcraft lol.
Newegg.com - ASUS AH3650 SILENT/HTDI/512M Radeon HD 3650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X HDCP Ready Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

I hope that helps? As I said before, your pickins are slim. If you want more of a used selection? You can always hunt down eBay. But you get what you pay for from there. At least with NewEgg, you CAN NOT go wrong there!!

Good luck!

Do yourself a favor. Buy a new motherboard and cpu. Then get some ddr2 ram and get a pcie video card. Agp is old and outdated.

Buy this:

XFX MG-610i-7059 Motherboard CPU Bundle - Intel Celeron Dual Core E1200 Processor 1.60GHz OEM at TigerDirect.com

and then buy this:

Crucial 2048MB PC5400 DDR2 667MHz Memory CT25664AA667 at TigerDirect.com

and then buy this:

EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS Video Card - 320 MB GDDR3, PCI Express x16, DirectX 10, Recertified 320-P2-N811-RX at TigerDirect.com

I never had much luck with TigerDirect. I use to do consulting with this small company here in St. Louis and we use to order their used/refurbed laptops from them. Their quality control was awful, this one Toshiba we got from them had to be returned 3 times for replacement/repair cause they never bothered to fully inspect the unit. It filthy, it was never cleaned from the previous owner or anything. I was quite shocked by that.

Newegg in all my years of dealing with them has never steered me wrong. And that 8800 GTS you mentioned...........Newegg has a one up on that one

Newegg.com - Recertified: EVGA 512-P3-N871-RX GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Well ok two

Newegg.com - Recertified: EVGA 01G-P3-N891-RX GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB (512MB per GPU) 512-bit (256-bit per GPU) GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Originally Posted by GeddyLee

Newegg in all my years of dealing with them has never steered me wrong. And that 8800 GTS you mentioned...........Newegg has a one up on that one

Newegg.com - Recertified: EVGA 512-P3-N871-RX GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Well ok two

Newegg.com - Recertified: EVGA 01G-P3-N891-RX GeForce 9800 GX2 1GB (512MB per GPU) 512-bit (256-bit per GPU) GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

If you are going to spend that amount, why piss it away on an inferior card? Grab a 4850 card instead:

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

ChipsetChipset Manufacturer ATI
GPURadeon HD 4850
Core clock 625MHz
Stream Processors 800 Stream Processing Units
MemoryMemory Clock 1986MHz
Memory Size 512MB
Memory Interface 256-bit
Memory Type GDDR3
3D API DirectX DirectX 10.1
OpenGLOpenGL 2.1

vs


ChipsetChipset Manufacturer NVIDIA
GPUGeForce 9800 GTX(G92)
Core clock 675MHz
Stream Processors 128 Memory
Memory Clock 2200MHz (effective)
Memory Size 512MB
Memory Interface 256-bit
Memory Type GDDR3
3D APIDirectX DirectX 10
OpenGLOpenGL 2.1


I guess the difference I do not understand is how the ATI can have so many more stream processors? And its not just a few...........its a ton more. You would think if that was the case to have almost 778 more stream processors, EVERYONE would be going for the ATI card? The clock speed and memory speed of the nVidia has the ATI by a bit more, but I guess I have to read up on the stream processor difference between those two cards. I was a loyal ATI guy until I got my first 6600 GT back in the day and I have been with them ever since.

I never liked the idea of the crossfire design when it came out. I know they have improved it and AMD has since improved upon the idea, but I am still hesistant to pull the trigger on that one just yet.

But thanks for the comparision! It will make for some interesting reading no doubt!

Originally Posted by GeddyLee

I never liked the idea of the crossfire design when it came out. I know they have improved it and AMD has since improved upon the idea, but I am still hesistant to pull the trigger on that one just yet.

But thanks for the comparision! It will make for some interesting reading no doubt!

ATI has come back on top. Like you said, check around on it, do not just listen to me. I have been looking into building a new machine, and found out quickly through researching that the ATI cards are recommended pretty much everywhere.

Yeah tiger direct does suck. I will give you that