Need help choosing a new GeForce card

Also, if you have any recommendations on other cards I should look at, please pass them along.

Thanks.

6800XT = bad buy. I guess it's OK if you can find it the exact same price as a 6600 GT, but usually they're more expensive.

The AGP 6600 GT can be found about $90 now on newegg right now, that's a good cheap AGP card. It'll perform closely to the 6800 XT, but for less money probably.

For about $120 on newegg you can find a 7600 GS AGP or X1650 PRO AGP. The X1650 PRO performs a tad better but they're pretty close.

For $180 you get into 7600 GT territory, really good card. A 7600 GT will even beat a 7800 GS at stock speeds most of the time.

The fastest AGP card available is the X1950 PRO, which can be found for $240 if you can find them in stock. They sell out pretty fast, they're the best you can get.

Just to clarify on the previous post.......trying to unlock pipelines is a hit or miss deal. Not every card will work so don't purchase it with that in mind, as a failed attempt may make it difficult to return.

Well...it is a bit old, but there is also a 9800Pro (DDR1 ) for $80 available too. I'm guessing you'd get nearly the same performance of the 7300GT (DDR2 version) with it but without the mail-in rebates. SM 3.0 is a bit of a moot point in this price range and it's just a guess, but I'm not certain Vista would run well on a system this old.

However, I would highly recommend checking out eBay for an AGP 6600GT or AGP 6800GT. Possibly even something in the AGP X800 flavor (XL, possibly an XT) as well. Just go with sellers with a high approval rating and you could very well get a good deal on a very good card.

How does the 7300GT compare in performance to the 6800XT (stock)? I don't see the 6800XT listed on TomsHardware VGA charts.

For $80 (w/ MIR), the 7300GT is cheaper than any of the 6800XTs or 6600s that NewEgg has.

From what I can tell, it looks like the 7300GT uses less power than my current video card, so I think I'll be fine with it.

You forget that the 7300GT can do HDR only the 7000 series is capable of doing so, also the 7300GT as shown in the VGA cards is very strong it beats even the X1600PRO and destorys the 9800PRO i dont even know why some one said it would perform near the same your kidding the 7300GT kills the weak 9800PRO, 6800XT isnt listed because its not that big of a GFX card a only some have it. Stick to the 7300GT GDDR2 AGP if you had PCI-E i said find a 7300GT GDDR3 but that only for PCI-E.