Need help - what is the Best Budget Video card upgrade for AGP?

[Borg20001]

I have an old Dell Dimension 8200 that I have to keep around for a few more years and want to play some 'newer' games.

I would say that I'm a mild gamer, play FPS but right now am playing Halo and Battlefield Vietnam. Looking to play Far Cry and BF2 but my system won't support them. Screen Resolution doesn't have the be the highest, but it'd be nice to be able to play a game in at least 1024 x 768 rather than 800 x 600.

I have 256M Ram (RDRAM so increasing RAM is not an option), with a GeForce 3 TI-200 video card and P4 1.8 GHz cpu.

Among the cards I am considering are a GF 6200 (400MHz memory speed) that is going for $25 after rebate.

I could bump to an Open Box Radeon 9800 Pro (128Meg) card from New Egg for under $70, but you never know with New Egg Open Box items.

There's also a GF 6200 with a 350/500 MHz) 64 bit card for $45

And finally a GF 6600 128 bit card for $75.

I know its like apples and oranges, but I'd appreciate any feedback you all can provide based on your expertise.

Thanks for helping me keep my old system running.

 

[Ika]

I would recommend looking for a 6600GT here on For Sale/Trade. You can find them for less than $70 (generally), and they run circles around the cards you suggested (except for the 9800, but it's open box. not recommended).

 

[Borg20001]

Originally posted by: guoziming
I would recommend looking for a 6600GT here on For Sale/Trade. You can find them for less than $70 (generally), and they run circles around the cards you suggested (except for the 9800, but it's open box. not recommended).

Thanks for the advice, but I did a quick check of the For Sale forum and there are no 6600's currently out there.

I'll have to keep looking.

 

[conlan]

Unfortunately, your going to have problems running BF2 w/ only 256MB of memory. You might wanna scour the FS/FT Forums and fleabay for more Memory. Aside from that fact, try and locate a 9800Pro/XT, 6600GT or 6800NU.