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BFG offering free PCI-E upgrades for AGP cards
Owners of BFG AGP GeForce 6800, 7600 and 7800 cards can get a free upgrade to a PCI-E GeForce 9-series card in the US, and hopefully in the UK soon
Suffering a cruel fate after the quick introduction of PCI-E motherboards, we never really got to see the true potential of the age-old AGP interface. While you can still get Radeon HD 3850 cards based on the ancient graphics port, it’s fair to say that AGP will shortly be joining the ISA slot in motherboard heaven. However, in order to ease the upgrade process for owners of AGP cards, BFG is kindly offering a free PCI-E graphics card to owners of its AGP cards.
The idea is that you send BFG your old AGP card, and the company will send you back a current PCI-E ‘equivalent’ card in return, or you can pay an extra $50 US and get an upgrade. The offers are pretty reasonable too, with old DirectX 9 GeForce 6800 GS cards being replaced with DirectX 10 GeForce 9600 GT cards for free, or 9800 GT cards for an extra $50.
Currently, the offer is only available in the US, but BFG’s European marketing manager, Graham Brown, told Custom PC that the company is currently 'looking at ways to make it work' in Europe and the UK. 'Since AGP is basically a dead format,' says Brown, 'we’d like to get as many people over to PCI-E as possible.'
'By doing this promotion,' explains Brown, 'we hope that in the future, when these customers need to upgrade their graphics and power supplies again, they’ll choose BFG Tech. Of course, this offer makes the most sense for customers who are planning to spend the money to upgrade the rest of their system to PCI-E, or build or buy a PCI-E-based system, now or in the near future.'
You can see the full list of available offers in the table below, and visit BFG’s website if you want to claim your free PCI-E graphics card. Let's hope that the offer will soon be open to the UK as well as the US.
| AGP card | Free PCI-E upgrade |
$50 US PCI-E upgrade |
|---|---|---|
| 512MB GeForce 7600 GS OC |
1GB GeForce 9500 GT OC |
512MB GeForce 9600 GT OC |
| 128MB GeForce 6800 GS OC |
512MB GeForce 9600 GT OC |
512MB GeForce 9800 GT OC |
| 256MB GeForce 6800 GT OC |
512MB GeForce 9600 GT OC | 512MB GeForce 9800 GT OC |
| 256MB GeForce 6800 Ultra OC |
512MB GeForce 9600 GT OC | 512MB GeForce 9800 GT OC |
| 256MB GeForce 7800 GS OC |
512MB GeForce 9600 GT OC | 512MB GeForce 9800 GT OC |
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you can build a cheap fast 775 c2d pc with a cheap E2180 DDR2 is so cheap its unreal you can get a mobo ram cpu here for 120-130 so in usa its prolly cheaper so i think its a good thing and its near xmas nice one BFG
Comment by damafia at 2:40pm 29th November 2008
You will practically have to rebuild the system since most mobos do not have both agp and pci-e. If you can afford to do this you can get a GPU. If they would do the offer correct they would get you a mobo too or a discount on one. Not just offer the card. Sounds pretty stupid and some people will just get the new card and have one big ID10T error. Hope they idiot proof this one so BFG doesn't take the heat.
Comment by princessptfo at 10:59am 29th November 2008
You will practically have to rebuild the system since most mobos do not have both agp and pci-e. If you can afford to do this you can get a GPU. If they would do the offer correct they would get you a mobo too or a discount on one. Not just offer the card. Sounds pretty stupid and some people will just get the new card and have one big ID10T error. Hope they idiot proof this one so BFG doesn't take the heat.
Comment by princessptfo at 10:57am 29th November 2008
have to pay for the card to be delivered?!
Comment by Lightning_Pete at 10:48am 27th November 2008
I bought 2 x BFG GTX 280 Cards and after a few weeks got an email from BFG offering me £50 back on each of them due to huge changes in price since I bought them. The thing was I had got them for £250 each off ebay but BFG STILL refunded me the money!!! I think their service is AWESOME....and I for one, will DEFINATELY buy their products in the future!
Comment by CrimeBall at 3:54pm 26th November 2008
This offer seems great however, wouldn't people now just ebay these cards and upgrade them... or do you think that they would require some sort of invoice or proof of purchace. I've currently got a ATI X1800 XT but thats great for me !
Comment by Miffers1 at 11:52am 26th November 2008
this is funny cause pc world still sell agp cards wonder if an old 128MB GeForce 6800 GS OC card from pc world is cheaper than a 512MB GeForce 9600 GT OC new or a 512MB GeForce 9800 GT OC with +£35. Didn't look at the prices but i still bet they dont work out cheaper. (Only in pc world for printer cartridges there not that bad for stuff like that under £20 for a HP set)
Comment by Cool_CR at 11:23pm 25th November 2008
that's a nice touch during this so called 'credit crunch', if only others would do the same. One prob with this is wouldn't you need to spend £ on a mobo upgrade to use PCI-E...with this in mind (& if i had one of the above cards) would mean an entire overhaul of my system - guess that's what i get for still running an Athlon XP + GF FX5700 combo!
Comment by jamest at 11:32pm 25th November 2008
Here's wishing sapphire do the same. I could afford a £50 upgrade, but not a £150... x1950 Pro AGP owner.
Comment by onnie at 10:14pm 25th November 2008
I'll hedge my bets and see if I can get and old AGP card on ebay for next to nowt, supper cheap upgrade. Not that I need one.
Comment by mega_bite at 10:10pm 25th November 2008
XFX please do this! I have an old 7800GS and god do i want a new card!
Comment by Daisuke at 10:13pm 25th November 2008
Great idea. Though I wouldn't say AGP is that outdated, I still wield an AGP system, as do many other people with older systems. My HD3850 has done me proud, being equivalent to an 8800GT, and I do not intend to change to PCI-E anytime soon. It's thanks to saviours ATi that AGP can still exist.
Comment by mitzy1002000 at 8:07pm 25th November 2008
nice idea but EVGA step up has been around for ages now. however its pretty good to see BFG are replacing the old AGP cards with much faster PCIe ones. if you have a 6800 and go to the offered 9600GT, then i suspect you will be incredibly happy. its at least twice as fast! nice
Comment by vulcanproject at 7:07pm 25th November 2008
I've got a 1950pro and a free upgrade would be very welcome
Comment by INeedAnXPS600Now at 6:36pm 25th November 2008
its a nice touch and a smart marketing ploy. personallyi wish now that my old agp cards in my other machines were bfg ones lol. if HIS did the same for their ATi cards i am pretty sure i would get a 4870 for my 1950 pro lol.
Comment by Bloodburgers at 5:21pm 25th November 2008
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