Following the likes of Sapphire, HIS, and PowerColor, XFX unveiled a Radeon HD 4600 series accelerator based on ye olde AGP-8X interface, its first ATI GPU based graphics card on the interface. The XFX Radeon HD 4650 sticks to the trademark XFX-ATI color scheme, with a black PCB and heatsink, with red-colored connectors. The cooler design confines the card to a single-slot space, and consists of a fan nested into the heatsink.

The card features 320 stream processors, a GPU clock speed of 600 MHz, and 128-bit DDR2 memory running at 800 MHz. It comes in two variants: 512 MB and 1 GB. The usual output configuration of dual DVI-D and HDTV connectors is in place. The latest Radeon HD 4000 series feature-set is in place, including DirectX 10.1 support, UVD 2.0, and AvivoHD. The 1 GB variant is priced at US $90, so expect the 512 MB one to be priced lower.

Sapphire announced its first Radeon HD 4000 series accelerator designed for the legacy AGP-8X interface. Available in 512 MB and 1 GB variants, the Sapphire HD 4650 AGP uses the RV730 GPU clocked at 600 MHz, with the 128-bit DDR2 memory at 800 MHz. It uses a single-slot design, with a simple fan-heatsink for the GPU. A peculiar part about the PCB design is its 6-pin PCI-E power input. Hopefully a Molex cable tides over this. Outputs are care of two DVI-D and a composite connector. The cards have started being listed on online stores, priced at 72 Euro. This card isn't the first of its kind, with PowerColor having recently announced a similar accelerator.

ATI partners continue to show love to AGP users. HIS and PowerColor in particular, have been planning AGP graphics cards based on mid-range, current-generation Radeon HD 4000 series GPUs for a while now. It looks HIS is the first one to materialise them, with the HIS HD 4670 IceQ AGP. The company came up with another of its IceQ series designs, sporting the iconic IceQ cooler, and the blue PCB. The graphics card holds all the more importance to AGP platform users, as the Radeon HD 4670 packs 7.1 channel HDCP compliant audio passed over HDMI.

The card uses the AGP-8X interface. It draws auxiliary power from a 4-pin Molex connector. Under the hood is a Radeon HD 4670 GPU clocked at 750 MHz, with 1 GB of GDDR3 memory over a 128-bit interface, clocked at 873 MHz (1746 MHz DDR). Output is care of a DVI, D-Sub, and audio-routed HDMI. It is priced at US $129.99 on Amazon, with an optional rebate sending it down to $119.99.

Apparently there is still a huge number of AGP users that want to upgrade their graphics, yet are not willing to invest in a new system with PCI-Express support. PowerColor has listened to those requests and has now announced the PowerColor HD 4670 AGP PCS which is going to be the fastest card available for this dying interface.The cornerstone specs are 1 GB GDDR3, 128 bit memory interface, 750 MHz core, 800 MHz memory.

If you still feel some love for your old AGP platform, GIGABYTE's new Radeon HD 4650 AGP edition video card might be the best present for it. Named GV-R465D2-1GI, the card has 1 GB GDDR2 memory, 128-bit memory interface, supports Microsoft DirectX 10.1/OpenGL 2.1 and the AGP 8x standard. The card is even suitable for older media PCs as it features ATI's Avivo HD technology and Dual-Link DVI-I, analog D-SUB and a single HDMI outputs. Now the bad news, the GV-R465D2-1GI is still missing from GIGABYTE's official page as their product. There's no word on pricing and availability date either.

ATI looks to be still in the mood to cater to the dying breed of AGP motherboard users. A Radeon HD 4770 graphics card made by PowerColor surfaced on Amazon.com (model: 1A1-G000004992), that boasts of support for the AGP interface, although a picture of the PCI-E variant accompanies it. The store claims it to be in stock, and priced at US $99, although PowerColor's website has no trace of it. We are in the process of finding out more about this card.

If indeed PowerColor made such a card, AGP users have something to rejoice: the fastest AGP accelerator, one that puts them into the current-generation of GPUs. The card features 640 stream processors, is DirectX 10.1 compliant, and features 512 MB of GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit memory interface. Until now, the fastest AGP card from ATI is the Radeon HD 3850 AGP.

Update (05/13): PowerColor responded to this article saying that the product is falsely advertised, and that the company neither has an HD 4770 AGP accelerator, nor is it currently in the works. In the course of the conversation however, the company disclosed that it is working on products based on the Radeon HD 4600 series (HD 4650, HD 4670) that are AGP-compatible.

