9600 xt v. 9800 pro v. any other comparable card

[pAce]

hi,
I have a 2.5 ghz pc with 512 mb of ram and i want to upgrade from my geforce 4, but i'm not made of money (15 w/ a minimum wage job saving for a car). So i was thinking of the 9800 pro, but than on gamespot there were some doom 3 benchmarks and a 2.6 ghz computer was slowing it down. So than i thought that the 9600 xt would be better because the 2.6 com. wasn't slowing it down and the fps were decent (about 5 less than the 9800). But than i saw that the 9600 is 128 bit and the 9800 is 256 bit. If i went with the 9600 will the fact that it is 128 bit be that big of a limiting factor while playing doom 3/half life 2 or any other next gen games, compared to the 9800 pro (which is more expensive).

thankyou

dont say upgrade ram because i got that rdram which is super expensive to upgrade.

 

[Soloman02]

well, how much money do you have to spend? $150? $200? $250? if you tell us your price range we can help you better.

 

[pAce]

150-200, but the cheaper the better.

 

[SNiPeRViRuS]

The 9800Pro. If u skimp now then ull end up buying another one very soon.

 

[pAce]

ok, i'll probably get a 9800 pro. which manufacturer should i get because i want one that you can overclock to xt speeds.

And what is the difference between 128 bit and 256 bit?

 

[SNiPeRViRuS]

manufactorers i have no clue but 256 bit is better than 128 bit. get the 128mb 9800pro cuz that outperformed the 256 mb one.