buh bye agp, hello pci-e?

ElysiumGX

so I accidently fried my video card, but that's ok. I'm browsing around Newegg, where I realize they no longer sell my card which I only bought 2 years ago, and was a great card at the time. I see a lot of good cards for low prices now, but the big money maker appears to be the PCI-Express cards. this new tech came out of nowhere, for me it seems.

so should I look for a replacement AGP card for my system? what cards are better than my old 9800 Pro if I do so?

OR...should I invest into new parts for my system to handle a PCI-Express card? and what's good for the money right now? and why are they so F'ing huge? I like to keep it around $200. with a new mobo, I'd most likely put money down on an AMD 64 as well.

I'm an ATI guy, but I'm open to suggestions for both.

CheapAlert

An X850 XT is kinda decent, but crashes at times though

notman

I'll have to look it up again, but I recently bought an ATI 1600pro that seems to be pretty good and stable. It's made by Gigabyte and it uses heatpiping rather than a fan. I know I paid below $200 for it, and I'm sure it's even cheaper now. I'm big on avoiding fans these days if I can

thnom

Elys why don't you stick to your plan and get a Mac? You seemed to be determined to get one a month or two ago. Now seems a perfect time no?

Ryno

PCI Express has been taking over for the last 3 years. It is now the standard, and they aren't even designing new motheboards with AGP slots. I'd guess that with the next generation of video cards, they won't even bother with the AGP versions. After all, why put a top of the line card in a 4 year old PC? With the latest Nvidia cards, it took them until about 6 months after the PCIE release before they came out with the AGP version.

ElysiumGX

[ QUOTE ]
Elys why don't you stick to your plan and get a Mac?

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh, I'm still getting a Mac. I eventually want one for music recording, and video editing. But I'll start small, just to get the hang of it. Like a Mac Mini, or a Macbook. I still need a fast PC for Linux, XSI, etc.

oXYnary

if your running linux, won't you want a nvidia card since they have more robust linux drivers?

TomDunne

If I were in the market for a new machine, I'd keep shaking the money tree until I had enough cash for an Nvidia 7950 GX2. I just can't argue with onboard SLI and quad SLI potential. I know the asking price on those things is steep, but you're basically getting two video cards for that money which makes things a lot more appealing.

ElysiumGX

[ QUOTE ]
I just can't argue with onboard SLI and quad SLI potential.

[/ QUOTE ]

I run SLI at work with two GeForce 7800GT's. Doesn't support dual monitors. I disable it and saw no performance loss. So, not worth the cost IMHO.

[ QUOTE ]
if your running linux, won't you want a nvidia card since they have more robust linux drivers?

[/ QUOTE ]

point taken...DAMMIT! oh well..I'm saving money by not using Vista, so sure why not?

So PCI is definately the way to go. I'll start shopping around. My card at work runs most games very well.

notman

Found it. Here's the one I bought. It's under a hundy now. I'm sure you'll probably want more beef if you can afford it, but I noticed the next step up (for Gigabyte) was $360.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125021

rawkstar

holy shit!!! LOL thats a pretty badass deal there...

Mark Dygert

Running Nvidia/SLI at home and work both with duel monitors. It took some fiddlin' but it works.