[marko]

i have a need to get rid of my x800pro because it is locking up my system when being used on the highest specs in fear
i need an agp card and im on an old 2.8ghz northwood and 2gb of ram
so i know there is a bottleneck issue so i look at the slightly older cards which would not be as bottlenecked
but the newest agp the hd3850 and hd 4650 come up cheaper than say the x1950 pro
so i figure i want directx 10 support for no other reason than to just have it
so im chosing between hd3850 and hd4650 and with the bottleneck issue in mind would i notice any difference in graphical quality on the newer hd4650 which is slightly more expensive
thanks

[bry4n3]

AGP? They're outdated. Does your mobo have PCI-E? I suggest you going for a PCI-E instead of an AGP because it just doesn't worth.

[xactly]

Originally Posted by bry4n3

AGP? They're outdated. Does your mobo have PCI-E? I suggest you going for a PCI-E instead of an AGP because it just doesn't worth.

agreed performance on AGP cards are crap, not because of the socket but because of the crap cards that use that socket, P4 will be a bottleneck for a modern PCI-E card so it looks like a complete rebuild is in order, Christmas is nearly around the corner.

TO answer your original question, no there will be no difference in graphical quality however there will be a difference in framerate. The 3850 is quite a bit, but not a lot better than the 4650, plus the 3850 requires a 6-pin power conector if your PSU has that, or you can get a molex to 6pin adapter. DX10 on a mid range GPU is crap for performance it should by law not be put on any mid range GPU it seems its an advertising gimmick.So yeah 3850 reccomended.