Upgrading AGP Video Card <$200 for HL2/CSS

[Ace No-Money]

I am upgrading my video card since my radeon 9200 cant seem to handle my HL2 games. I want to be able to play Half Life 2 at 1024x768 resolution, and High texture/Model settings at over 60fps. I am not planning on messin with AA and AF settings. I have only $190! These are my choices so far-

Radeon 9700pro
If I buy this it should run HL2 well, right? I will have like 50 bucks to put fans and cooling supplies in my computer case. I only have one fan!

$130

Radeon 9800pro
-The 128mb/256bit version. Reviews say this card has like a 15% performance increase over the 9700pro. ATI says this is ideal for playing Half-Life 2! Im thinking I wouldnt have to upgrade for a long time with this card!Is it worth 50 more dollars?

$180

GeForce 6600GT
People on the tech-forums love this thing! Im not sure about it especially since I dont play Doom 3 at all. I have had more experience with ATI than Nvidia - I believe my friend just got rid of his trouble-making Geforce fx5200. Reviews say that the 6600gt gets 10fps less than radeon 9800pro @ 1024x768 in Half-Life 2(no AA/AF) and 10fps more than the 9800pro with AA/AF turned on. The 6600gt has only a 128bit memory interface also. The big drawback is that it will cost me too much! I will have to wait a while to upgrade!

$220


Do I really want AA/AF on ? I dont see much of a need for the 6600gt and would really like to be able to only spend $130 on a radeon 9700pro if it does the job! The Radeon 9800pro is what i'm leaning towards most though! What do you guys recommend and why?
Keep in mind that I just bought an Abit NF7-S v2.0 mobo.

(Half-Life 2 benchmarks)Radeon 9800pro vs. 6600GT
http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-x-1240-x-x-x&body_pagenum=4

 

[uchiha]

what are the bottlenecks on your system? that nvidia 6600gt is for super high-end systems that dont do any real computing except look very pretty and go very fast. I have an ati 9800 mobility on a laptop that is about 1.864ghz amd64 and i get around 50fps in 1024x768, since thats the highest it can go. no problems or glitches here. and this is on a laptop. dont listen to me fully, just my experience for you.

valuewise, the 6600gt beats the 9800 pro by far. it will last you, contrary to the already outdated 9800. and for 40 dollars more...make sure its by EVGA

 

[quartz01]

i would say either the 9800 pro will do you fine even with some AA/AF on. its a great price and a great card so go ahead and get it. you won't get that big a difference from the 6600gt.

oh and about the "do i really want aa/af on?" part, i would say definetely. i don't really use AF, but i can't play w/out AA. i mean, i hate those jagedy lines. Plus, your specs might even bottleneck the 6600gt as it is for preatty high end computers. I think the 9800 pro is ideal your case

 

[The Merlin]

Yeah the 6600 GT is better then the 9800 Pro, but the 9800 Pro played HL2 flawlessly for me, so its up to you whether you wanna spend the extra money Both are great, both will do great and yes AA/AF are a MUST!

 

[Ace No-Money]

Would the 256mb version of the radeon 9800pro give me a huge performance boost when using AA/AF and what exactly is AA/AF for?

 

[AND_YOU_ARE]

If you are going ot get a 9800pro, I would stay away from the 256mb version. The 128mb version performs better than the 256mb. This is due to the fact that they had to change the card to support the increased memory, and it is slower than the 128mb.

 

[The Merlin]

If you are going ot get a 9800pro, I would stay away from the 256mb version. The 128mb version performs better than the 256mb. This is due to the fact that they had to change the card to support the increased memory, and it is slower than the 128mb.

Ditto