There's still an upgrade market for the AGP user. After all there's literally hundreds of millions of systems based upon the old standard still in use today. The 7800GS AGP Extreme Edition is positioned to take advantage of the fact that the last ATI AGP high-end card, the X850XT PE is still based upon SM 2.0. One thing that the card has going for it is the availability. The 6800 Ultra and 6800GT are barely available today in the market, being EOL. This leaves a big hole for the AGP user wanting PS 3.0 and VS 3.0 today.
Based upon early reviews it looks like the 7800GS AGP is only slightly more powerful than the last generation 6800 Ultra in today's games. With a MSRP of $379 and online e-tailors selling the 7800GS for $299, the 7800GS AGP is a worthy successor to the 6800GT. Only time will tell if the 7800GS AGP sells as well as NVIDIA hopes.
After spending some time with the card, it's clear the 7800GS is an excellent upgrade path for many users, especially if you have a modern CPU like an Athlon 4000+ or FX-57 to go along with it. The specifications are above that of the 6800 Ultra of last year, and at a MSRP of $349 and a online price of $299, the 7800GS does the job. If you have a older video card, such as a GeForce 5700 Ultra or ATI 9600 Pro, this card may be the perfect upgrade if you don't want to upgrade everything else.
One thing is clear about the 7800GS AGP Extreme Edition. Among the announced 7800GSs, this has the highest default core clock speed at 440MHz and highest memory speed at 1.3GHz. The performance and features are top of its class, with the only competition at the moment being ATI's old X850 series, or the older 6800 Ultra and GT series that are End Of Life and hard to find.
