Agp upgrade?

Hi people, I own a 4-year old computer with a 3200+ Athlon 64 CPU, ASUS K8N-E Motherboard, 1 GB Ram DDR400 and a 9600 XT ATI RADEON.

I was thinking on upgrading my graphic card (and maybe add 1 more Ram GB), just so I could easily play NW2 or maybe even Mass Efect (I'm not into FPS, so I don't need a complete upgrade for now). I've got the following candidates:

Club 3D GeForce 7600GS
Velocidad de reloj del núcleo 400 MHz
Memoria de vídeo instalada (máx.) 256 MB - GDDR2 SDRAM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SDRAM
Price 65.19 euros


Sapphire Radeon HD 2600XT - 256 MB
Velocidad de reloj del núcleo 800 MHz
Frecuencia de reloj del RAMDAC 400 MHz
Memroy (máx.) 256 MB - GDDR3 SDRAM
Price:65.36 euros


ASUS AH3650 SILENT/HTDI Radeon HD 3650 - 512 MB
Velocidad de reloj del núcleo 725 MHz
Memoria de vídeo instalada (máx.) 512 MB - DDR II SDRAM
price: 73.22 euros


Club 3D NVidia 7600GT - GF 7600 GT - 256 MB
Velocidad de reloj del núcleo 560 MHz
Frecuencia de reloj del RAMDAC 400 MHz
Memoria de vídeo instalada (máx.) 256 MB - GDDR3 SDRAM
Price 86.51 euros


Sapphire RADEON HD 3850 - ATI Radeon HD 3850
Frecuencia de reloj del RAMDAC 400 MHz
Memoria de vídeo instalada (máx.) 512 MB - GDDR3 SDRAM
Price 109.81 euros


Club 3D HD 3850 AGP Edition
Velocidad de reloj del núcleo 668 MHz
Frecuencia de reloj del RAMDAC 400 MHz
Memory (máx.) 512 MB - GDDR3 SDRAM
price 125.85 euros

Will my CPU limit the performance of any of these cards?.

I have a rig that I just couldnt part with and wanted to get more performance from it. I bought the Sapphire HD 3850 , had some serious driver problems with it but got it work eventually with the 8.6 AGP Hotfix Driver.
Yeah theres some bottlenecks in it , but Ive been able to turn up the eye candy and get more life out of the system.
The current Cpus have limitations with the cards today especially the high end or multi gpu.
The HD 3850 is generations ahead of your current card so you will see a major difference, as long as you have a PSU that can power it.
Goodluck hope my experience helps you.

The video card upgrade will be your best bet, but I would also upgrade the memory to 2 GB, this will make a noticeable improvement in performance as well.

Def get the 3850 if you want the fastest and most up to date features that AGP can offer, and as rgsaunders said I would also throw in another gig of ram, it would push the perfromance further and its a cheap upgrade now, you will see a remarkable difference and further the lifespan of your rig.