help me with graphics card selection

[sanpnr]

i have a gigabyte mb with an 8x agp slot..now i have decided to have a budget graphics card and i have zeroed on an xfx 6200 128 mb at rs 3700($83)..what do u think of it...is there anything i have to specify the seller before i buy this card?? is there any card in the same price range with a better performance?should i go for the 256mb version? i have only 512mb ram(266mhz) and will not be upgrading it soon.is the 256mb on the card shared from the system memory..
thanks in advance

[Midknyte]

a 256mb card wouldn't be much faster than a 128mb version.

The 6200 is a bottom of the line card, so there isn't much to say.

[jflan]

A 6200 is a weak card. The marketeers have created this illusion that more memory equals more performance.
They tack on more memory so that they can unload the backlog of weak cards.
DON'T BITE unless you like getting reeled in : )

For a few bucks more, you should be able to find a 6600 "vanilla".
STAY AWAY from LE. LE means Lame Edition.

[Rugor]

Here's the thing about graphics RAM. The more of it you need the faster it has to be to do you any good. Most budget cards don't have a fast enough RAM clock to get 256MB worth of data across the bus before it needs the next frame. I have a 6600GT with 128MB RAM and it's fine up to 1024x768 in most games. My next card will be my first 256MB card and that's a 7900GT with the 256bit bus.

See if you can find a cheap 128MB 6600 as that will be a much better choice than the 6200.

[LostBok]

shd be able to find a 6600GT which even in 128Mb guise is still fantastic bang for yr buck! It's just over $100, but definitely worth the cash!

Memory on these is in ADDITION to you existing RAM.

Be careful of "shared memory" or "turbo cache" versions, which I know some of the lower spec cards are (such as some 6200's).... these will set aside some of your system memory and leave you less memory for you applicaitons and OS.

6600GT is reigned back 6800ultra... it won't clock that high, but it is a SOLID performer.

6600 vanilla is decent, but a much poorer cousin to the 6600GT.

6600LE is LAME.

6200's are not really for games.

[Ankerson]

I wouldn't recommend anything below the GF 6800 Series or X800 series these days speed wise for playing games.