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[Omnius_The_Evermind]

I've been thinking about upgrading my AGP one last time, and trying to keep the price in range of 100-200. i've been hoping to find a good nVidia 6800GS or ATI X1650. my current dilemma is that the nVidia runs at a 256 bit mem clock and ATI at the 128 clock, but having a core clock of 200 MHz higher. however, the nVidia card has a mem access clock of 800 MHz, seemingly slower, but running at a 256 bit mem interface, it's really double the speed. i've also found two very useful tables for comparing video card performance:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/132
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/131

these tables are helping me decide. the site itself is pretty cool too. as a side note, the site http://www.short-media.com is also interesting. (including the 5 most useless USB devices)

any comments on the thought of upgrade?

[blahism]

If you can manage to wait a few weeks the market is going to be flooded.  The ATI R600 GPU is on the die and ready to be shipped and Nvidia is making some more affordable G80 based cards as well.

For less than 200 you should be able to get a GDDR3 R1950 with 512 megs of ram here soon.

6800GS or an X1650 would reall be "meh" if your going to spend the money a 7600GT or 1950 would be best and if you follow newegg sales probably for only a few bucks more.

[MonkeyKungFu]

The Nvidia 7600GT AGP was my pick, and I'd fully recommend it.  Next stop - new rig with PCI-E.

[18Weapons]

I agree... the 7600 GT AGP is the end of the line in AGP...  I've seen some good prices on it too

[ElvisKungFu]

I bought the 7600 GT AGP as well about 6 months ago and it rocks.

[Omnius_The_Evermind]

currently i'm looking at the 7600 GS. mainly because i can pick it up cheaper at my local comp usa, and it supports my power supply (i only have a 310W) not to mention, the specs are about the same, and 512 memory wouldn't hurt either, for video editing and blender. (PS i'm a devolper of "planeshift" a rather strange MMORPG. it's open source though.

[18Weapons]

currently i'm looking at the 7600 GS. mainly because i can pick it up cheaper at my local comp usa, and it supports my power supply (i only have a 310W) not to mention, the specs are about the same, and 512 memory wouldn't hurt either, for video editing and blender. (PS i'm a devolper of "planeshift" a rather strange MMORPG. it's open source though.

I wouldn't...  check out the benchmarks... that card can't hang... and for the price it's a waste.  Order a 7600 GT online somewhere you will be way better off

[blahism]

yeah, i think the 6800 is faster than 7600gs.. nvidia was all over the place the past few years.

[Omnius_The_Evermind]

actually, after some research, i agree, that the GS series just can't keep up. mainly because the GT has a memory clock that is 600MHz faster, and core that is 50MHz faster, even though a core clock really doesn't matter much, because i have an ATI RAGE with a core clock of 550MHz, and we all know how that goes... anyway, I've actually set my eyes out for a 6800 GT, mainly because it uses a 256-bit memory interface, double that of the 7000 series. although the 7800 isn't bad either. Ebay doesn't really support me much either. the rarity of the 6800 GT's leads me to beleive that they may be better off than there counterparts.

on the other hand, i did find a program that lets you overclock your video card. i clocked my 9600 XT from 500 - 600 MHz core and memory clock from 350 to 400MHz, along with some other upgrades (my P4 is now from 2.6 to 3.1 

the program is called power strip, you can find it using a google search, or email me if you want it. BE CAREFUL THOUGH!!! i damaged a cheap old monitor using this utility!!!

[18Weapons]

i've searched all these cards and gone down the same road... if you can find a good deal on a legacy 6800 ultra or GT then more power to ya... but i wouldn't pay more than $90 for one since you can find the 7600 GT AGP for $150 these days... and (as monkey advised me) it would be much better to have the gfx technology of series 7xxx than series 6xxx

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=203246892&SearchEngine=PriceGrabber&SearchTerm=203246892&Type=PE&Category=Comp&dcaid=15890

[Omnius_The_Evermind]

as much as i'd like to agree, i still think, that theoritically the 6XXX series may have more power. although the mid-end ATI chips also spark my interest. the X1650 XT or Pro might work, it's just that they lack the shear speed of the memory as seen in the nVidia products. maybe i should wait until the R6 and G8 chips flood the market. or use ebay, or friends. we'll see.... i'll likely wait until the last minute and grab a 7800 GT.

[18Weapons]

i agree the older cards had a ton of power especially the 6800 ultra and the x850 XT PE.  it usually doesn't hurt to wait... but if AGP becomes too legacy then the prices may start to move up again...  get some usage life out of whatever you decide on...

[Omnius_The_Evermind]

i'll probably get one of these:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2484234&CatId=935 *good deal at $120

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2743727&CatId=318

[MonkeyKungFu]

The XFX 7600GT is the card that I have now.  I couldn't recommend it more highly as an AGP system upgrade.

[MonkeyKungFu]

Incidentally Here it is at Newegg for $164.