best video card to not bottleneck

[rebith75]

I have a P4 2.0ghz northwood (I believe my MB supports 2.4 ghz, it is a Dell GX260) and 512 of ram. I am only looking to play CS:S at around medium settings with a very good frame rate (maybe other games but not much). My question is: I am not looking to upgrade my entire system (cpu, memory and video but I will get a better PS) so what video card (agp) would be the best I could get to run source that would not be crazy bottlenecked by my other specs? (at what point is it a waste of money to get a video card upgrade) I am looking at the classic 6600gt, x1600, 7300gt, x800 series, etc (and the cheap 9600xt if that runs source a very good frames that wouldnt be bad), any other suggestions or rec. Thanks again,

 

[BassBomb]

9600XT should be more than fine for CSS at full @ 1024x768

7300 < 6600GT, both would be bottlenecked

 

[rebith75]

so if money was not an issue you would get the 9600xt because the potential fps gain using the 6600gt would be obstructed by the cpu and ram holding it back? or will it just not perform to its full potential (but still much better than the 9600....)

 

[happy medium]

Do yourself a favor and upgrade your cpu. It looks like it will handle a 3.06 (533bus). Even a 2.8 ghz will be good for a 7600gs. The 7600gs dosen't require a lot of power and i'm sure your psu is no bigger then 250watts. With your current cpu I'd go no higher then a plain 6600 non gt / 9800pro

 

[Paratus]

Just get a 7600GS. The 9600XT was a good card (I had one) but for just a bit more you might as well get the newer faster card.