Looking for a new budget video card

Well first let me give you the specs on my system:

P4 1.8 gig
ATI Radeon 7000 64MB
384MB PC800 RAMBUS
4x AGP Port

Now with that said I get decent framerates in most games 22 - 35 for most, but some of the more intense stuff (specfically NASCAR Racing 2003) I only get like 10 FPS which makes it unplayable, I upgraded my memory from 128 to 384 and that had very little effect on framerate, so after doing some research I found a lot of compliants about poor performace from ATI's 7000 series cards, so I want to upgrade.

Basically I don't want to spend more than $100, I also don't have any need or desire for a video card that is higher performance than my system can put out (why waste money).

So my question is what chipset and brand should I be looking for to stay under $100 and improve over my pos 7000 card?

Also I have no real personal preference between Nvidia or ATI, I just want the best thing for my situation.

i would say something like the Geforce TI series...
or the 9600 series maybe.

not really sure what card would suit you fine... but i know the 1.8ghz cpu will hold you back alot, and a card too strong would be pure overkill.

someone with more experience would probably be able to help you

Try this card:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 012&depa=1

It should be perfect for your system and the games you play.

ROSEWILL RADEON 9600 Video Card, 256MB DDR

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 021&depa=0

id try that ONLY $82 should run ur game wit easy on highest quality

dont no if it is overkill or not another good one maybe a nvidia fx5200 128mb

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 042&depa=1

thats about $60

If you put a corvette engine in a 1964 volkswagen your going to be waisting money, same here, it's time to start the upgrade...if you want to get those frame rates up.

CPU, RAM, video card, HDD speed , not to mention FSB and what bud they are on PCI or AGP...they all go hand in hand, the slowest thing in the system is the first to get updated.

I know the game I want run will run alright on my system, there are people running it fine with 128mb memory and 800 megahertz processors. For this instance the vid card is difinatley the bottle neck, i agree that I will eventually need to upgrade the processor, and probally the MOBO, but to get this game working I know all it will take is a better vid card. I am not looking to play it at the highest graphic setting or anything like that I just want to play it.

If you want you can find a 256 geforce 5200 for around 80 bucks...

http://www.pricewatch.com

I am running pretty good with it myself on boyfriend 1942. The only thing is my proc is a 3.0 ghz and 1 gig of RAM.