With XP, you've got the choice of those later buggy PCIe->AGP bridged cards that support DX10 but still function ok for DX9 on XP. AGP4x is not going to have the 'best XP card'.
However if you're dualbooting with 98, you have to stick with the limits of what that supports.

leileilol wrote:

With XP, you've got the choice of those later buggy PCIe->AGP bridged cards that support DX10 but still function ok for DX9 on XP. AGP4x is not going to have the 'best XP card'.
However if you're dualbooting with 98, you have to stick with the limits of what that supports.

It also works with 8x. (I presume.).
Then what's the best AGP card for 98?

x1950 Pro 512MB gets my vote. Yes, it uses a bridge chip, but I haven't had a single problem with it. It has been a completely stable and high performer in everything from a VIA 694T-based PIII-S system up to an nForce 3 Athlon 64. Works great in Intel chipsetted systems too.

I used to have an Radeon HD3850, but it wasn't nearly as trouble-free as the x1950Pro. I also have a GeForce 7800GS, and while this card's fine in nForce and Intel based systems, it suffers from very poor 2D performance and somewhat wacky 3D on most VIA boards.

So yeah. x1950 Pro. Not sure if it'll work with Win98 though. AMD doesn't provide Win98 drivers for this card, but perhaps there are unofficial drivers? Someone here will know. 😀

Anymore cards?

Radeon 9800Pro/XT and FX5950 get my vote. What system do you have? Does the CPU have enough power for the best AGP cards?

It depends on the rest of the system - how much memory, what CPU, what PSU, what kind of case cooling, etc do you have? What does the card need to run - "best" is relative...

There's no real performance difference between AGP 4x and 8x in most cases, so any 4x/8x card should suitable. You won't get DX10 in 98/XP so I wouldn't worry about that either. Cards I'd start looking at:

Native AGP cards:
- GeForce 4 Ti and FX and 6800
- Radeon 9 series (R300 based)

Bridged cards:
- GeForce 6600 and 7600/7800
- Radeon X1600 and X1900

But if you just need solid DX7/8 acceleration for games from say, 2002 and older, none of these make sense (they're all massive overkill unless you need huge resolutions); get a GeForce 3 Ti (for ~$15) or somthing similar and be done with it.

RacoonRider wrote:

Radeon 9800Pro/XT and FX5950 get my vote. What system do you have? Does the CPU have enough power for the best AGP cards?

My CPU is 2.8 Ghz.
The FX5950 looks like a really good card. Leaning towards it at the moment.

The fastest AGP card available is the Radeon 4670. They are uncommon, expensive, take up at least two slots, and use a lot of power.

The fastest NVIDIA AGP card is the 7950GT. There is no Win98 compatibility with this card. There are also some reports of premature failures.

(I've been running a 7900GS AGP card in WinXP for a couple years now without any problems.)

The fastest AGP card that will work with Win98 is the GeForce 6800 Ultra. If you need a VGA connection and don't want to bother with DVI-VGA adapters, then you'll want a 6800GT. Unless you're running a fast P4 or Athlon 64, then the GF6 6800s are really overkill.

For best performance and compatibility in Win98, you'll want a GeForce FX 5950 Ultra. Unless you're running at least an Athlon XP 2100+ or a mid-range P4, then this is overkill as well. Better to just get an FX 5900 Ultra and save on your power bill. The 5900 also runs a bit cooler.

The GF4 Ti4600 is also a great card and matches the Win98SE time period much better. It will have similar performance to the FX 5900 cards, but the FX cards will allow better AA. This is also a DX8 card.

The Radeon 9800XT is the fastest ATI card that will work with Win98. It offers somewhat faster performance than the FX 5950 Ultra.

The Radeon 9600XT compares to the GF4 Ti4600. It is slightly faster than the GF4 Ti4600 in DX9 games and benchmarks.

I've never had much luck with the Radeon cards in Win98. IME, the drivers are just flaky and unreliable. In WinXP, they're mostly stable until you start playing games. Some games just don't want to work right with the Radeon cards. For example, I've never been able to get American McGee's Alice to work with my 9800XT or 9600XT cards.

