best AGP card for older system?

[nJett]

I'm trying to get a little more life out of my system until my budget allows for a full on upgrade to some sweet dual-cored monster - in the meantime though...

I currently have a LeadTek Ti4200 OC'd to ~Ti4600 levels. The system itself is:

Epox 8rda+
AthlonXP 1700+ @ ~1900+ levels (forgot the exact mhz, it's been more than a year since I've messed with the settings)
1gig of Corsair DDR @ 415mhz

Right now games like CS:S are barely playable with everything turned down.

My budget is very tight, preferably in the sub-$150 area. Is it worthwhile to get a 6800 or will it be too bottlenecked on my system? Is a 6600GT the better choice? What about the ATI side? I've avoided them in the past due to some bad experiences but it seems they are a lot better now...

Any help is much appreciated!

 

[BlacKJesuS]

Smile

 

[imported_Kiwi]

6600 GT, or 9800 XT.

 

[tuteja1986]

X800GTO , 6600GT :! well if you had pcie then you could have gotten a x850xt pe for $160USD :*( awesome deal i must say

 

[Fadey]

Right now games like CS:S are barely playable with everything turned down.

Um my old 2.53ghz p4 , 1 gig 333mhz ram and a ti 4200 ran cs:s with medium at 1024x768 no problems...

But if u want a new card a 6600gt is good for the price..

 

[kmmatney]

I upgraded from a Ti4200 to an AGP 6600GT, with an Athlon 2400+ Thoroughbred (OC'd slightly), and it felt bottlenecked. I can only imagine what your system will be like. Your games will play a little better but games will still have a sluggish feel to them. I would suggest a 6600GT or used 9800 Pro, cheap as you can get.

I decided to dump AGP altogether and make a cheap upgrade to a PCI Express. The total upgrade cost me $200, but I gained a much faster video card and a cpu that performs about as good as an Athlon 3700+. A huge difference versus the video card upgrade alone.