I'm currently in the market for a new graphics card to upgrade from my integrated GeForce. I have an ASUS A7N8X-VN motherboard with an AGP 8x slot. I'm looking to buy something that will be reliable but as high performance as possible for my gaming needs (DX9). However the limiting factor is price, I don't want to spend more then $200. I've done a lot of research and I like the Radeon 9800 pro (256 Mb), but if it comes with a very steep price tag. I have also seen the cards that are simply powered by a Radeon processor and made by someone else (i.e. Sapphire), these seem to be a lot more affordable, however I'm a little bit wary of buying on of these as I don't know if the card is going to be high quality. I'm also open to any card suggestions that people might have. I haven't spent much time looking at the GeForce cards yet so maybe there is something there.

one thing to consider is that ATI sucks at releasing updated drivers. Nvidia on the otherhard releases new drivers weekly so even if you had an old TNT card, you could get new drivers for it that would significantly imporve performance.

256MB is generally unnecessary. The 9800Pro is a good card but it's beginning to show it's age. How about a Geforce 6600GT 128MB? Or if you can find the AGP version, a Radeon X700Pro or XT are roughly the same performance-wise ASUS A7N8X-X Athlon XP 1800+ 8.5 x 200MHz 1280MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro SP1

Thanks for the tip I think I'm going to go with the Geforce 6600GT 128MB. I found it for $170 with free 2nd day shipping and a $30 dollar rebate at http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=321018&affiliate=shopping Thanks