would I notice a diff going from AIW8500 128MB to

5700FX Personal Cenima, which can be had for $129 @ compusa?

 

There would most likely be a small increase in games. Of course unless you're playing some newer games like doom3 and HL2 then you won't really notice a big diffrence. IMO for that price the upgrade isn't really worth it, since it's quite a minor upgrade. If you really want to upgrade you're money would be better spent on a slightly higher card. Or just wait a few more months for some of the higher end cards to come down.

 

What about the 9600XT AIW?

 

Oh, whoops, for some reason I was thinking you said 9500 before. So I guess it's a bigger jump then I thought.

Yes going to the 5700 or 9600 would be a decent jump, since it is going up one generation in cards. I'm personally a fan of Nvidia. Although the 5xxx sieres wasn't their best work. So if you were going to try to pick between the two I'd have to suggest the 9600 card. Either that or go even higher and pick a 6xxxx sieres nvidia one.

The 9600XT would also be a performance boost. Although, just so you know, you don't need an AIW, as far as gaming goes it makes no diffrence. An AIW just means it has VIVO.

 

what processor do you have?

 

Athlon 3200+ 2.2 GHz

 

I would say that buying a Nvidia Gigabyte (any brand) 6600GT 3D card for 199.99

IMO it's a really awesome card!

 

I agree, I own one, just purchased recently, and it's a awsome card, best value for your money.

 

here are some video card benchmarks
they don't include the 6600gt, but I get 7800 in 3dmark03 so you can see
where it falls on the graph (basically it will score just below the 6800)

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/vga_charts-04.html#3dmark_2003