After a month of struggling, I was finally able to resolve the RMA on my malfunctioning 6800LE. The dealer admitted they had no ETA for a replacement card (did anyone expect them to?) and promises they'll issue a refund early next week. (so only 40 more calls until I actually GET a refund! :happydance

This gives me $130 to work with; I'm willing to throw another Jackson at the problem, but that's pretty much a hard limit. I recall talking myself up from a nice sane $65 6200 in the first place.

A huge awkwardness comes from the fact I've got an AGP mobo; I bought into AGP just as it was collapsing around me figuring "the only PCIE16 cards on the market right now are a bunch of Geforce 5200s with bridge chips, it will be years before AGP loses." and "I've got an expensive AGP card I just sank cash into and didn't want to replace"

Now part of me is thinking "could I swing getting the absolute cheapest PCIE mobo on the market and a middle-weight PCIE graphics card, on a 150 dollar budget?". I could get something like an ECS RX480-A ($55 or so delivered) and possibly some refurbed video (I see a refurb X800GTO for $81 or so at the Egg), but I'm hesitant on refurbs, and by the time my refund arrives, anything I set my heart on is likely to be gone.

Aside: Why are RadeonXpress boards the cheapest ones on the S939 market quite consistently?

Another part of me figures "just devote the resources to the card." The board I have is entirely servicable (an Abit AV8). I see very few good AGP cards though, even with a $150 celing. One nice thing about AGP cards is that there's not going to be a better one coming down the pike to wait for.

As for manufacturer, I'm even more puggled.

I like nVidia's drivers, and the fact you don't need Service Packs on win2000 (the new ATi drivers apparently do), but my last two cards were 6800LEs and both suffered unpleasant endings (one had a bad cooler, got sent in after a week before the rattle drove me to madness, and the second is the one I RMA'd after it started being illegible after 5 months), so the reliability of the nVidia product seems questionable (of course, my 5600XT is still ticking despite the crudely JB-Welded-on heatsink I fastened to ensure silent running, so what do I know )

This may help with your decision

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=545

If you want your mid level games to run smoothly without that stumble from onboard then AGP,I feel it is still a fantastic technology.Maybe not newest kid on the block,but it plays ball.Jo

i would agree that the best option is prob to stick with AGP and get yourself a pretty decent card that will no doubt last for 18months or so. That will give you time to save up for a hardcore SLI setup when the Upgrade bug bites hehe

For $150 i think you would probably be disappointed with what ever graphics option you end up with. Although you would be more 'future ready' it would be a pretty cheap board so it would probably end up getting upgraded anyways.

Mark

I'm not the sort who wants SLi. Two heat-belching graphics cards which don't provide any performance benefit at all while in 2D mode?

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/articl...GVudGh1c2lhc3Q=

Actually, that is the link I meant to send, I like NVIDIA myself (most of the time)

I would say a 6800GS would be your best bet if you can swing the extra coin

Quote: Originally Posted by markwalker84 get yourself a pretty decent card that will no doubt last for 18months or so.

I don't think there's any amount of money you could throw at the consumer AGP market that would make it hold on 18 months.

Your best bet would be to either search out one of the ATI soft moddable pipe unlockers, volt mod it and oc it to kingdom come or ditch the evil av8 and revise your budget strategy.

Just my 2p.

edit:

looking at necro's linky but I can't say I'm sold by it

Part of me was seriously considering an X1600 Pro, because 1) they're available, 2) they fit nicely in my price range, 3) you can get them with 256M and 512M framebuffers at affordable prices.

But it seems like the X1600Pro can't even hold even with the 6800LE it would be expected to match up to. I looked at comparisons vs. the 6600GT (since nobody tests the 6800LE, and they're generally considered close in stock form) and it doesn't seem to win... ever.

I can confirm that... I bought my Asus X1600Pro 512mb (PCI-E) for it's multimedia capabilities...

The card is fitted in my PVR system and there it performs admirably.... as expected it "teams up"
perfectly with my SAPPHIRE THEATRIX550 PRO card.... Avivo.. is well... just awesome, imho...
I do play some games on it... but only racing games, card games & such...gaming is not really
what I built it for...

In my main 'rig I've fitted a 6600GT (AGP) with 128mb of ram... that card really shines in FPS games...
and beats the X1600 Pro any day...

Remember, though... the 512MB version of the X1600Pro uses a slower kind of memory than the
256mb version...

I'd say don't spend too much on your current card but buy a 6600GT AGP, preferrably one that is known
to overclock well... plus either a Zalman or Artic Cooling cooler.... If you're not into that... just buy a 6800GS...

TDR

I actually have a Zalman VF700-Cu sitting waiting to be fitted to whatever card I select. I like the quietness and performance, but I'm not too keen on anything which requires overclocking. It's speculative and probably doesn't do the warranty any good (after having to return two cards in six months, warranty is VERY important to me. )

Then a 6800GS it is....

TDR

Well, I think it's beyond that phase.

I have all but tossed in the towel. I'm now seriously considering chucking the AV8 and getting a PCI-E 7600GS. I figure I can BARELY do that with a $200 celing.

The 7600GS will cost me about 135 delivered, so that means a $65 PCI-E/939 mobo. More specifically, it most likely means a K8T890 board. I've concluded that SiS chipsets have sucked since the 745. I've also heard terrible things about the Radeon Xpress 200's performance, supposedly anyone who wants a decent performing board has to use a different southbridge.

I'm seriously considering a Biostar K8T890-A9: $63 or so. Four DIMM slots, but poor layout. I want the PCI slots and PCI-Ex16 slots as far apart as possible for airflow, since both will be populated. Anyone have experience with them? I usually go with ECS, but their affordable K8T890 board has only two DIMM sockets. Although I don't need four now, it's a nice futureproofing.

The one feature I like from my AV8 I'd probably miss is the POST-code display, but frankly, it's not a huge deal-breaker.

I was looking at the MSI 7600GS advertised for about 125 shipped on Newegg, and they reccomend a 400w PSU. Is this typical? Seems a bit absurd, given most 6800-series cards only reccomend 300 or 350; are they pre-compensating for crappy PSU?