Video card and upgrade question

[souschef]

It finally happened, my athlon 1.1 GHz refused to run my newly purchased game (age of empires III). I had to remove my Geforce 3 from the athlon and put it in my wifeÂ’s Pentium 4 1.6 GHz. This setup allows me to run the game on low settings.

My question is this:

What is the best AGP video card I can get to enhance this game below the 6 series Geforce cards? I would like to get a decent card that will not lighten my wallet to much. I am currently saving to build a new PC that will take advantage of the PCI-E technology so I do not want a high-end AGP card.

I heard the 5 series Geforce cards were a real disappointment. I have only bought Geforce chip sets. I am not sure what to look for or if I would be happy with an ATI card.

In addition, would it be worth it for me to upgrade my athlon chip to an XP model? I do believe this should fit in my current motherboard. Then wait the components of my next pc to come down in price? I was looking to get a 939 based system.

 

[Sprooty]

I would suggest the FX5200 or FX5900. Both these cards can still run most of the games out but they are the best for what you asked. Don't expect them to run every game comming out.

I would'nt upgrade until you have enought money to ugrade everything.

S939 X2 CPU
Ram
Vid Card
HD
Motherboard

But hey, if you have some money you could upgrade the CPU.. but you may need to flash your motherboard. 1.1Ghz is really old, im not sure your motherboard will support much higher.