Hi everyone!I'd like to know what is the absolutly best AGP card I can currently buy. I think I am needing an upgrade to my PC, and I have around $600 to spend on a graphics card.Thanks for the info!

That would be the ATI X800XT PE or the NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra. I'd give the former the nod. Having said that, are you sure you want to upgrade your video card? As said many many times before on this forum, FS9 scales more with CPU than with GPU so you may not get the performance improvement that you are looking for. Besides, you'd be upgrading yourself into a dead-end as your next platform (i.e. CPU/motherboard) change is bound to require a change of your video card as well.Perhaps if you gave us the rest of your specs, we may be able to advise you on how best to utilize your hard-earned US$600?Thanks,Edwin

Yeah, I guess you're right... AGP is starting to come to a dead-end right?So full system specs, then:Processor: Intel Pentium 4 @ 3.2GHz w/ HyperthreadingMemory: 1GB DDR400 Dual ChannelVideo Card: ATI Radeon 9800XT 256MBSound Card: Audigy 2 Platinum eXHard drive: 120 GB @ 7200 rpmPSU: 450 WattI guess that's it. If you need more info, I'll be happy to give it :)Thanks for your help!

Hi Luis,Given your specs, I wouldn't upgrade your video card. Take a look at these pages:http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=OTAwLDEwhttp://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=OTAwLDEzYour budget of $600 falls right in between the two and on the plus side, you can (most likely) re-use your RAM. Ideally, you want to get an Athlon64 3500+ (instead of the 3200+ suggested in the $500 upgrade path) and a 7800GT (as suggested in the $1000 upgrade path). Since you won't have to buy new RAM, getting both would probably net a total of ~$650. Would that be okay? Also, ideally, you'd want to get the A8N-SLI so that you can add a second video card further down the road for even better performance but that is more nice-to-have rather than must-have.Hope this helps.Edwin

Well there are some nice suggestions! I'll think about it, but it seems like a nice option! One last question: Do you think I'll have to convert myself to AMD? Personally (this is just a personal opinion, I'm not staring flame wars here) I am an Intel fan. I think AMD processors are probably cheaper for some reason (although I know sometimes you pay for a brand). I remember seeing an article on tom's hardware, which tested AMD and intel's chips resistance to heat. When striped of the cooling fan, Intel chips would simply shutdown, and AMD woudl just fry and sometimes catch fire!Well, do you think I can have a nice performing system with an Intel processor? I'd probably like to go dual core, just for the sake of it, but I probably won't. As I heard, it won't probably affect gaming performance much...Thank you!

Hehe, I remember that old test TOM did. But that really doesn't apply to the most modern processors. Infact it's the Intel's that run hotter then AMD's these day's. In either case if one overheats its thermal protection should shut the processor down before any serious damage is done.As for going dual core..... Well its a nice thing to have especially if you'll be doing any sort of multitasking. Most games do not take advantage of it yet but I suspect they will.In this case I'd choose an AMD processor over Intel simply because they perform better across the board (especially gaming).Now as for AMD pricing their processor cheaper than Intel... Hmmmm, generally I see them pretty well holding at similar price points. AMD used to price cheaper some time back but not now. It should also be considered that AMD doesn't do as much marketing as Intel so they can pass on those saving to the consumer.If you want a top notch gaming rig that will do everything else well go with AMD.If you're going to be doing alot of CD ripping/encoding & video production work then Intel may be a slightly faster solution.

Hi Luis,Take a look at this post of mine: http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...mode=full#11686I respect that you may trust the big brand name of Intel more (as do many corporate customers) but realize that for gaming, AMD wins hands-down.Funny you should mention pricing and dual-core, because if you check the prices, you'll realize that AMD's dual-core processors are priced *higher* than Intel's. With the single-core processors, they are priced about on par although Intel motherboards (and the use of DDR2 RAM) will generally make Intel platforms more expensive. The days of AMD as a "budget" processor maker have been over for quite some time now.Hope this helps.Edwin

Cheeper?? That word tends to denote "lacking in quality"...Nope...Better Value...More Bang for your Buck...Yup...Here is a neat link if you wish to have a look...http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1876715,00.aspIf you'll notice...Right around the Athlon64 3500+ processor...the AMD line walks away from Intel in the Flightsim Benchmarks...To put things in perspective...The 3500+ is a $200 processor...The Intel Extreme Edition is in the $1000 range last time I checked...I like to call that "Bang for your Buck"...Happy Holiday's!!ChuckAthlon64 FX57Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe2gb Corsair CLIIXFX 7800GTX OverclockedX-Fi FatalityDangerDen Liquid Cooling