changing the video card

hi,i am thinking to change my video card,beacause i want to play game like half life 2 at the resolution of 1280x1024 with high quality mode.
which video card do you recomend me to buy?
i can spend 400€.thanks

 

I have AMD 2800+
512MB RAM DDR 400
80GB HDD
Asus A7v600 motherboard AGP 8x.

 

400 British Pounds? Heck you could buy the best card in the market for even less than that, Nvidia GeForce 6800 Ultra Extreme w/256MB is like $550.
But even a $175 GeForce 6600 GT with 128MB could play those games just fine:

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041119/index.html

just make sure you are getting the correct type that you have on your mobo (AGP/PCI Express)

 

isnt the 6600 considered like a 5600/5700 just with some "upgrades" so to say? If this is true Im not sure i'd recommend it (maybe for a low end system). BE aware that changing a video card DOESNT solve all your troubles; if you have a crappy computer your cpu/ram/hdd bottle neck the video cards performance.