BFG Tech GeForce 7800 GS OC AGP

Upgrade Path

Having established that the GeForce 7800 GS AGP is faster than ATI's fastest AGP part, the next question to address is: should you buy one? BFG's card goes on sale this weekend priced at US$349.99 Stateside, and £240 inc vat in the UK, substantially higher than we speculated back in December.

When we thought the card might be a US$250 / £150 purchase, we had several readers in our Forums declare interest in buying such a card. However, with the final retail solution costing some 50% more, we need to take a step back and examine The Big Picture. For any current AGP card owner, there are essentially four possible upgrade paths, assuming you ignore a) keeping your current system and b) taking the opportunity to buy an entirely new system.

We have listed these paths below in order of least outlay to most expensive.

Option 1 - GeForce 7800 GS AGP

This is the option that NVIDIA and it's partners are hoping many users opt for. It represents the least investment and also the least hassle. No reinstalling of Windows; in fact, just a single screwdriver and a handful of minutes will see you on your way to smoother framerates and higher in-game detail.

Parts Required: BFG Tech GeForce 7800 GS AGP 256MB - £240
Total Cost: £240 inc vat

Option 2 - PCI Express motherboard and GeForce 7800 GT PCI-E

If you currently own an AMD Socket 939 processor of reasonable calibre and at least 1GB of RAM, this is primary alternative to buying a GeForce 7800 GT AGP card. By purchasing a mid-range nForce4 SLI PCI-Express motherboard and a GeForce 7800 GT PCI-E, you can simply bring across your existing processor and memory and experience an even bigger speed boost from the faster 7800 GT than by following Option 1 and prolonging your AGP system.

Parts Required:

• Leadtek 7800 GT 256MB PCI-E - £206
• ASUS A8N SLI S939 motherboard - £82

Total Cost: £288 inc vat

Option 3 - PCI Express motherboard, S939 Athlon 64 and GeForce 7800 GT PCI-E

If you have a Socket 754 AMD system, you're in a little bit of a bind. The only major component salvageable from this system is the memory, so you'd be up for a new processor, motherboard and PCI-E graphics card. You'll spend more money this way but at least you'll not only get the benefit of the 7800 GT, your new processor will be faster for the same money you paid last time. Or take the opportunity to go dual-core and buy an Athlon 64 X2.

Parts Required:

• Leadtek 7800 GT 256MB PCI-E - £206
• ASUS A8N SLI S939 motherboard - £82
• AMD Athlon 64 processor: 3700+ £160; X2 4200+ £258

Total Cost: £448 - 546 inc vat

Option 4 - Full Intel-based overhaul

Many people would say that anyone with an Intel-based AGP system wanting more in-game performance should just go out and buy an AMD-based system. If we assume for a minute that you have other reasons to run Intel in your gaming PC, the options are just two: buy a 7800 GS AGP or bin the entire system in favour of PCI-Express.

The reason is this is that Intel AGP systems are Socket 478 / DDR based whereas Intel's PCI-Express platform is Socket 775 with DDR2. You can salvage your hard drive and optical drives but all major components must be replaced to migrate to PCI-Express.

Parts Required:

• Leadtek 7800 GT 256MB PCI-E - £206
• Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI S775 motherboard - £76
• Intel Pentium 4 630 processor: 3.0GHz £123; Pentium 4 930 Dual Core 3.0GHz £241; 1GB Corsair ValueSelect DDR2 memory - £68

Total Cost: £473 - 591 inc vat