Upgrade for AMD X2 5200 - What will be better first?

[tb28w3]

I have a new system that was given to me. I know, lucky me huh? My father in law is awesome!

Anyways, he gave me a new X2 5200, ECS Nforce 4m-a motherboard with Nvidia chipset, 1 GB (2X512) OCZ Platinum PC6400 memory. I used my existing case, 2 DVD drives, HD, sound card etc.

The only thing is he kinda ran out of money, and needed a PCI Express card.
So he bought the cheapest one he could find, a 6200 LE and stuck it in.

It runs fine for me, but obviously isn't for gaming yet. However, I have my backup computer with a AMD 64 3400 and a Nvidia 6800 GT with both overclocked, so I'm not suffering too badly.

For about $200 I was wondering if I should go with some more memory first, something like another 2 GB (2X1GB) for 3 GB total, or a new video card (7900GS or X1950Pro) Would I have any issued with an ATI card with Nvidia chipset? I thank all you guys for the help.

 

[jaguarskx]

Go with the X1950PRo. 1GB of RAM is good enough for most games. You don't need to worry about ATI/nVidia compatiblity.

 

[monkeymanuk]

Hmm,

For new games, I would really recommend 2GB. You will notice a significant improvement in many games that have detailed maps etc because they can load more data into memory and thus elimate the need to access the disk cache to retrieve new map data.

I've always found that disk caching in games really detracts from the game play experience.

I've played Far Cry, F.E.A.R, HL2 and Dawn of War Dark Crusade on my machine (see sig) and they never glitch, I always set the video to the highest possible settings (that the card can take).

If you are running XP then you don't need any more than 2GB and I'm not sure it can handle it anyway.

7900GS is a great card and a good overclocker.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814141041
$154 with mail in rebate.

I would try to get the best video card you can for the money.

Then, you just need to find another 1 Gig stick.