Graphics cards, My pc and budget,.. help please, easy q.

Hey there,
I built my PC myself about 2 years ago,.. and since then have been very busy and graphics cards have kind of been one of the things i've not kept up with,.. resulting in me knowing nothing about them. Currently my motherboard is a MSI K800 Neo, it has a AGP slot and in it i have a sapphire atlantis pro 9600 ( i think 256mb ).

So,... recently my girlfriend comes over and starts playing the sims,. not just the sims but the sims with every addition under the sun, and she complained about my PC. I have been thinking about it so I will upgrade it soon,.. I have windows vista and currently my " gaming graphics " are my lowest rating by far,... so i thought it might be nice to sort it out.

Being a student, and having just bought a car i don't have a great deal of money to spare. Graphics card wise,... i would be willing to spend about £100, which i'm pretty sure can buy you a good AGP card. I would like it to be the best i can get for gaming at that price. Also, if there is any kind soul out there that would explain some graphics card terms to me so i understand that would be really useful! I do understand AGP is kindof a think of the past and everyone now has PCI-E and all that jaz, does that mean the AGP cards have stopped being made? Have they come down in price? Either way,... £100,... a little more a little less i don't mind too much,... for the best graphics card i can get ( and please can you tell me if it is actually that much better than the one i have at the mo )

If it helps,.. the rest of my PC specs are:
1GB RAM ( soon to be 2GB i think )
AMD 3000+
3 60GB Hard drives ( don't ask why )
Sapphire atlantis pro 9600 graphics card
Lots of dust
DVD +/- RW
CD +/- RW
Windows Vista Home Premium



Also,.. one more thing,.. my windows is OEM,.. i hear if i change my mobbo it will kill my licence,.. is this true? If it isnt i could maybe buy a new motherboard to allow for a better graphics card,... but i'd really prefer not to as i think i'd be better selling my pc and just buying a new one for what all that larking around would cost!

Cheers
Steve


I forgot to add,.. i would like to be able to plug my TV into the graphics card as an extended desktop / clone to play DVD films through ( and them be good quality if pos )

 

You want to know about AGP Graphic cards,see this:

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/agp.htm


And this is for the best AGP Graphic Cards aviable today:

http://compreviews.about.com/od/video/tp/AGPVideo.htm

 

System Requirements Lab is a good site for locating which piece of hardware is likely to be letting you down for a range of games

 

Best AGP cards are the ATI x1950XT and the nvidia 7950GT. also, with pretty much any video card upgrade you're gonna need to upgrade your PSU unless you already have a decent one. check out a 7600GT or 7900GS if ur on a budget

as far as the windows lisencing goes, the mobo in my Sony VAIO died a while back, i swapped in a new mobo and everything in a new case, called up Microsoft support, told them i had to replace the motherboard, and then I gave them my OEM key and they gave me a new one. Ive done it 2 times since then, they give me a new key every time so you should be able to do it