what graphics card?

[RobertFM]

I have about £100 / $180 to spend

It will go in an ASUS P4S800 board - AGP

Any preferences??? I have a GeForce FX5500 at present.

Cheers.....

[fishybawb]

A Geforce 6600GT can be had for a little under £85 now, which makes it a good deal.

Runs everything I've thrown at it

[_Mystical_Night]

yeah I wouldnt get a really expensive AGP card because their PCI-E counterparts are much cheaper, check out the price gap between 6600gt AGP and 6600gt PCI-E

and PCI-E has better performance AND its compatible with new motherboards

[RobertFM]

so do you thing it would be better to wait, and upgrade the m/board as well. If so, can you get a pci-e board which will still take the 478 chipset CPU?

[Midknyte]

No such thing since no socket 478 chipsets supported PCIe. You'd have to get a whole new setup. CPU+Board+RAM (DDR2 if you stick with Intel or AM2)

The 7600GS AGPs are out also.

[Ankerson]

and PCI-E has better performance

Not really.

The same Graphics cards when compared between PCI-E and AGP (CPUs being the same) they come out the same with in a few FPS and most of that is due to the newer platform Chipsets, memory etc.

[RobertFM]

So, i take it I need a new m/board, ram, processor and graphics card...

Wife not impressed!!!!!

Or would a decent Agp card be sufficient for the next couple of years, as in the one posted above???

[Midknyte]

The 7600GS is a midrange card now, so I can't guarantee it will be able to keep up for a "couple of years". Even the 7800GS is no match for the top cards.

You can also shop around for x800 or x850 series cards.

[Ankerson]

The 7600GS is a midrange card now, so I can't guarantee it will be able to keep up for a "couple of years". Even the 7800GS is no match for the top cards.

You can also shop around for x800 or x850 series cards.

DItto on that.

The X800 and X850 cards are getting harder to find in AGP, well the good ones anyway like the X800XL, Pro, XT, XT PE, and X850XT and XT PE.

[RobertFM]

if not an x800/850, whats the next ones down. Want to play BF2 with reasonable graphics.

[Ankerson]

if not an x800/850, whats the next ones down. Want to play BF2 with reasonable graphics.

You will beable to fine one of the X8XX cards.

Nothing below them will really play the newer games that well.

[RobertFM]

Got an x1600 on order AGP, £80.

[Ankerson]

Got an x1600 on order AGP, £80.

What games do you want to play?

The X1600 isn't a gaming card.

[RobertFM]

technically it looks much better than my fx5500 card at present, playing BF2, Doom 3, etc.....

[Ankerson]

technically it looks much better than my fx5500 card at present, playing BF2, Doom 3, etc.....

Not by much though and just about anything in the X8XX series is at least twice as fast as the X1600.