For your P4 2.8Ghz system, I recommend the GF6 6800 Ultra or 6800GT. That is, unless you plan on playing Final Fantasy VII or VIII, Splinter Cell, or European Air War. There are potential incompatibility problems with these games and the GF6 series cards. If you plan on playing those games, get the FX series card.

(I can confirm problems with EAW and my 6800GT in Win98SE. I haven't tried those other titles.)

I think my favorite Win98 card is probably the GF4 Ti4600 with v45.23 drivers. It's fast and completely trouble-free.

I am in fact wanting to play Splinter Cell. That's why I am aiming towards the FX.
The 4760 looks good too. I have 2 spare slots open + the AGP one. But another reason I want the FX because I don't like AMDs drivers much.

MrEWhite wrote:

I am in fact wanting to play Splinter Cell. That's why I am aiming towards the FX.
The 4760 looks good too. I have 2 spare slots open + the AGP one. But another reason I want the FX because I don't like AMDs drivers much.

For Splinter Cell:
Read the huge thread; then get a GeForce 4 Ti. 😎

Do note that the GeForce 4 is not a DX9 card; it does not support DX9 and cannot be compared to the 9600XT (or any other DX9 card) in such games/benchmarks because it simply cannot run them. Many early DX9 games (like Half-Life 2) have a DX8 render-path that it can use though. 😀

MrEWhite wrote:

I am in fact wanting to play Splinter Cell. That's why I am aiming towards the FX.
The 4760 looks good too. I have 2 spare slots open + the AGP one. But another reason I want the FX because I don't like AMDs drivers much.

Then you should be wanting a Ti 4x00 card, it has a special shadow casting tech actively used by Splinter Cell and featured by no other cards. There's a video on the topic somewhere on youtube made by Mau1wurf.

RacoonRider wrote:

MrEWhite wrote:

I am in fact wanting to play Splinter Cell. That's why I am aiming towards the FX.
The 4760 looks good too. I have 2 spare slots open + the AGP one. But another reason I want the FX because I don't like AMDs drivers much.

Then you should be wanting a Ti 4x00 card, it has a special shadow casting tech actively used by Splinter Cell and featured by no other cards. There's a video on the topic somewhere on youtube made by Mau1wurf.

I thought it was all 3's, 4's, and FXs 😕

Here you go YT Video: Building a retro gaming PC for Splinter Cell!
Read the whole thread before you make up your mind 😉

MrEWhite wrote:

I thought it was all 3's, 4's, and FXs 😕

It's technically NV2x which includes GeForce 3 and 3 Ti, and GeForce 4 Ti (GeForce 4 MX is NV1x based). The FX 5800 Ultra (NV30) can draw it, but has a few less-than-perfect moments; NV35+ FXs seem to have more issues. The thread never reached consensus on why the FX 5500 seemed to work. Driver choice also seemed to play a role. It's a pretty safe bet to go with GF4 Ti if you want to ensure the advanced shadowing feature works, and the highest possible performance.

Of course if you don't care about the advanced shadow feature (it is NOT required to play the game; it defaults "off" on most systems and that doesn't look bad at all), you can get whatever you want from the DX8+ club that has sufficient performance to handle whatever resolution/IQ settings you want. GeForce 4 Ti is still a good candidate for that, which makes it an easy suggestion unless you need higher performance and/or DX9 feature support.

Gainward 6800GS AGP with NV42 is not an true AGP chip?

Stojke wrote:

Gainward 6800GS AGP with NV42 is not an true AGP chip?

Correct - it's a PCIe native NV4x with a bridge for AGP connectivity. At least that's always what I've understood it to be. 😊

That sucks. One guy is selling that AGP card boxed (Never used).
I was thinking of buying and unlocking it.

Stojke wrote:

That sucks. One guy is selling that AGP card boxed (Never used).
I was thinking of buying and unlocking it.

If Wikipedia is to be believed, the NV42 cards cannot be unlocked, because there is nothing there to be unlocked. 😊 (But I also know that Gainward tended to label things oddly to get around OEM limitations, like they have a card that's sold as 7800GS but in reality it's more like a 7900GT).

I didn't know Gainward hid things under the hood 😀
GPU-Z program reports that this is an NV42 chip. Can software be fooled that easily? (installing an NV40 chip and modifying the identifier)