I realise that I'm due for a major upgrade but hopefully not for another year. My system at the moment is fairly strong with the only weaker link being the 9800 pro (i think). If I have to drop 200 bucks on a stronger AGP card to have another year of better settings game play then i think it's worth it.

Hence my question, what is the best AGP card at the moment for around £200 ($400 US)

Hell no!

with $400, you can get a geforce 6800. not sure about the 6800GT, my firend bought a GF 6800OC for only $250 from retail store.

P4 3.2GHZ
kingstone 1GB DDR 3200
ABIT AS8 mobo
Nvidia geforce 6800 128mb
Soundblaster 24-bit audigy 2
520W PSU

$400 is a pretty hefty budget, and to me it doesn't make sense to spend that much right now, when, if you upgrade in a year you'll be getting something with PCI-E more than likely, so you'll need to upgrade again. The 9800pro is still a pretty powerful card, so unless you plan on going agp when you upgrade, you'd best be served ny holding off until you upgrade the rest of your system. If you're absolutely compelled to upgrade, you might want to look into the x800xl.

Abit NF7-S 2.0
Athlon XP 2600+ @ 2.3GHz
1GB Mushkin PC3200
Sapphire 9700pro
120GB WD
80GB Maxtor
VGA Silencer
Volcano 7+
Aspire 550W

"the only weaker link being the 9800 pro"

This question was answered in your other thread but apparently you don't wanna accept it. The 9800 Pro is still a great card...it's capable of running any game currently available at acceptable frame rates. If your experiencing some sort of problems or lag...I highly doubt it's because of the card. I see no point in upgrading, especially since you plan on rebuilding in a year.

ASUS A7N8X-X
Athlon XP 1800+
8.5 x 200MHz
1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7
Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro SP2

If you're going to buy a new card, there is no reason to spend more than $250 USD. Any card over that pretty much you're going to see no difference over a $250 card. I would recommend the X800 Pro if you're gonna buy a card. Any less I don't think you'll see a significant difference between it and your 9800 Pro. Any more card than that you won't see a difference between it and the X800 Pro because of your processor.

I still don't think you're going to get a $250 difference, but hey, it's your money.

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Way to go :)
The X850XT PE is the best AGP card, and retails for $360 USD.
Once you've got it, you can overclock it to the speed of the PCI-E only Geforce 7800GT, which is what I've done with my X850XTPE ;) A little future-proofing...

FX-57 @ 3.1ghz
4GB of OCZ PC-4200
500GBx4 drive array
Sapphire X850 XT-PE
Fujitsu 1920x1080 projector

jackbomb, you have an FX-57...Dave appears to have an Athlon XP 3200+. That's a HUGE difference! Not to mention (& I'll say it AGAIN), he already has an excellent card in the 9800 Pro. Whether he pays $250 or $360, it's not money well spent. The performance difference won't be all that significant, & I highly doubt the AGP card will go along for the ride on hos next major upgrade.

ASUS A7N8X-X
Athlon XP 1800+
8.5 x 200MHz
1024MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7
Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB
WinME/WinXP Pro SP2

If it's an Athlon XP, I guess the X850XT would be overkill.

bah, I'm starting to feel those mixed emotions again. lol.

FX-57 @ 3.1ghz
4GB of OCZ PC-4200
500GBx4 drive array
Sapphire X850 XT-PE
Fujitsu 1920x1080 projector