agp card question, x1300 xge

[vck1967]

A friend of mine just purchased from a national chain retailer a VisionTek - RADEON X1300 XGE Graphics Card, 512MB DDR2 memory; AGP interface; 600MHz/533MHz clock speed; dual DVI, S-video and composite video outputs. He paid about $175 for it, and their squad installed it for them. He was upgrading from a ati 9550. Main game he and I play is BF2. I just posted not too long ago and got a 7600 gt and am very pleased with it. How do the 7600gt and the x1300 xge compare, if at all? did he get taken? Going by the numbers on the compare card page, he looks to have about twice what he did, but I did not see that specific card. We were wondering if the "xge" designation and the 512mb were just a marketing ploy or really made it that much better than the run of the mill x1300. I am not a computer person but installed my 7600 gt pci-e pretty easily. If by chance he can return the card and purchase something online like I did and get more bang for the buck, is an AGP card any more difficult to install?

Your thoughts are appreciated.

[David]

Look up the card pages.:rolleyes:

[Mike]

He got taken. At 600/533MHz that card is a chopped down X1300 Pro (which sucks ass to begin with). The AGP version of the X1300 Pro is around $100, and that's a horrible price considering the 7600 GS is way faster for the same money.

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=435&card2=476 (http://www.gpureview.com/radeon-x1300-pro-agp-card-476.html)

The 7600GT blows it out of the water. If your friend can, I highly recommend he return the card and tell whomever sold it to him to shove it up their asses.

:)

I absolutely hate it when manufacturers take an already shitty, overpriced card like the x1300pro, slap a bunch of memory on it, lower the clock speeds, and then sell it for $175. Here's 3 times the performance of that card for $30 less:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150210

[vck1967]

well, I talked to him earlier, and he had to get some other work done on the computer for some unrelated XP issues but finally got back on bf2. he put the settings to high and he seems to be happy with it, said it is running pretty smoothly than with the 9550. I don't know if BF2 just does not require more than what the x1300 offers or if the 9550 just sucked that much worse. If he can return the card and he puchases something better, I will be installing it for him. other than the accessory power lead, is the AGP card install any more difficult than my pci-e card was? I seemed the evga nvidia card I got was pretty idiot proof, good thing for me. Thanks

[Mike]

PCI-E is just a different shape, it's exactly the same as installing an AGP card.

And yeah, the 9550 just sucks that bad. The 9550 was the x1300 xge of its day.

[Mach5Motorsport]

If anyone is looking for an entry level AGP card from ATi, then the minimum should be an x1650.