hey i just bought a new computer and i'm lookin for a video card for it..cuz the one it has sux. i can't tell if my comp is AGP or not. i have windows XP
AMD Athlon 3000+
2.10 GHz
448 MB of RAM

thats all it says in the info on my comp its and HP pavilion. on the box it said it has 512 MB of RAM..i dunno why it says 448 on the computer
on the box it also said something about 400 MHz front side bus

help!!!

You can change it you know.

Go into BIOS and there is an option there for video, i think the options are 64, 32 and 1. I put it on 1.

For fantastic Video Cards I would not buy anything less than a mid-high end NVIDEA card with Dual Outputs (for running twin monitors).  Our Graphics Computers are all loaded with a variety of NVIDEA's and they are all top performers.  We trialed one ALL IN WONDER card then sent it back ...it couldn't keep up with the NVIDEAs and only offered 1/3 of the features (such as the transparency effect and about 24 other "must have" features).

Anyway, after having purchased and installed 24 NVIDEA AGP cards (dual output) I am sold.  Even if you get a 128MB you'd be getting a half-decent one, but the 256 and up are obviously an artist's dream come true.  We also have three VERY high end PNY's, yet that is the top end of NVIDEA (I think...?), and they are very, very costly.  You can only justify the cost of a PNY high-end if you have the cash-flow to make it pay for itself.

Hope this helps!

The Reverend

If you have some money to throw around get the new Ati Radeon X800 its fooking awesome! Its also a pci card instead of AGP so it goin to be way faster..


Heres the Specs' and other info on it..

RADEON X800 PRO 256MB AGP $399.00
 
 
 


  RADEON X800 PRO 256MB AGP
Price:   $399.00  
    QTY    
 
Stock : Temporarily out of stock. Will ship when available.
 
Part Number: 100-435200  
 
 
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Overview
The RADEON™ X800 graphics technology is the world’s fastest and most powerful VPU, setting a new standard in graphics performance and visual realism. With up to 16 pipelines, higher clock speeds and breakthrough image enhancement technology, RADEON™ X800 Graphics Technology ushers in a whole new gaming category called High-Definition Gaming.

Features
The World's Fastest and Most Powerful VPU
Breakthrough Image Quality
World's Most Advanced 3D Architecture
Cutting Edge Video Technology
DirectX® 9.0 Leadership Continues
Stability is the foundation of the RADEON™ X800 Graphics Technology
Specifications
System Requirements

RADEON™ X800 PRO, RADEON™ X800 XT and RADEON™ X800 XT PLATINUM EDITION require a connection to your PC's internal power supply for operation. Consult your system builder or OEM to ensure your system has an adequate power supply. Otherwise, ATI recommends a 300-Watt power supply or greater to ensure normal system operation where a number of other internal devices are installed.
Intel Pentium 4/III, AMD Athlon 64/7K/Athlon XP with AGP 8X (0.8v), 4X (1.5V) or universal AGP 3.0 bus configuration (8X/4X)
128MB of system memory
Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
DVD playback requires DVD drive

Graphics technology

RADEON™ X800 PRO, RADEON™ X800 XT and RADEON™ X800 XT PLATINUM EDITION graphics technology

Memory configuration

256MB GDDR3 memory
256-bit memory interface

Display Support

VGA connector for analog CRT
DVI-I connector for digital CRT or flat panel
S-video or composite connector for TV/VCR
YPbPr connection to HDTV
Drive two displays simultaneously with independent resolutions and refresh rates

Operating system support

Windows® XP (Home or Pro)
Windows® 2000 with Service Pack 1 (or later)
Windows® Media Center Edition

Features

RADEON X800 Technology Specifications


160 million transistors on 0.13 micron low-k fabrication process
Up to sixteen extreme parallel pixel pipelines
Six programmable vertex shader pipelines
256-bit quad-channel GDDR3 memory interface
AGP 8X support or PCI Express ™ support

SMARTSHADER™ HD


Support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 programmable vertex and pixel shaders in hardware
DirectX® 9.0 Vertex Shaders
Vertex programs up to 65,280 instructions with flow control
Single cycle trigonometric operations (SIN & COS)
DirectX® 9.0 Extended Pixel Shaders
Up to 1,536 instructions and 16textures per rendering pass
2nd generation F-buffer technology accelerates multi-pass pixel shader programs with unlimited instructions
32 temporary and constant registers
Facing register for two-sided lighting
128-bit, 64-bit & 32-bit per pixel floating point color formats
Multiple Render Target (MRT) support
Complete feature set also supported in OpenGL® via extensions

