Looking to upgrade my graphics card. Just want to play some newer games at higher resolutions and faster fps.
Specs:
Athlon XP 3200+
1gig ram (pc3200)
ATI 9600 graphics card
Gigabyte MB with 8x AGP, 400mhz FSB

I am primarily interested in a card that does not require a power supply cable/plug as i do not have an extra one available. I would consider getting a new power supply if the card is worth it.
Looking in the $200-$250 range for right now...

Thanks in advance for your opinions!!

 

For that price range.. I'd go with the

X800 Pro - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121519

or the

X800 XL - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125186


price is close and performance is closer... the X800 Pro only scores about 300 points lower then the X800 XL in 3D Mark 2005. But in contrast to the GeForce line, the only thing in that price range is the 6600GT, which scores about half as high as these two cards.

 

I have the same card you do now, the 9600 Pro.
Go with the latter one, the XL in AGP flavor.

It has 16 pipelines compared to 12 for the 800 Pro.
The 800 XL gets some pretty high marks in bench testing.

I will be going for the XL at a later date.

 

Cool, thanks for the info... Does the XL require a power cable from the power supply?

 

yes im sure it does its sort of standerd now

 

i got an Nvidia 7800GT last week and love it to death, for gaming i would put off the purchase for another 2-3 months and let the holiday price wars pan out. Id bet my card i just paid $330 for will be ~$280 by early next year.

I'm running BF2 at 1280x1024 w/ high settings on all the eye candy and 4x AA and its smooth as butter.


edit: you dont have PCIe, guess that limits your high end choices

 

Oh my...
Hope this is not a rumor, but it looks like ATI is going to offer its top end 1800 card which is in PCI Express format to AGP soon.
If so, this is a top end card, and would be the best bet to get.

It is in line with the 7800 PCIe ones.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,14798564

 

the 7800s are supposed to be AGP someday but thats just rumors till they are on the shelf, AGP is dead as far as future components go

 

Like we've even fully tapped into the limitations of AGP.

Seeing as how PCI has ability to expand; companys decided to tickle the woodies of nerds around the world by bringing back dual graphics cards.

I remember back in the day you could have 3 voodoo cards at once cause they had that neet add-on card... heck.. I still have one of those in a box.. somewhere..

Benchmarks for ATi always seems better, and the top of the line 1800 card beat some dual 7800gt's
Ati has more problems with there drivers than most do, but you still get a pretty nice card.

I never really had any problems with GeForceFX cards, the AGP 6800 on newegg is a pretty good deal for 170 bucks, you can then soft mod it and get the full 16piplines and still have room for an overclock.