hey guys, i was just wondering what is the best AGP card currently on the market today. I'm using it to refurbish my old P4 3.2Ghz PC. Thanks in advance.
I once had to answer this question myself, as my current & only PC is a P4 2.6 and mobo only supports AGP... I went for the 3650 (ATI) and 3 years later, I haven't regretted buying it. I needed it for being able to playback H264/1080p. Which is does fine even at my old-spec PC (via DXVA) I know for sure that the 3850 is a bit more powerful than my 3650 - but more resource demanding. Considering that you are on the 3.2 P4, I wouldn't worry about that too much. Go for the 3850 if you can find a good deal...
Thanks man. Gonna go find me a 3850. also do you know if this would drain my psu too much, and maybe cause reboots or something?
thanks a lot man... i'm pretty sure i got everything finally i can get a more powerful psu and ditch this POS nvidia fx5500..... it lags with 480p sometimes and i NEED my HD content... this last upgrade should settle for about 2 more years until i finally upgrade to an lga 775 board with possibly core 2 duo
Summary over the AGP (and bit PCI) VGA Card History The fastest AGP card would be the HD3870 (very rare) with an good 300W PSU it should run smoothly With the HD 4670 there is also an (rare) AGP Card, it has lower powerconsumption, much better Video Processing Unit (UVD2) and an higher Pixelfillrate but the overall performance is lower. you could compare these cards on wikipedia (sorry i'm not allowed to post links) when you need DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.1 or OpenCL 1.1 then you could use the HD 5450 PCI card or an nvidia Geforce GT 520 PCI with a better Video decoding (with VP5) (or the bit faster Geforce GT 430 but only with VP4) the last native AGP card was an Radeon X850 XT PE with R481 Chip and the GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme. But also the Radeon X1950 XT and the Geforce 7950 GT has an better AGP Driver implementation then the newer ones the best card for you depends strong on the purpose of the card Is it Video decoding or you need the newest DirectX or OpenGL Routine i would recomend an PCI Card (GT 520) if no PCI is possible then the HD4670 (there are still some new cards on the Market) If it is performance than the HD 3870 (except it is the Texturefillrate or the rare GFLOPS then as well the HD 4670) When you look an an very native support of the AGP protocol your choice would be the Radeon X850 XT PE or GeForce 6800 Ultra (maybe one of the rarest GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme) An choice between good AGP support (but not native) and rendering Power is the Geforce 7950 GT or Radeon X1950 XT
thanks man. ive been sort of reconsidering my options and ive done some research and as it turns out p4 bottlenecks powerful cards right? therefore a powerhouse like the ati 3850 would be severely bottlenecked, right? plus i only need to use it for 1080p playback, not gaming, so i was thinking i should get a hd3650, like the one x86 has instead. if you know of any other cheaper alternatives that can play good 1080p please suggest because im really not looking to spend a lot of money on this, want to save up and keep this running till a lga 775 mobo upgrade with possibly core 2 duo.... thanks.
Hi! it depends on the game and your CPU, i won't upgrade to an S775 (maybe look at AMD to the AM3(+) or FM1 platform - cheap, reliable and fast with good onboard VGA). What Mainboard do you have? If you have an PCI slot i would use an nvidia GT 520 or maybe an a bit slower HD5450, if there isn't any PCI Slot and only AGP is possible then the HD 4670 or an HD 3850 (if you get it really cheap than an HD 3650). But i'll recomend you an totaly other Solution. On is to migrate to an FM1 Plattform oder AMD AM3 with AMD 880G/890GX Chipset or you buy an Crystal HD Card (there are also other 3rd Party and OEM Names for it) and put it on an USB Slot (maybe there is also an PCI Version - but i've never seen one)