SMOOTHVISION™ HD


2x/4x/6x Anti-Aliasing modes
Sparse multi-sample algorithm with gamma correction, programmable sample patterns, and centroid sampling
Lossless Color Compression (up to6:1)at all resolutions, including widescreen HDTV resolutions
Temporal Anti-Aliasing
2x/4x/8x/16x Anisotropic Filtering modes
Up to 128-tap texture filtering
Adaptive algorithm with bilinear (performance) and trilinear (quality) options

3Dc™


High quality 4:1 Normal Map Compression
Works with any two-channel data format

HYPER Z™ HD


3-level Hierarchical Z-Buffer with Early Z Test
Lossless Z-Buffer Compression (up to 48:1)
Fast Z-Buffer Clear
Z Cache optimized for real-time shadow rendering
Optimized for performance at high display resolutions, including widescreen HDTV resolutions

VIDEOSHADER™ HD


Seamless integration of pixel shaders with video in real time
FULLSTREAM™ video de-blocking technology for Real, DivX, and WMV9 formats
VIDEOSOAP™ noise removal filtering for captured video
MPEG1/2/4 decode and encode acceleration
DXVA Support
Hardware Motion Compensation, iDCT, DCT and color space conversion
All-format DTV/HDTV decoding
YPrPb component output for direct drive of HDTV displays†
Adaptive Per-Pixel De-Interlacing and Frame Rate Conversion (temporal filtering)
Dual integrated display controllers
Dual integrated 10 bit per channel 400 MHz DACs Integrated 165 MHz TMDS transmitter (DVI 1.0 / HDMI compliant and HDCP ready)
Integrated TV Output support up to 1024x768 resolution
Windows® Logo Program compliant
CATALYST™ Software Suite

Warranty
3-year limited warranty

What's included in the box:
Hardware
RADEON X800 PRO 256MB AGP
7P to HDTV OUT CABLE
6' COMPOSITE VIDEO CABLE
6' S-VIDEO CABLE
S-VIDEO MINIDIN (8 PIN) TO COMPOSITE ADAPTER
DVI-I TO VGA ADAPTER
Y POWER CABLE SPLITTER

Software
CD RADEON X800PRO 256MB (DVD+MMC)

Manuals
RADEON X800 PRO USER'S GUIDE ENGLISH

Recommended Accessories
TV Wonder Pro / TV Wonder Pro RCE

You may notice that I only posted links to NewEgg.com. Well, they're the most reliable reseller for the lowest price the majority of teh time. You can try going to Pricewatch.com and see if you can find it for lower. However, all be warned that many resellers listed have horrible credentials. Before you ever buy anything online, always check their rating and reviews at ResellerRatings.com. I've had my share of bad experiences with buying things online before I stumbled across this website.

HERE's NewEgg's page at ResellerRatings.com.

Which is what I should've put in this comp. Not this cheaper Radeon 9600 Pro, slighly overclocked.

Well, I did a little searching on Tom's Hardware for some benches. I couldn't find a comparison between the 6600GT and the 9800Pro, so here's what we'll do. Below, there are two video card review links. One has the 9800Pro, and one has the 6600GT. In each of those reviews, the FX 5950 Ultra is present.  In the first set of benches, notice that the 9800Pro is slightly faster than the FX 5950U. While keeping that in mind, go to the second set. Notice the difference in a card that is a few FPS faster than FX 5950U and the 6600GT. A pretty substantial performance increase of ~50-100% (that percentage range is figured over all benchmarks, not just Call of Duty).

-Bench set #1

-Bench set #2

Well, I found an 8xAGP 6600GT card at NewEgg.com for $240, which is well within the price range of the two cards you mentioned (more than one, less than the other).

If you were considering getting the 9800Pro, perhaps you should go with the following card instead:

-XFX 6600GT at NewEgg.com

If you're wondering about the 128MB of ram, there isn't a substantial enough performance difference between cards with 128 and 256 to be an issue.

 

Nvidia > ATI

[ insert 3 page long specs and links like everyone else.......here ]

oh and i have a nvidia 5200 right now and iv yet to see a problem with it. so "horrible" ?nah.. Iv played counterstrike, as well as source, doom3, battlefield vietnam, HL2, farcry, etc on my 5200. On normal settings. No need for SUPER ULTRA OMGZ0RZ HIGH DETAIL PLAZMA SETTINGZ!