New Video Card for my New MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum

[malpee]

I am upgrading my Athlon XP 2500 and 128 MB ATI Radeon 9600. I have purchased a new MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mobo and am hoping to mate it to a Athlon 64 3400+. I am wondering what video card to get. I don't game a whole lot, except for Flight Sim 2004, but I would like a card that will be good for at least a couple of years and if I decide to get into some games.

So, what AGP cards should I look at. Thanks for your help!

 

[stelleg151]

make sure you get 939 3400, you should give a price range, but I will say 6800gt, it is a very good solid card. If not enough money for 6800gt, go with 6800nu or 6600gt(agp).

 

[Zebo]

6800NU from outpost is $250/

Edit link: http://shop3.outpost.com/produ...sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

 

[eyeballkid]

If I were you I'd go for ATI's X800 Pro. In my own rig I have an Geforce 6800 Ultra which I am not satisfied with. My brother's X800 puts out crisper visuals in 2D and is competitive in all Direct3D games from a price/performance pov.

 

[malpee]

My price range is about $150-200. Is a lesser card than the 6800 going to do a disservice to the mobo/cpu combo I am getting? Either way, I will probably wait for a good Christmas or after Christmas sale.

Also, does performance improve if I go with an nVidia graphics card on my nVidia mobo? Or does that not really matter?

Thanks for your suggestions!

 

[Chippy99]

Personally I would NOT go for a 6800 with an nforce3 motherboard. Whereas you will probably be able to run it OK, it won't overclock much (I don't know why, but there seems to be some kind of incompatibility between (nvidia's!) 6800 and (nvidia's!) nforce3 chipsets. They just don't overclock well together.

This - combined with the additional annoyance of the borked 6800 video processor - tips the scales in favour of an X800, imho. Personally I would go for an X800 XT or an X800 Pro vivo and unlock all 16 pipes.

I say this as an nVidia GF6800GT owner. Overall I am happy-ish with the card but in hindsight I would get an X800.

(Strangely the GF6800 overclocking problem does not exist with Athlon XP systems. I don't know why. I could clock my card up to 453MHz on my old DFI Ultra Infinity. 445MHz was completely stable and artefact free. Now in my K8N, it won't do more than 415 without lockups. I am lucky, many won't do 400! And before anyone jumps in with "disable fastwrites", that is NOT the problem. It fixes it for some people struggling with minimal overclocks, but it does nothing for me. Neither does setting 2d and 3d clocks the same, nor playing with other AGP settings. I am stuck with it they way it is.)

Chip

EDIT: sorry, just saw your budget. Obviously the cards I mention are too expenive. Still, don't get an 6800.