AGP card suggestions?

[eorange]

Have a homebuilt machine (ASUS P4P800) with an AGP 8X slot. Current nVidia FX5700U card has a faltering fan, plus Windows 7 doesn't fully support the DVI out.

So, looking for a replacement AGP card, preferably ~$80 or less with at least the performance of the FX5700U.

Any starting suggestions?

I've always done nVidia just because of their driver model, but am open to ATI suggestions too (assuming the driver model is better under Windows 7).

 

[mike_s104]

Have a homebuilt machine (ASUS P4P800) with an AGP 8X slot. Current nVidia FX5700U card has a faltering fan, plus Windows 7 doesn't fully support the DVI out.

So, looking for a replacement AGP card, preferably ~$80 or less with at least the performance of the FX5700U.

Any starting suggestions?

I've always done nVidia just because of their driver model, but am open to ATI suggestions too (assuming the driver model is better under Windows 7).

Not sure what you're looking for in a new card, but you can start here.

Newegg.com - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards,agp video card

Lately I been only using ATI cards and have had good luck with them under Win7.

 

[poltergeisty]

The 6800 GT is a pretty decent AGP card. Can be had for about 50 on eBay. The 7600 GT or 7800 GT would be great too, but you would be better of with PCI-e at that rate.

Make sure you know if the mother board can handle a card with 512 MB of RAM. It may only support a card of 256 MB of RAM. Also, the PSU may have to be upgraded. I would at least make sure it's a 450 watt.

 

[CapStar362]

i currently run a 7800GS w256M on AGP. ( currently in the works of getting a new machine, as it cant handle the games i play very well )

polter, the 7800GT is PCI-E. it was slated to be a AGP card as well, but it got dropped.


AGP can handle a 512 card easily, but it will not get the full performance of the 512MB. what needs to be addressed is that the slot is a AGP 3.0 or 3.5U slot and the board's AGP Aperture can be set to 512. if it only goes to 256 then you will run into 512MB limiting issues. most of the AGP 3.0 and 3.5U slots will handle 512 Aperture with the latest BIOS revisions.


now as far as the PSU is concerned, i would have at least 450-500 watts


mike, i havent heard anything about 7 not liking DVI very much? only in its BETA and RC stages did i hear anything remotely concerning DVI and HDTV - HDCP issues

 

[eorange]

My AGP slot is 3.0, but the maximum aperature size in the BIOS is 256MB. Power supply is 430W. Not too concerned, as I'm not a hardcore gamer, although I'll look at the specs on whatever board I end up with.

I brought up the DVI issue with Windows 7. The Windows 7 driver for the FX5700U (an old board) didn't support the native 1440x900 resolution of my widescreen LCD for DVI, so the picture was really fuzzy and not good. So using analog out for now, at least until I get a new board which is fully supported.

My main question: I just don't want to get a board that's lower in performance than my FX5700U (which is circa 2004!). Is is safe to say that any newer board will surpass that? Trying to compare stats on new boards vs the 5700 isn't straightforward...

 

[CapStar362]

okay so 256 it is. dont get a 512 card, your just throwing away $$$ for something u cant even take full advantage of. just grab you a 6600GT with 256 on it.


how about your BIOS, is it on the latest revision, and while im thinking about it.... which version of the P4P800 are you using? just for kicks and laughs im running a P4P800-VM

now down to win 7, win 7 is capable ( and your card is too ) of running your native res. soo lets break this down..... its not Windows 7 screwing up your DVI port. your just not running the native resolution. okay lets fix this. go grab you the latest set of drivers for your card..... click THIS NVIDIA SCAN link. let it scan your hardware and get the right version of the drivers for the card. then go grab NVidia System Tools 6.06 and install ONLY the Performance app. reboot as required after the drivers and system tools installations. once you get system tools installed, it SHOULD auto detect your native monitor resolution and set it there automaticaly. if it doesn't, come back to me and ill take a look at what its doing via remote ( if you would allow me to of course )

and the conclusion that your not a hardcore gamer, you just want the acceleration for basic games, movies and stuff right? okay, any 6 or 7 series card will benefit you just fine

 

[eorange]

I'm using the vanilla P4P800. From what I recall, the FX5700U not supporting 1440x900 (which is the native resolution of my monitor) on the DVI out is a well-known driver issue with Windows 7. Not too concerned about it since analog out works.

and the conclusion that your not a hardcore gamer, you just want the acceleration for basic games, movies and stuff right? okay, any 6 or 7 series card will benefit you just fine

That's about right where I'm at - will start checking out the 6 and 7 series cards - thanks!

Any other opinions are welcome too.

 

[poltergeisty]

fwiw, I can't see any difference between DVI and analog.

 

[eorange]

Neither can I. Main idea was to use my Windows 7 machine on DVI, which would allow me to connect my Ubuntu machine to the analog port on my monitor.

 

[CapStar362]

did you try NVidia System Tools yet? it allows you to FORCE resolutions

 

[poltergeisty]

Neither can I. Main idea was to use my Windows 7 machine on DVI, which would allow me to connect my Ubuntu machine to the analog port on my monitor.

I see...

Well, there are some other options you could explore too.

Synergy

kvm items - Get great deals on Computers Networking, Electronics items on eBay.com!

In addition to what Capt said, you could use Rivatunner. Though, I have a felling that even if you force a screen resolution, the monitor may still look blurry. *Ya, make sure the driver is up to date.

nVIDIA Geforce 480 470 285 260 9800 275 295 GT GTX AMD ATI Radeon HD 5870 5850 5770 4890 X2 - Guru of 3D: PC Hardware Reviews

 

[poltergeisty]

Here's another option. I was just going through my computer/electronic junk boxes looking for a hard drive caddy when I came across two of my old DVI to analog adapters. This will let you use a DVI port on the video card with an analog cable.

 

[CapStar362]

id like to see if he even tried System Tools yet. i have YET to have a single issue with legacy card and system tools forcing a resolution to a monitors native res.

 

[eorange]

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The analog works fine for now. Good to know about the tool, but my main mission is to get a new card before the fan dies completely. Still shopping...I appreciate all the suggestions so far.