This is GREAT news and TERRIBLE news to me all at the same time.... take a read:
X1800 available in AGP version too
Don't throw out your old kit yet
By Theo Valich: Monday 14 November 2005, 06:38
ALTOUGH BOTH Nvidia and ATI decided to give AGP owners the boot with their last generation products, some companies aren't comfortable with the lack of options and are swimming against the stream. One of those companies is a resurrected creature from the very beginning of the 3D era, Diamond Multimedia.
The company announced its X1800 product, available for both PCI Express and AGP 8x slots. Specifications are scarce, and there were no clock speed information at press time.
It's obvious that the custom-built PCB features RIALTo PCIe-to-AGP bridge chip, and only makes us wonder why no single vendor stepped up and offered 7800GT(X) on a custom PCB with nVIDIA's own BR02 bridge chip.
Ah, it seems that ATI tech has the edge on innovation these days, since most of Nvidia's boards are twins coming out from the same fab and AIB's don't do much other than slap the sticker on the cooler.
The board features 256MB of DDR memory and spots a fully-featured R520 chip, so it sounds like AGP owners could be in for one heck of an upgrade.
Unlike PCI Express version, AGP version features both video in and video out connectors (VIVO), but the company does not specify is the AVIVO marchitecture supported - no spec for the VIVO chip, but it's probably ATI's own Rage Theatre.
You should expect the board to be available sometimes during this month.
Its great that I get next gen performance on meh AGP rig... however it absolutely HORRIFIC news for meh wallet... *sighs* reminds me of the BIOS upgrade they have for meh mobo to support X2's.... and I was thinking I had No upgrade path on this rig and could like a 2-3 yrs.. *sighs* ah well *wintry runs off to sell liver*
