video cards to work with GRAW

[vc for ghost]

Help kind Tom's Hardware contributors,

I'm trying to get my kid's (old) computer to run Ghost Recon AW.

System has Asus A7N266-VM motherboard with AMD Athlon 2400 (1.99 Ghz)
1 GB RAM
GeForce 5200 FX video card - Slot AGP 4X

In your best estimation, can this anemic configuration be made to work with an upgraded video card?
Can a $75-$100 video card investment make GRAW run modestly on this computer, or am I better off saving my pennies for a new system.

My kid bought the game with his own money, but didn't know about the specs. Would like to get it to run, but not sure if any video card that would fit this board and my budget could bring life to Ghost Recon.

Here is what I've read that will provide reasonable performance concerning video cards for GRAW (obviously only the AGP models matter)

* Radeon X1300 (All-in-Wonder 2006)
* GeForce FX 5800
* Radeon 9700
* GeForce PCX 5900
* Radeon 9800
* S3 Chrome 27
* GeForce 6600
* Radeon X1300pro
* Radeon 9700pro
* GeForce 5800
* GeForce FX 5900ultra
* Radeon 9800pro
* Radeon X700
* GeForce FX 5950ultra
* Radeon X700pro
* GeForce 6800LE
* GeForce 6800XT
* GeForce 6800 (PCI-express version)
* GeForce 6600GT
* Radeon X800SE
* Radeon 9800XT
* Radeon X800GT

Greatly appreciate your opinions and suggestions.

Regards,

e

 

[ovaltineplease]

While you might be able to "get it to run", I don't think it'd be exactly what i'd call a um "great experience" necessarily.. Its really hard to say. I have an athlon 2500XP box, but its running a 9600 XT in it and i've not put a new game on it in ... well over a year at least.

Its largely up to you but it really does sound like that system is getting a bit dated. That has to be around 6-7 years old? It might be worth an upgrade maybe..

Anyways, for 75$ newegg has this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102073

Sapphire x1650 pro

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143102

7300GT nvidia

Both cards are around the same performance, they trade blows depending on the game (circa 2006), I think the x1650 pro performs better in half life 2 if that matters to you.

I can't say for sure if either would be a good card for GRAW - as I havent seen a benchmark of GRAW for either card. But these 2 cards are fairly high on the AGP performance list for 75$ At the 75$ mark, i'd stay away from x1300s and any other Nvidia FX 5000/6000 series cards.