Which graphics card is best for my PC?

[Max25591]

Hi,
I want to upgrade my graphics card... but am not sure which is the best buy for me.
Im running an Athlon 2800+ on a soltek SL KT400 A, with 1Gb ram with win XP. Im using a Acer 19 inch AL1912.

I play games like Quake 3... but thats as far ive been really. I'd be looking to try more games after the upgrade, as even Quake 3 isnt great on my old TNT 2 Pro!

Budget of around £80

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Max25591]

Its PCI

 

[ACES WILD]

no agp?

you dont have an Agp slot?

 

[Max25591]

Yes I do... sorry...

 

[ACES WILD]

if your not a big spender, I dont know what the current exchange rate is, but radeon 9600 pro or SE are good cards, the SE's go for about 70 US and the pros start at 99 US. But if you have more, I recomend goin to a 9800 or a 8x agp 6600gt 6600gt agp8x = 199.99 US

 

[Max25591]

Is there any point getting the 256? or is a 128 card ok?

 

[ACES WILD]

um it depends,
If you get a Pro version of any of the ATI cards or the stock ones, then 128mb should be good. But if you go with an SE then you'll want 256mb of ram. when you check vid card specs take a look at the ram speed and gpu speed. If you go with nvidea sme deal, if you get an LE version, get the 256mb, and if you get a regular or ultra, then 128mb should be fine.
One more thing... PRO's and ultra's are more expensive for a reason, they go faster than the LE's and the SE's.
PS: Ati's SE line and Nvidea's LE line are budget cards, so they go slow.

 

[Max25591]

What do you think of this:

Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro Advantage 256MB DDR AGP VGA TV-Out DVI-I Retail Box

for £70 ... i know its a slow type of memory... and so isnt as fast as the normal 9600 pro, but the 256 makes it faster than the 9600 standard card.

 

[Max25591]

Or.....

Sapphire ATI Radeon RX600 Pro (128 MB) DDR Video Card
for £70

which do you think?

 

[ACES WILD]

its still a pro

good choice , and with 256mb of texture ram, it should keep up just nicely with todays games like Half life 2 and battlefield Nam.
should work nicely for you