Planning on buying new video card

[Captain]

Ok so I'm looking for a beast of a video card, budget is under $200 and it should be AGP 8x.

Here's what I've found so far:

XFX nVidia GeForce 7600GS 256MB AGP - $159.99

XFX nVidia GeForce 7600GS 512MB AGP - $169.99

BFG GeForce 7600GS OC 512MB AGP - $184.99

My eVGA GeForce 6600GT uses 128MB of GDDR3 RAM. The 512MB BFG 7600GS is DDR2 as is the 512MB XFX 7600GS and the 256MB XFX 7600GS. Which is the most powerful card here and how much of a difference is there between DDR3 and 2? I'm basically looking for superior gaming performance.

The XFX 7600GS has been built for Vista, but I'm not upgrading to that anytime soon. Would be nice to keep the option open though.

Any tips/help would be greatly appreciated.

[Tormentius]

BFG has an excellent warranty system. Is the BFG factory overclocked (OC edition)?

[AmIdYfReAk]

Yes, it is..

And Mazda, i hope you know that this isent much of an upgrade at all... right?

Going from my 6600 to my 7600 i gained maby 4fps in Bf2, and etc.

the only reason i have been saying get the 7600 over the 6600 is when you are planning on upgrading from a lower card i.e. Sub GF5. ya'know?

[Tormentius]

Amidy is right. Go with at least a 7900 (or 7950 if you can afford it) for an upgrade, otherwise you probably won't see enough of a performance improvement to justify the expense.

Edit: I completely missed the part about AGP. The 7600 or X800 are your best options AFAIK.

[Captain]

7600GS by the looks of it. Everything after that is PCI-E

[SoM]

7800GS, thats the last nvidia agp card

[Captain]

In that case I'll save up and go big on my next upgrade: PCI-E mobo, compatible RAM, and the GeForce 8800 beast :icon32:

[SoM]

stores around me have the 7800gs for $350+, while the 7900GS PCI-e is $199 after $80 rebate and thats in the same store

[FragaGeddon]

weird.