Matching GPU with hardware, Gateway Essential 500

[riva16]

Hi. I have a damned good gaming machine already, but was looking to upgrade and max out an old Gateway Essential machine. The specs are, as of maxed out... Pentium III 866 Mhz, 384MB SD RAM, 30 GB HDD, and basic sound card. That's max for the system. I want to match the best GPU with the hardware capabilities, so I get best performance, but don't spend more than i need to. I won't waste my money on a 7800 GS AGP card. Games that require something like that wouldn't run becuase the CPU and memeory speeds/capacity are weak. What is the best match for the specs for a GPU? Defiantly looking for nVidia, and the MB is only AGP 4x... I was thinking GeForce 6600... Any help would be great!

Kyle

 

[Trotter]

A 6600 would work, but I wouldn't drop anything more powerful into it. The CPU will most likely hold the 6600 back some, but the P3s were good chips... actually better than the P4s.

 

[riva16]

Thats cool. Thanks man. Helps a lot.