Gaming Video Card?...

[iShadowcat]

My system is fairly old compared to today's standards, I'm running the following


A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard (w/400mhz FSB support)
Athlon XP 2600+
120GB 7200RPM HDD
52x24x52 CD-RW (1)
16x DVD-ROM drive (1)
GeForce FX5200 256MB
Soundblaster Audigy 2 Platinum


And I'm using Windows XP Professional for the OS...now to my point :)


I've been a little out of touch over the past few years of computing, I had a GeForce 4 Ti4600 right up until the day it died. I bought another 512 stick of DDR RAM because of the new high end games that are out. What I'm looking for is a moderately priced (I'll go as high as mid $300's), AGP video card that could handle the games I play...that being Battlefield 2, Half Life 2 (CSS), Doom 3 (And it's Expansion), Final Fantasy 11 (And it's Expansion), and World of Warcraft...and if you have time after finding one, or took the time to read down to here, what's the deal with PCI Express? And why is AGP being phased out? And why does PCI Express looks like it takes up two slots?

[DigitalJunkie]

I got the ATI X850 XT 256MB AGP, it's not exactly like PCI Express but probabaly the best you can get right now for AGP without upgrading! It's close to your price range, but if you wait you can get it cheaper. :)

http://www.ati.com/buy/pricespcusa.html

[Malakai1911]

Yeah, or if you want a sensable gaming card, the XFX GeForce 6600 (128MB, AGP) is a really solid choice.

[wonderboy2005]

Yeah, or if you want a sensable gaming card, the XFX GeForce 6600 (128MB, AGP) is a really solid choice.
The 6600GT cards are nice. Thats what I have. They are relatively cheap (~$150) and offer good performance. I'd be skeptical if you'd see much more performance out of an ATI X850 simply because of your processor and FSB.

[Lehk]

i'm still using my 2002 radeon 9700 pro 128meg card, I don't know about the nVidia side of things but the radeon 9800 is a nice card, and it'll do ya for half what you are looking to pay

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=902995/search=radeon+9800

[Malakai1911]

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2277&p=3

"Under Doom 3, the 6600GT performs at a minimum of 27% faster than the 9800 Pro at the lowest resolution we tested. Ramping up in resolution only widened the gap between the cards. The 6600GT remains playable all the way through our testing, while the 9800 Pro falls to less than half the 6600GT's frame rate at our highest resolution. Not only is this generation's midrange card outperforming a top of the line card from last year, but technologically and dollar for dollar this 6600GT is the very clear winner here as well." (emphasis added)

ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB AGP
Pricegrabber - Price range: $134.00 - $269.95 from 37 Sellers

XFX nVidia GeForce 6600GT 128MB AGP
Pricegrabber - Price range: $179.99 - $247.49 from 24 Sellers

At the low range, the 6600 is about $45 more... but the performance justifies the cost.