If you're still one of the few owners of an old AGP video card made by BFG Tech, here's what. As of today, BFG Tech is offering those AGP owners to trade in their current working AGP BFG graphics card for a BFG PCI Express graphics card. BFG only requires your BFG AGP card to come in good, working condition, and they'll send the PCI-E equivalent at no cost to you. If you want to upgrade to an even better performing card, add $50 and you have it. Please note, that the offer is for U.S. customers only. The chart below shows BFG AGP cards and their closest PCI Express equivalent. Find more information here.

Admittedly HIS isn't the first company to launch an AGP HD 3850 (SAPPHIRE, PowerColor and GECUBE already have, possibly others), but it is refreshing for any users still running an AGP platform to see new cards being released. HIS has introduced two versions of its AGP HD 3850 - a standard version running at reference speeds and an IceQ 3 Turbo version overclocked from 668MHz to 720MHz core frequency and 1656MHz to 1820MHz memory. Both feature 512MB GDDR3 memory and use the AGP 8X interface. The cards come equipped with all the standard HD 3850 features that you would expect, such as DirectX 10.1 support and AVIVO, although pricing is not listed on HIS' website. It's slightly surprising to see AGP models still being released, as you would have thought most people that are likely to upgrade to a card like this would already have a PCI-Express motherboard, but HIS obviously thinks there is still a market for these cards.

GECUBE today announced the best ever performance levels for systems using the industry standard AGP bus, an exciting new series of Radeon HD3850 utilizing 256-bit 512MB GDDR3 memory, combining the latest graphics architectures with Unified Shader support for Shader Model 4.0 and the forthcoming DirectX 10.1, high performance and exceptional value for your money.

Just like SAPPHIRE in the previous news story, PowerColor has launched an AGP version of the Radeon HD 3850 graphics card, continuing its support for the industry's old standard. The card is listed as featuring 512MB of 256-bit GDDR3 memory running at 828MHz (1656MHz DDR), with a core clock speed of 668MHz. As with all other HD 3850 cards, it supports DirectX 10.1 and Shader Model 4.1, and should be available immediately.

SAPPHIRE Technology has just announced support for legacy PC systems using the AGP graphics bus with a new product in its HD 3000 series which brings the latest graphics architectures and features to this industry standard platform.

The SAPPHIRE HD 3850 AGP is available with 512MB of GDDR3 memory, running at 846MHz (1.7GHz effective) and has a core clock speed of 700MHz. It is a standard ATX format card, compatible with the industry standard AGP interface and with its slim fan assisted cooler the card occupies only a single expansion slot in the PC.

To be able to stand out among the crowd in the PC industry is not easy, but ASRock had successfully made its name in the market by its 3C concepts - Considerate, Creative and Cost-effectiveness. Once again, ASRock is ahead of its peers, the first one to release Socket AM2 motherboard based on NVIDIA M1695 and nForce3 250 chipsets. ALiveDual-eSATA2, is a "Dual" series motherboard that is scalable and full-functional. ALiveDual-eSATA2 is AMD LIVE! ready, designed with both PCI Express x16 and AGP 8X slots, SATA and SATAII connectors, eSATAII port and PCIE Gigabit LAN functions. Most of all, this motherboard supports the coming-soon AMD Phenom X4 / X2 CPU!

HIS unleashed today the HD 2600XT 256MB/512MB GDDR3 AGP card, the world's first and only HDMI AGP card based on the ATI Radeon HD 2600XT GPU. HIS Radeon HD 2600XT GDDR3 features special cooling with single-slot-design cooling fan (generate noise less than 20dB), core speed of 800MHz, and 256 or 512MB GDDR3 memory clocked at 1,400MHz. The full product specs can be seen here.

First to bring the latest AMD graphics architectures to the industry standard AGP bus for desktop graphics, leading supplier Sapphire Technology is now shipping AGP versions of several of its HD 2000 series products. First to be available is the Sapphire HD 2600 PRO AGP which will be shortly followed by the XT version and HD 2400 models.

Video card manufacturer GECUBE unveiled yesterday its AGP 8X version of ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro. Codenamed GC-RX24PGA2-D3, the new RV610-powered card boasts 256MB of DDR2 memory, native DirectX 10/Shader Model 4.0 support and ATI's Universal Video Decoder. The card is already starting to hit the stores and costs a little under 65 Euros. GECUBE is also expected to introduce 512MB version of the card.

AMD/ATI is preparing to launch ATI Radeon HD 2000-series graphics cards for accelerated graphics port (AGP). As a matter of fact two of the main ATI partners, Sapphire Technologies and GeCube have already started to sell them. GeCube GC-RX24PGA2-D3 graphics card based on ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro graphics processing unit (GPU) and with 256MB of GDDR2 memory onboard is currently available in some Tokyo, Japan stores, according to Akiba PC Hotline website. The novelty costs ¥11480 (about $95) and provides a very cost-efficient upgrade path for personal computers built three or more years ago. The Radeon HD 2400 Pro is fully compatible with DirectX 10 application programming interface, can drive large high-resolution displays and also features an advanced video engine. Apart from GeCube and Sapphire, Tul Corp. is also preparing ATI Radeon HD 2400- and 2600-series graphics cards for AGP systems under the PowerColor brand.

