video card advice needed

[zanthia]

I have a 2 year old pc that is:
Athlon Xp 1800
512 ram
win xp pro
geforce 3 ti 500 video card
power supply is 340 watts

i am looking to upgrade my video card and my budget is $200. Many games are running too slow at 1024 resolution with various graphic options set to medium and no AA/AF.

I think my motherboard only supports 2xAGP if that makes any difference in a video card choice.

a friend of mine just sent me her geforce 4 ti 4600 card. while it works fine, i am disappointed that games that i was finding slow are still getting very low frame rates. In fact 2 games I tested with fraps on the ti500 are getting the same frame rate with the 4600. Some games have seen a big increase so overall it is a mixed bag.

I have been reading about the 5900 nu card and I think that it what I want to go for. Originally i was thinking of the 9600xt or 5700 ultra. is the 5900 the right way to go for a 200 budget on an old machine?

Specifically I am thinking of the BFG 5900 card especially now that newegg has it in and it would be over $40 savings compared to getting it at Fry's. I don't care if it has Call of Duty or not.

Will I see a noticeable speed improvement over the 4600? I am not interested in overclocking it as I have no idea how to do it plus doesn't it void the warranty. I just want a good solid performer that will allow me to play the latest games( most of which are direct x 9 games) with all graphic options on high settings and maybe even some AA and AF.

I would appreciate any advice you can give me. Thank you.

Zanthia

 

[di_entropy]

if i were you i'd keep the ti4600.. it is a very decent card for it's age, and is possible of reaching 20k 3dmark2001 scores with the right tweaking

i'm sure there must be something wrong with your system that is causing the ti4600 to not perform like it should.. have you double checked that you have all your proper drivers installed? mobo, etc?

i'd also try formatting and starting with a clean slate