PCI Express has been in full swing for a couple of years now, but there are plenty of users out there who have yet to make the transition from trusty old AGP. Fortunately, nVidia hasn't given up on this bus and has continued to release AGP versions of its chips that will be a perfect fit for ageing PCs.
The 7600 GS is the latest processor to get the full AGP treatment. In many respects, this is almost a direct translation from the PCI Express version, although it does require additional power – so you'll need a spare power plug on your PSU. Otherwise, you get the same 400MHz core and memory clock speeds as on the basic PCI Express model. You also get 12 pixel shader processors and (unfortunately) the same paltry 128bit memory interface.
The latter hampers the PCI Express versions of the 7600 GS and it has pretty much the same effect here, cutting memory bandwidth to a mere 12.8GBps (gigabytes per second). PNY has added an HDTV (high-definition television) cable to give you access to a range of video connectors, while a copy of the Swat 4 game is also bundled.
The 7600 GS's competitive performance compares well with that of its PCI Express counterpart, which is to say that it just squeezes ahead of the older 6600 cards, while struggling to keep up with the 7600 GT. The latter's superior core and memory clock speeds are enough to give it a significant double-figures lead in most of the games we tried.
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