[SDA]

Whoops, you're right-- there's a big compatibility split between AGP 1.0 and 2.0. I was actually thinking about (32-bit) PCI cards, since PCI video cards are likely to be cheaper than AGP cards.. should have said something, sorry.

My assumption that PCI cards would be cheaper and more readily available seems to have been incorrect, too, since there are more AGP (and 64-bit PCI, oddly enough) Matrox cards on eBay than 32-bit PCI cards. I see a lot of G450s, though.. I'm guessing they'd work, since they're cleared for AGP 4x, but I'm not absolutely sure. (My way of dealing with the compatibility split is steering wide clear.)

 

[C38368]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikoLayer why bother when fry's has those amazing combo deals on durons and semprons? well if you dont have fry's around your area then of coruse you are SOL.

Uhm... because Fry's is obsessed with using ECS boards in those combos.

I keep a Radeon 7000 (R70) in the little Linux box. Paid $35, no fan and it'll run UT2k4.

 

[MikoLayer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by C38368 Uhm... because Fry's is obsessed with using ECS boards in those combos. I keep a Radeon 7000 (R70) in the little Linux box. Paid $35, no fan and it'll run UT2k4.

that and pcchips. again, OP never said he games and that combo runs just fine.

 

[C38368]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikoLayer that and pcchips. again, OP never said he games and that combo runs just fine.

Yes, I read the OP thank you.
My point is that the "lowly" R70 handles gaming at decent graphical settings (which, as you may know, has this annoying tendancy to tax graphics cards), in addition to lacking a fan. The upshot of this is that it makes for one damn good solution for someone in this situation.

Maybe if Fry's paid people to take those POS ECS boards off their hands...

 

[Enverxis]

The Radeon 9100 was an excellent card, My friend had a powercolor one and it performed very well in all situations, beat the crap out of my TI-4200. sold it to get a 9600XT.

If you can get your hands on one of those your set for a cheap budget, otherwise id recommend to try and get something second hand - ie. MSI or Leadtek GeForce4 TI-4200 8x or 4400/4600/4800SE. Or even a Radeon 9700 if your lucky (in Australia even these cards are dear second hand!!)

GeForce 5x00 series was pretty shocking compared to ATi 9x00 series, wouldnt bother looking for one of those cards.