video card upgrade (agp)

[Gerrardino]

Current PC specs: 3200+ 64 bit, 1GB PC3200, Geforce 6600GT AGP, xp
sp2. Playing Battlefield 2 is not a good experience as you can imagine
(I can play at 1024x768 but at low avg frame rates), and when Unreal
Tournament 3 comes out in Q3/4 I will need to upgrade anyway. I would
like to play BF2 and UT3 at reasonable resolution/framerate without
replacing my entire computer. Here is my plan..

Replace 6600GT with eVGA 256-A8-N506-AX Geforce 7800GS 256MB 256-bit
GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X.
Add 1GB PC3200.

Will this give me what I want?

With such a slow cpu, should I look into a passive cooled 7600? I feel
a 7800 may be better paired with a faster cpu (according to a few
benchmarks at least); thanks for your help.

[Rob]

I don't know that the extra RAM will make much performance difference. I would guess that it would not. But the video card upgrade you have in mind should be a big help. I don't know that your processor is all that slow.

Whether or not the video card is passively cooled is just up to whether or not that's what you want, since it may cost more but run more quietly. It's not related to the speed of the CPU.

[dadbuilt]

I use that same cpu with the 7800 oc agp and it's fine for what you want to play don't let the powerheads tell you otherwise just upgrade to the best card of your choice and you'll do fine. If it's still not to your speed of frame upgrade the cpu to the highest your board will take. And give that a try. If not you can listen to the powerheads and drop some love on amd 6000t combo if at all you can find a fry's electronics in your area go there for the combo.