Budget AGP cards

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Want to upgrade from tired and emotional Geforce 5 series 128mb thats not really cutting the mustard. However since I'm not going to be overhaulling the whole PC for a while I just need a quick shot in the arm graphics wise.

So the basic premise is to find a GPU for between £30-£60 that will run most moden stuff well enough for now. Looking at some cards here but as I'm not a graphics junkie I don't really know what the main difference between the specs are. Is GS better than GT? Is a radeon 9550 better than geforce 7600GS?

I could probably work my way through all the specs to compare but since there such a good knowledge base here I thought this would be quicker!!

 

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There *is* a database of graphic cards where you can compare one against another... check out GPUReview, click Compare Cards, and all your questions will be answered!

Keep in mind that just because a graphics card number is higher doesn't necessarily make it better. For example, an X850XT blows an X1600 out of the water - compare the stats for yourself.

I did a writeup of videocard comparisons somewhere... let's see if I can dig it up...

 

Here it is:

The first number (or two) denotes the generation of the video card. For example, ATI has models starting with 9, X, and X1, and Nvidia has models starting with 5, 6, and 7. Each generation typically offers new features, such as pixel shading and water effects.

The next number denotes the target market. Cards ending in a 200 or 300 are targeted at lower-end PC users who don't require graphics for gaming. Cards ending in a 600 are typically targeted at budget gamers. Cards ending in an 800 or 900 are targeted at high-end gamers. And, obviously, an 850 would outperform an 800, and a 950 would outperform a 900.

Here's where it can get confusing. The 800- and 900-numbered cards of an older generation can, in fact, be much faster than lower-numbered cards of a newer generation. For example, the Radeon X800 XT performs much faster than the Radeon X1600 XT. However, the X800 (X series) won't have some new features found in the X1600 (X1 series).

The letters found at the end of each card model number can confuse things. Research the different models and see which ones are better than others. That said, that's quite a task - XL, XT, Pro, XTX, SE, LE, GS, GX, GTX, GTO... there's a lot to compare!

 

Cheers for that, it was really usuefull. Think I've found the right card for the right price in the ATI X1650 PRO 256Mb GDDR3, seems to be given a good rating for speed and stuff whilst being about my price limit. Anyone had any experiences with this card?

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