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zippyjuan
05-21-2007, 12:08 PM
Sapphire Readies DirectX 10 Graphics Cards for Old Computers.
Sapphire Preps Radeon HD 2000 Graphics Cards for AGP Bus

Category: Video

by Anton Shilov

[ 05/21/2007 | 05:48 AM ]


Sapphire Technology, one of the world’s largest producers of graphics cards, has recently added three graphics cards for outdated personal computers with accelerated graphics port (AGP) buses into its product matrix. The new cards fully support DirectX 10 and are based on the latest ATI Radeon HD 2000-series graphics processing units (GPUs).


The new graphics boards are Sapphire Radeon HD 2600 XT (800MHz/1400MHz core/memory) with up to 512MB of GDDR3 memory, HD 2600 Pro (600MHz/1000MHz core/memory) with up to 512MB GDDR3 memory onboard and HD 2400 Pro (525MHz/800MHz core/memory) with up to 256MB of GDDR2 memory onboard, all featuring ATI Rialto bridge, which allows GPUs originally architected for PCI Express to work on platforms supporting AGP 4x or 8x.

Both Radeon HD 2600 and 2400 are fully compatible with DirectX 10 and feature advanced Avivo HD video engine, however, the model HD 2600 sports 120 stream processors (SPs), 8 texture units (TUs) and 4 render back ends (RBEs), whereas the model HD 2400 has only 40 SPs, 4 TUs and 4 RBEs.

Even though some end-users may find the new graphics cards useful, as all of them is likely to be priced at below $199, it is unlikely that the new graphics cards will allow them to play modern games, as microprocessors on the vast majority of AGP systems are outdated for contemporary games, whereas DDR memory upgrades are already more expensive compared to DDR2 memory upgrades.

It is inclear when Sapphire starts to sell the new AGP graphics boards. ATI, graphics product group of Advanced Micro Devices, indicated earlier this year that ATI Radeon HD 2600 and 2400 families of graphics cards for PCI Express bus will be available in July, 2007.

Several producers also offer Radeon X1900-series graphics cards for AGP.



http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/video/display/20070521054545.html

redcolours
05-21-2007, 07:40 PM
wow.
i guess theres still A LOT of us AGP users still clinging to the old machines...

zippyjuan
05-21-2007, 10:36 PM
Graphics cards sales have been dropping- they probably don't want to eleminate any potential customers. Seems like a lot of gaming (the main reason for a better graphics card) is shifting to the consoles for now.

Airencracken
05-21-2007, 11:37 PM
I'd think that the processor in a motherboard lacking a PCI-e slot wouldn't be up to the task of DX10 games. Huh.

Jeffbx
05-22-2007, 05:19 AM
A 3.4GHz P4 will still carry some heavy processing tasks - I'm counting on mine lasting at least another year or 2.

mcs328
05-22-2007, 06:37 AM
Still running agp over here for 6 years +.

DarkFury
05-22-2007, 06:42 AM
wow.
i guess theres still A LOT of us AGP users still clinging to the old machines...
Yup... exactly!!!

Though it is very tempting to upgrade to a newer PCI Express system, the cost of doing so versus the current ability of my older rig to continue playing today's games just keeps me at a standstill.

I'm sure I'm not alone in this. Hopefully nVidia will do the same eventually.

DarkFury
05-22-2007, 06:45 AM
Graphics cards sales have been dropping- they probably don't want to eleminate any potential customers. Seems like a lot of gaming (the main reason for a better graphics card) is shifting to the consoles for now.
Yet and still... for those who have dropped the PC for console, they will miss out on the joy of the MMOG genre of games.

Consoles have a strong foothold, but they haven't knocked the PC out yet as far as gaming goes. :2far:

shocky123
05-22-2007, 12:21 PM
my 939 chipset runs AGP graphics and can run with most all other AMD chips, its not a cpu limited thing at all..

I just dont have the money to sport new DDR2 + motherboard + CPU + PCI-E card and still maintain all the features my old system has had for years

Although to be honest, there isnt really a point to upgrading to a DX10 card, I wont be installing vista anytime soon. I'll be not using vista much longer than I will keep my current system