time to upgrade?

[frost]

ok i have an nvidia geforce 4 4400ti video card, and am wondering what would be a solid upgrade for not a substantial amount of money (less than $200)

and before everyone gets crazy and starts with the "just save up your money and get the $500 card", keep in mind i pay over $2000 a month for my house, so it's just out of the question.

that article about the new geforce 6200 that'll cost around $80 had me thinking, so that's why i'm asking.

any positive feedback is appreciated.  thanks people

[Creepy_Smell]

The GeForce 6600GT should be around $200 and is supposed to be a real good card.

Here is a link to a comparison of it to ATI Radeon 9800 and GeForce 5900XT.

This is one I've been looking at to upgrade to.

[drifter]

newegg has 6600GT AGP cards for under $200 now.

[Harpua3]

I`ve heard good things about those 6600.

[frost]

ok, thanks for the info.  i really appreciate it.  i do have one other question though.

will my machine be able to take advantage of all that the 6600GT has to offer?

my specs are:
2.0 pentium 4
1 gig ddr ram
win XP
did i forget to include anything?

[Beer Goggles]

Your system would be fine for a 6600.  The next upgrade should be the processor if your motherboard can handle it.

[unbongwah]

will my machine be able to take advantage of all that the 6600GT has to offer?

Your CPU's a little on the slow side - OK, a lot on the slow side - compared to what's out there, but it should be adequate.  Though, yeah, a CPU upgrade should definitely be next on your list, depending on what's the fastest CPU your MB can handle.

Firing Squad has a P4 / 6600GT CPU scaling article: http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/geforce_6600_GT_scaling_performance_pentium4/
Unfortunately, it doesn't include a 2.0GHz CPU, but it at least gives you some vague idea how much you'd benefit from a faster CPU.

Anandtech also has an article on CPU scaling in HL2: http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2330&p=1

[Butterknife]

I upgraded from the GeForce 4 4400 to the 6600 GT card (I bought the overclocked version of the card) and I have been very pleased with the upgrade as a whole.

I have a noticeable change in visual quality -- it was definitely time for the upgrade.