Hi all, Im currently trying to buy some time for my system before investingin the latest and greatest I can't afford:).Currently running a P4 2.4G @ 533 1G RAM 2WD HD @ 160 & 80G SB Audigy 2 GeForce FX 5200 AGP 128Any thoughts where I can get my best bang for the buck? Was considering the purchase of a new Vid Card and am wondering whatmight make sense and if it's worth it or to just hang on till I get the bucks for a new system.Thanks in [email protected]

Hi Craig,As always, it's hard to make a recommendation without knowing what your budget is. Certainly it does seem like your video card needs some upgrading but your P4 is also coming of age and FS9 usually scales more with CPU than with GPU. If you let us know your budget, maybe we can work something out for you.Thanks,Edwin

I would say somewhere between 150-300 depending on what results were possible. thanks

I assume you're talking about US$?In that case, it would be hard to fit a new CPU and motherboard into your budget so video card is almost your only choice. AGP video cards: you could consider the ATI 9800 Pro which I've always been a big fan of (even though it is 2.5 years old) or the NVIDIA 6600GT. These cards should be around US$130-150.A new CPU and motherboard isn't impossible if you're okay with hitting the high-end of your budget (or just over). The performance gains would be more substantial with a CPU upgrade but you wouldn't be buying very high-end stuff, probably something like an Athlon64 3200+ and an nForce3 motherboard (not nForce4 because nForce4 is exclusively PCI Express and you don't have the budget to get a PCIe graphics card). And your system would be quite severely "imbalanced" by a moderately-fast CPU and a very slow video card.Ideally, I'd suggest saving up and splurging on an overall system upgrade. But if you're desperate on some kind of upgrade, I'd go for a cheaper video card upgrade for now but don't expect significant gains.Hope this helps.Edwin