Which Graphics card to buy?

[Danger_Mouse]

Hi, total n00b to the PC building type thing and I'm looking to totally rebuild my pc pretty soon.
Right now I have:-

Pentium 4 1.8Ghz
Intel WinipegD845WN
512mb Ram
ATI Radeon VE (!!!)
80gb western digital hard drive

I'm looking to start the rebuild with a new graphics card and PSU. Which tide me over for a while untill I get enough money to buy new motherboard, processer, hard drive and some more ram. My PC will then have:-

AMD Athlon 64 3400 (socket 939)
Asus A8V Deluxe
1 gb Ram
200gb S-ATA seagate hard drive

Currently I mostly only use my PC for music making (besides the usual internet browsing etc.) and I'm looking to be able to play games on it.

My budget for the graphics card is £200 ($360 ish) and I was currently looking at the ATI Radeon XT. Is this a good choice?

Also, is the rest of the system a good choice?

[Sweeper]

Read, read, read........

http://www.techimo.com/forum/t121942.html

http://www.techimo.com/forum/t121923.html

http://www.techimo.com/forum/t121606.html

http://www.techimo.com/forum/t121856.html

http://www.techimo.com/forum/t78418.html

http://www.techimo.com/forum/t121746.html

http://www.techimo.com/forum/t121297.html

http://www.techimo.com/forum/t121181.html

http://www.techimo.com/forum/t116500.html

[Danger_Mouse]

Yeah, I had a look, they didn't seem too helpful though.
All I really wanted to know is if this card will run games at a reasonable quality untill I get my new setup, and if not, what would people suggest.
Perhaps I was too vague, sorry.

[Sweeper]

$360.00 US.... for a graphics card? Are you an extreme gamer? The XT is a good choice. I'm an ATI fan but you may get suggestions from Nvidia fans too. IMO, ATI has the market right now. Looks like a sweet system. Don't budge on the video card if you are going to game on it. If you are just going to play a few games here and there you can get by with a Radeon 9800 Pro for much less. All depends on what you consider "playing some games".

[Danger_Mouse]

I just converted the currency, but it would seem you lucky peoples get graphics cards cheaper.
And by "play some games" I mean I've been playing console games for a couple years (mostly nintendo) and I want to trade up.

[Bizkitkid2001]

Nvidia 6800 GT or Ultra.

Better cards than an XT by looking at the specs IMO.

Not to mention the 6800 has SM3.0 support will will make it easier for game designers to program a game for the card.

[Danger_Mouse]

The 6800 and Ultra are quite a bit out of my price range. The GT being about £300 and the Ultra being about £400. Things must really be cheaper in America!

[Sweeper]

What is your price range in US currency?

[HeadBand]

what about a 6800 NU?

[Bizkitkid2001]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danger_Mouse

The 6800 and Ultra are quite a bit out of my price range. The GT being about £300 and the Ultra being about £400. Things must really be cheaper in America!

What country do you live in?

I think www.newegg.com ships to the UK.