Post by Renown on Apr 28, 2006 23:07:08 GMT -5
AGP, or Accelerated Graphics Port was a PCI derivative dedicated to graphics designed by Intel, now of course the technology is for the most part seriously outdated and quite obselete when compared to PCI-E (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), but there's still a bit of life left in it. At least for another year or so. AGP has evolved in it's heyday from versions 1.0 (1x/2x), 2.0 (2x/4x), and 3.0 (4x/8x).
The most recent of course being version 3.0, Nvidia has recently brought some kick back into the AGP interface with the 7800 GS GPU, which claims to be the fastest AGP video card in the world and that may very well be true, but how serious was Nvidia about adding their coveted 7-series GPU for AGP users?
AGP ver. 3.0 (4x/8x) are now the best options to use for your video card, notably 8x would be the definitive option. AGP 8x uses a 32-bit channel that operates at 66MHz (as do all other AGP standards) it's 533MHz effective (compared to 266MHz for 4x) and a maximum data rate of 2GB/s...well it's actually more like 2.1-something GB/s.
Now of course this doesn't compare to PCI-E as I've mentioned already, but I'm inclined to believe Nvidia hasn't taken delivering the 7-series to AGP seriously. For the most part the 7800 GS is rather disappointing, it can't even handle Battlefield 2 (I know from experience). Now, I can't diagnose the problem, because well I don't know what the problem is exactly. The 7800 GS may be the fastest AGP card available, but is it the best?
Here's a list of the best AGP video cards money can buy:
Radeon X800XT PE
Radeon X800GTO
Radeon X850 Pro
Radeon X850XT
Radeon X850XT PE
Radeon X1300 Pro
Radeon X1600 Pro
GeForce 6600
GeForce 6600 GT
GeForce 6600 LE (Eh...not so much)
GeForce 6800
GeForce 6800 GS
GeForce 7800 GS (Fastest GDDR-3 compliant AGP card available?)
I'm sure there's more, but anyway...read, comment, and happy shopping.
The most recent of course being version 3.0, Nvidia has recently brought some kick back into the AGP interface with the 7800 GS GPU, which claims to be the fastest AGP video card in the world and that may very well be true, but how serious was Nvidia about adding their coveted 7-series GPU for AGP users?
AGP ver. 3.0 (4x/8x) are now the best options to use for your video card, notably 8x would be the definitive option. AGP 8x uses a 32-bit channel that operates at 66MHz (as do all other AGP standards) it's 533MHz effective (compared to 266MHz for 4x) and a maximum data rate of 2GB/s...well it's actually more like 2.1-something GB/s.
Now of course this doesn't compare to PCI-E as I've mentioned already, but I'm inclined to believe Nvidia hasn't taken delivering the 7-series to AGP seriously. For the most part the 7800 GS is rather disappointing, it can't even handle Battlefield 2 (I know from experience). Now, I can't diagnose the problem, because well I don't know what the problem is exactly. The 7800 GS may be the fastest AGP card available, but is it the best?
Here's a list of the best AGP video cards money can buy:
Radeon X800XT PE
Radeon X800GTO
Radeon X850 Pro
Radeon X850XT
Radeon X850XT PE
Radeon X1300 Pro
Radeon X1600 Pro
GeForce 6600
GeForce 6600 GT
GeForce 6600 LE (Eh...not so much)
GeForce 6800
GeForce 6800 GS
GeForce 7800 GS (Fastest GDDR-3 compliant AGP card available?)
I'm sure there's more, but anyway...read, comment, and happy shopping.