[Valcrist]

Well, I have been putting off getting a new video card for several reasons, on of those reasons as in the fact that if I get an agp card then I'll have to buy a new card when I upgrade my system again in the kinda near future for pci express.

Then I saw some biostar mobo's that were pci express but also had what was called an xgp slot. From what I could find this basically let you use an agp card on a pci express mobo. Although it said it had to be newer than an 8500 or geforce 4.

Does anybody here have any info that proves this? I thought they boards where so phisically different that it wasn't possible to do this.

(btw good job on the boards they are uuuuber fast for me now, before they were just ...decent.)

 

[Kane]

Basicaly, what it looks likr they've don is put an extra AGP socket in which sits on the PCX bus

edit: after looking around a bit, there are no reviews for it and only theories. One theory is that it's gone the same way as an SIS P4 board with dual standards. On that they strapped 2 PCI slots together and the performance was horrible. The other theory is as I suggested. This makes more sense as the compatible graphics cards are basicaly GF4 and above.
That said, Biostar aren't exactly known for their performance, even if it is an nForce 4 chipset.

 

[Valcrist]

So what do you think would be better, get a new video card now and just upgrade to a 939 board with agp, and do the pci-e thing later. Or just wait and save up?

 

[cooliscool]

ASRock has a similar implementation..

I say wait and save up and get the real thing.. I find things like what Biostar and ASRock are doing to help people save money to be a bit sketchy.

 

[Esturk]

It's definately not worth it at all in my opinion. It's like those Socket 478 boards which use SDRAM. Very bad.

 

[Kane]

If a big name like Asus or Abit did it, I might change.

 

[Valcrist]

Hmm my friend is offering me 100 us dollars for my 9500 I think I'll take that and go ahead and get me a 6600gt, tide me over for a tad longer at least.

 

[GeneralClaymore]

newegg.com has a X800XL Vivo AGP8x for 309 if u can save 310 i would recommand that. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-520&depa=1

 

[Valcrist]

newegg.com has a X800XL Vivo AGP8x for 309 if u can save 310 i would recommand that. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-102-520&depa=1

the thing is I want upgradability in the future soooo here's what I ended up doing.

My friend was in need of a video card so I sold him my 9500np for 100 bucks, and since I work at circuit city now I got a huge discount on a 9600xt 256mb which ended up being $128, so basically I got a nice upgrade for 28 dollars . I'm just gonna wait it out till I have about a grand to spend and then buy a new system.

 

[D.D.]

cool upgrade i wish i had a 256 meg videocard...*kicks 9800 pro*

 

[cooliscool]

A 128MB 9800 Pro is better than a 256MB 9600XT.

 

[Valcrist]

Yeah, well I lub my new card hopefully it'll last me a good year or so when I can afford to upgrade my whole system to PCI-E and get a really nice card .

 

[cooliscool]

Yep. The 9600XT's a great card.. should run everything you throw at it just fine. :agree:

 

[D.D.]

the 9600xt with 256 megs of ram runs doom III and some games better than a 9800 pro with only 256 megs of ram i think O_O

 

[cooliscool]

Uh.. where? oO

Can't be true..

 

[Valcrist]

Can't be my card only has 4 pipelines the 9800 has 8.

 

[D.D.]

isnt it because they use big textures that games like far cry and doom III run better on a 9600xt with 256 ram ?

 

[cooliscool]

The 9800 Pro should dominate it regardless - 256-bit RAM vs 128-bit, 8 pipes vs 4, 512-bit GPU architecture, and not to mention the RAM runs at ahigher frequency.. although as far as storing textures goes the 256MB card has the obvious advantage.

I still don't think that that it outperforms a 9800 Pro, in anything. oO

 

[Valcrist]

Stop that cooliscool your starting to make me want to go return my 9600xt for the 9800 that would cost me like...50 bucks more!

 

[cooliscool]

*cough* and much worth it *cough*

Nah. Your card is still quite good. Like I said before, should run everything you throw at it fine.