Games must not have looked really great lately then...
The mobo supports AGP8x so we'll look for those cards eh... What's your budget?
Regardless of my question, here are the best buys in different price categories... Because you will be playing games, I chose cards that all support Shader Model 3.0, unless there are another alternatives...
sub $ 100:
HIS 9550 IceQ Turbo 256MB DDR2 (Dual BIOS) - $ 94.00 A great little gaming card with a standard overclocked core (306MHz vs. 250MHz), and DDR2 memory capable of 715MHz (theoretically, so it might even go higher)... Although only SM2.0, this card will still do quite fine with today's games (albeit not with full graphical settings), and especially when overclocked... The dual slot cooler keeps it very cool and silent...
$ 100 - 150: (this is where things start to get interesting)
AOpen GeForce 6600GT - $ 113.00 The obvious choice at this price point... Featuring Shader Model 3.0, this card is a very decent one for its price... One to consider, even when you initially wanted to stay below $ 100... This card is a significant step up from the abovementioned one...
$ 150 - 200:
Apollo Geforce 6800 - $ 179.00 Not much of an improvement when compared to a 6600GT, unless you overclock it by a healthy margin... SM3.0 as well...
$ 200 - 300:
eVGA Geforce 6800GS - $ 229.00 About the best card at this price point... This one's made to replace the 6800GT (a previous generation's high-end card), and when overclocked, it even threatens the 6800Ultra... Of course featuring SM3.0...
If MicroCenter has new X850XT's, those are the ones you'd want... Thanks to the
$ 50 Rebate, this one is obviously an even better offer than the 6800GS... Although it's still limited to SM2.0, this card has tons of power for every game out there... Also a previous high-end model, this one will outperform the 6800GS...
I would personally not pick a more expensive AGP card anymore... These cards will still prove well for the current games, but when they will not be able to play your games anymore, it will be time to switch to PCIe... nVidia is however still planning on releasing an AGP 7800GT...
Hope you appreciate my research...
It took some time...
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