Best AGP Video Card

Technology is steadily evolving to provide computer game aficionados, with an even more enthralling gaming experience. With every passing day, as animation technology gets better, game developers are offering a more realistic and life like gaming experience. However, to enjoy these new 3D gaming experiences you need the right video card installed on your computer. AGP video cards are one of the many technologies that evolved to serve this need. Although, these cards have been surpassed by the PCI express video cards, people who have old computers still prefer AGP video cards, as they can give a good enough performance. This article points out the best AGP video cards, still available on the market.

What is AGP Technology?
Before we talk about the best AGP video card available in the market today, let us have a look at what is AGP technology and what are the advantages that it offers. AGP is acronym for 'Accelerated Graphics Port'. AGP is a kind of high speed channel, developed for connecting a video card to a computer motherboard. Video cards that are compatible with AGP channels are called AGP video cards. The AGP technology was specifically developed to make the rendering of 3D computer graphics possible. One could say that they were expressly developed for gaming applications. Compared to old PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) based cards, AGP offered higher speed due to its dedicated pathway, directly leading to the CPU. In short AGP was a dedicated bus, specifically designed for graphics adapters. AGP video cards offer great performance, when it comes to rendering complex geometries and fast switching to newer scenes in real time. AGP cards have been phased out progressively since 2004, by the new PCI express cards, but there are quite a few good AGP card options available for users who are still using AGP compatible motherboards in their personal desktop computers. In the next section, I list the best AGP video cards on offer, which you can choose from. Know how to upgrade graphics card.

Best AGP Video Cards In the Market
The things to look out for, when buying an AGP video card are the memory bandwidth. This bandwidth decides the speed of communication between the graphics processing unit and the graphics memory. Second thing to look out for is the memory size of the graphics card. It is an important parameter, as more the memory size, more is the speed at which it works. Typical memory sizes of AGP cards fall in the range of 256 MB to 1GB. The other things to look out for are the hardware compatibility issues. I cannot tell you specifically which would be the best AGP video card for Windows 7 or which is the best AGP video card for 'World of Warcraft'. Most AGP video cards work well for graphic intensive games and operating system compatibility is not an issue, if you have the right driver software and adequate RAM. Let us have a look at three of the best AGP video cards available in the market.

Best AGP Video Card #1: Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 512MB AGP
The Sapphire Radeon HD 385O is the best of the lot, with superior performance even on higher resolutions like 1680x1050. It has a 256 bit memory bus along with 512MB of GDDR3 VRAM. The combination provides for a smooth gaming experience. With a price tag of around $100, it is a good choice for a video card.

Best AGP Video Card #2: Diamond ATI Radeon HD 4650 AGP Video Card
This is a 4-series AMD graphics card based on an AGP bus and the only one of its kind. It comes with a 128 bit memory bus and GDDR3 memory. It consumes lesser amount of power and generates lesser amount of heat. It can easily play the latest Blu-Ray and HD-DVD quality videos. Priced little over $100, it is a good video card for medium resolutions and budget gaming!

Best AGP Video Card #3: Asus Radeon HD 3650 AGP Video Card
The Asus Radeon HD 3650 has a passively cooled graphics processor, which makes it a 'silent' performer. With a 512MB on-board memory and HDMI output support, this AGP video card is good for anybody who plays old kind of games, which are not that graphic intensive and is good enough for regular rendering of video applications.

So, these were some of the best AGP video cards that you can choose from. When it comes to graphic intensive 3D gaming, one always wants more, in terms of video card performance. However, if you want to stick to the venerable AGP technology, the video cards listed above are some of the best that it can offer.