Ive been at university for the last few years and have lost a lot of knowledge of all the recent computer components being realesed. Last time i checked socket A Athlon machine's with AGP slots were the latest things at hand. I have noticed some of the recent release's in games and have the urge in buying some for the bored moments between lectures this taking me back to my original question is my system now to old for any sort of upgrade for newer games or is their still some hope. my current system is :

AMD athlon 2400 +
socket A motherboard 8x agp (via vt8235) i belive is the chipset
Radeon 9600 se
2 x 512mb ddr pc2400
80 gb maxtor ide
350 psu

I noticed this card an Asus ATI Radeon X1650 Pro HTD Silent 256MB DDR2 TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retailing at £58 would this be a wise decision or would i be throwing my money away.

Thanks for any advice.

No Computer is ever too old for an upgrade..............whether it is worth upgrading or not is a different matter. I would say, IMO, buying an X1650 for that price is a great move. It is about as good a card you want to put in that rig and it would make it somewhat a "gaming" system, be it minimum res and low settings. Other than the card upgrade, you're only other alternative is to spend £400-£500 on a new rig. So, like I said, IMO the card is a good move.

Addition- Jeez for the love of God don't get the DDR2 version of the card, get the GDDR3 version!
http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/11...
P4 3.20HT @ 3.60ghz
Abit IS7-E2
2x1024mb OCZ Value DDR400 @ DDR450 Dual Channel
80GB Diamondmax9+ SATA 160GB Diamondmax10 SATA
HIS Radeon X1950PRO ICEQ3 Turbo
Hiper Type R 530W PSU

The GDDR3 version of the card seems much better but would my old 350 psu power such a card ?

be careful what your putting you money into, your motherboard might not be able to handle ddr3 specs, you know, if you want to spend that money, comps have become so cheap you can get a nice ddr2 2gb intel core 2 duo 300 gb harddrive anywhere for $300-$400 just look around for the deals, because im building my own but all these low prices are making me consider buying one then pumping it up if you know what i mean

be well aware of el' cheapo psu's invest in a good power supply unit,never sacrifice your enjoyment of games due to a weak psu. hope this helps.

"your motherboard might not be able to handle ddr3 specs"

It's not DDR3, it's GDDR3...& it has to do with the video card, not the motherboard. You should have no problem running a card with GDDR3 memory on your board.

The 350W PSU *may* be a concern though. What brand is it & how many amps are on the +12v rail? If you don't know, open the case & check the label on the PSU.