At the CeBIT the guys from the PC Games magazin interviewed ATIs Vijay Sharma and because of their tight schedule just focused on a single story first. Sharma said the R600 will be compatible to the AGP to PCIe bridge called Rialto, which means that Add-In-Board (AIB) Partners could manufacture AGP cards based on the R600 family (R600/RV610/RV630).
Now the complete interview was released to the public which is none the less a very informativ read. Head over here if you want to know more about the upcoming R600 family, DX10 and drivers, new Antialiasing modes, memory interfaces and stuff like that.

At CeBIT, GECUBE demonstrated what it claims to be the fastest AGP board to date, the GC-HX195XTGA3-D3.

This board is based on a fully-fledged R580+ GPU, marketed as the Radeon X1950XT. However, the GPU clock has been changed from the default 625MHz to 648MHz. ATI Overdrive is supported, and this option in the Catalyst driver will increase clock all the way to 675MHz. The card uses 256MB of GDDR3 memory. Product manager Jeff Fu said the firm "will not abandon AGP users".

GECUBE also proudly announced what will make many AGP users very happy: AGP DX10.

ATI's Vijay Sharma (Director of ATI's Desktop Discrete Products) was interviewed by PC Games Hardware and he said the whole R600 lineup will be compatible to the PCIe-to-AGP bridge 'Rialto'.
NVIDIA's Product PR Manager Jens Neuschäfer on the other hand told them there will be no future AGP cards made by NVIDIA. At least as long as there isn't an OEM with a sufficient demand.PC Games Hardware 1 and PC Games Hardware 2

As it turns out AGP is not quite dead like many people (obviously PCI-E users) claim. If you check our news since the 1st of February we reported five times about the neverending AGP-story. Three of the reports were related to new AGP cards from ATI released to the market. Now it's NVIDIA's turn and they hit the undying AGP crowd with the successor of the 7800GS and another, even faster card.
The Germans from 3DCenter.de found out that with the latest NVIDIA Forceware 101.41 Beta driver you not only get problems when trying to run Doom 3 and Battlefield 2142 under Vista but NVIDIA is disclosing the upcoming 7900GS and 7950GT GeForce cards with it.
But the best part of the story is that at least a 7950GT card from XFX is already listed at a pricewatcher for a mere 226 Euros. Of course it's not in stock yet but surely not far from really being around.

Sad news for all AGP based motherboard owners (including myself) if it turns out to be true. The VR Zone is reporting that on the basis of their foundings NVIDIA won't develop a new AGP chip. The reason is that the G80 'simply' can't support it (though a bridge chip should implement the required compatibility if you ask me). That leads us all to hope for a R600 solution it seems.

According to "the the most reliable source on earth", NVIDIA plans to introduce a DirectX10 and AGP compatible graphics chip in April of this year. The G84 AGP will be pin-compatible to the GeForce 7600 GPU, so it should not be that complicated to build a graphics card around it.

Palit Microsystems, today excitingly announced the most high-end AGP graphics card: X1950GT Super 512MB AGP, designed exclusively for AGP platform PC enthusiasts and hard core gamers. Palit X1950GT AGP has 512MB of GDDR3 super size memory with 256-bit memory interface, 36 pixel shader processors and RV570 GPU clocked at 500MHz. The card is also Windows Vista Premium compatible, as you may guess. Other features like ATI Avivo technology and Dual-link DVI connectivity are also presented.

TUL Corporation, today announced the PowerColor X1550 in PCI-E, AGP and Silent Cooling System (SCS) variations. These models replace the X1300 brand in an effort to re-emphasize the complete support of AMD/ATI-based graphic cards for Windows Vista platform; particularly for the entry level segment. PowerColor's X1550 comes with a factory overclocked core of 600MHz, with memory speed of 400MHz (800MHz effective) and 256MB of DDR2 RAM. As with the entire X1K series, PowerColor X1550 is CrossFire ready and supports DirectX 9c, Open GL 2.0 and Shader Model 3.0; enabling anti-aliasing with HDR. Click here to read the full story.

HIS has taken the 80nm core in the X1650XT, placed an IceQ Turbo cooler on top, and factory overclocked it to 630MHz core and 1.46GHz memory. It comes with up to 512MB of 128 bit GDDR3, 24 pixel pipelines. It also supports AVIVO, simultaneous AntiAliasing and HDR lighting, and Shader Model 3, all very nice features for anyone looking to upgrade an old AGP based computer.