rec.autos.simulators

Apologies for the OT post, but I'm really hoping someone can help me out
here.

I'm looking for the 256MB XFX 7600GT XXX with an AGP interface in the
UK. I've been to the XFX site, checked every one of their listed
stockists and all of the  online hardware companies I could think of
myself...Dabs, Overclockers, Scan etc. Not one of them is listing the
particular card I'm after.

Anyone know if it's out there somewhere? And furthermore, what sort of
gains am I likely to see in GTR2 etc over my current 128MB 6800XT on an
Intel P4 3.0Gb with 2Gb of RAM?

Thanks in advance,

Rick.

ebay?

Rick Catton enlightened us with:

I tried ebay over the w/end and yesterday and couldn't see anything.

I think you're right that the 7800GS is the swan song for AGP, but XFX
are definitely claiming to make the 7600GT in AGP form - part number
PV-T73A-UDF7 on this page...

http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product/listConfigurations.jspa?seriesId=...

If I have to spend the extra on the 7800GS I'll have to wait a bit -
hopefully for prices to come down.

How are you finding the 7800? Would my current system (P4 3.0, 2GB Ram)
be worth putting a such a high-end card into?

Thanks for the reply,

Regards,
Rick.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/ATI_AGP_Graphics_Cards.html

Andrew McP

I had started to give up more info on this, then decided against wasting the
post and everyone's time...  So skip over this if you wish, but here are my
opinions, coming from me who knows I get by with less the older I get.

The machine I was originally running these AGP cards in, really was a sorry
POS, but stable <G>

all of these cards, I still have around here, and in use...

As I can tell you, I had the ti4600 128 meg version, bought it up from back
when I still had my 1000 mhz BX board pc (meanning paid through the nose for
cutting edge performance at that time).  after a fewmonths passed, I finally
upgraded to a 2.4ghz intel (over 4 years ago) it had 1.5 gig of cheapy-less
than ddr400 spec ram (mixed speed sticks actually) Plus the motherboard, it
was 4x AGP board running 400mhz FSB.

I then tried (and still have the Geforce 6600gt 128 meg version, saw not one
bit of difference other than dx versions instructions that I you guessed it,
had to disable due to poorly performing CPU & Motherboard in most games
anyhow.  Everyone told me that I had gone sideways in performance of cards
going to the 6600gt.  Alas, after I had in and paid for, of course.

Then I bought the AGP 7800gs oc {bfg brand} because I dunno I didnt realize
still how much my {pos} machine was crippling the vid cards.

<skip to the chase>

I now have a core2 duo (e6400 conroe/allendale) but on an asrock board that
has both AGP & PCIe.  Again because I am to hard headed to respend the money
I pissed away getting the 7800gs...  So I am going to be about 15% less
performance ever on near equal machine with PCIe card, I figure...  but for
now it is good enough.

No I didn't try the 6600gt in this rig, I should, but I dont monkey with
this
thing, thanks to family time...  however if I can now back up in time....
before I ended up getting the e6400 chip and the asrock dual vsta board, I
tried to cheaply/sneak/creep by, with a local purchase of a $20 POS 775 abit
board along with a 3.0ghz prescott? chip I scrounged up {I thought I was
saving money} and put together this backup PC which is now dubbed  'the sons
pc,' with my existing & leftover ram.

I can tell you that that board & chip, runs the 6600gt much better than my
2.4 POS rig did.  Gave my parents my ti4600 to replace the dying 6200 card
in the PC they had...

For what it is worth?
Id consider getting the 7800 only if I couldnt find the 7600 I guess, if you
only want to spend around 200 bucks and then wait a quite a while to save up
the money yet again?

In Hind sight, I'd say find a new MB that uses your CPU and probably the ram
for about 100 or so, and goto similiarly priced PCIe card instead of the
AGP.  With your old chip (assume it is socket 775) and ram and stuff that
might be the cheaper route if you divide it by *** performance gain?
Hell the motherboard & cpu only set me back 225 for the chip, 75 for the
board.

My other reason I kept the AGP for now, if anyone was thinking I am too much
dopey, is again, I can take that 7800 card, and put it into my kids PC
replacing the 6600gt give the 6600gt to the parents as an upgrade, so the
money isn't/wasnt all converted to piss, least not quite yet...  because we
all have old ***around here.

Rick Catton enlightened us with:

Yes, I agree, and that's part of my problem. The last time I felt like I
_knew_ what I was getting when buying a video card was 3 cards ago, a
Ti4200. After that, when I started looking and there were GS's, GT's,
XT's, Pro's etc, I just didn't know what was what.

For example, when I bought the 6800XT I was suckered into thinking it
was better than an vanilla or GS model. Now I find out it's the down
market version!

Although I did briefly go over to ATI in the form of a 9800Pro, but had
more trouble with drivers than I'd ever had from nVidia. Being a
thirty-something grumpy old man, I'm now reluctant to go that way again.

Thanks for the reply,
Regards,
Rick.

Blimey! First of all, thanks for such a detailed reply - much appreciated.

I can see the way you're thinking with the new mb, and my sensible head
says that's the way to go, although I was hoping to scrape one more year
out of this machine before going the whole way with a new system in 12
months or so.

Thanks for the info about the 7800. I need to keep hunting for the
7600GT and resist the temptation to spend the extra in buying the 7800
just because it's out there. <sigh>...back to Google to see if I've
missed any retailers!

Thanks again,
Regards,
Rick.