It looks like I'll actually be getting a refund for my faulty 6800 GT rather than just a cheap replacement (yay!). And so I've entered the market for a new card. I wanted to try for an AGP ATi card but I'm fast finding that those of us not fortunate enough to own a PCI-E motherboard are being left in the dirt by ATi. I considered getting this card, however I have heard bad things about some models not even allowing your PC to boot up.

Then, there's the new NVidia card, the 7800GS which I have considered. It sounds nice, in theory, but I've learnt to be wary of NVidia products. I haven't had much luck searching for known issues with the card, e.g., overheating, glitches, incompatibilities etc. I was wondering if anyone knew whether this was a safe buy or not.

Those two cards seem to be my only choices. I'm trying to avoid NVidia but it doesn't look like I have much choice. PCI-E just isn't an option right now, especially since I can't construct motherboards, so I have to buy expensive barebone systems.

If there are any other decent AGP cards people know of, or any advice people can offer, I'd appreciate it. ^^

If it helps, I have a 400 watt PSU, and a NF3250K8AA-ERS model Socket 754 motherboard with AGP 8x support. I'm pretty sure it uses the NForce3 chipset.

I found a comparison of some of the best AGP cards here:

http://ckturbo128.proboards4.com/index.cgi...read=1138544120

I've had both ATI and Nvidia cards and haven't had trouble with either. XFX has a good reputation for performance and quality.
I'm in the process of buying a GeForce 7800 GTX 256 MB PCI-E right now but I might have bought an ATI if they had their CrossFire system developed a little more.

If you go with ATI, consider the X850 XT too.

I don't think the ATI X850 cards support SM 3.0 though whereas the Nvidia 7800 does. (check this but I think I'm right) Games using Shader Model 3.0 are supposed to be the future thing, at least that's what Nvidia claims.

Oblivion and SM 3.0
http://www.beyond3d.com/interviews/oblivion/index.php?p=02

Ah, someone finally replied! ^^ Thanks, but I already got some response on the official forums. I decided that an XFX 7800GS from Overclockers was the best option... especially since they throw in a 2 year warranty, so if it does blow I can at least get my money back. That, and apparently if you want to install an ATi card you have to uninstall all your old graphics card drivers or it won't work. A bunch of people can't even get into Safe Mode because of this. Not terribly helpful when you've already sent your only available graphics card back to the shop... oh well.

Anyways, no point keeping this open now.