Which vcard upgrade for my system?

[mike]

My system:
Shuttle AN35N Ultra 400
XP 2500+ @ 3200+
1gig 3200 OCZ performance
9700 Pro(stock)
Either 400 or 420 watt Antec ps
XP Pro

I would like to know how far i can go with a new video card. I will only be
upgrading the video card, and that's it for the life of this system before i
build a completely new one. Would an X850 XT be overkill for my system?
Would i see a good performance increase in all of my games over my 9700 Pro?

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

My system:
Shuttle AN35N Ultra 400
XP 2500+ @ 3200+
1gig 3200 OCZ performance
9700 Pro(stock)
Either 400 or 420 watt Antec ps
XP Pro

I would like to know how far i can go with a new video card. I will only be
upgrading the video card, and that's it for the life of this system before i
build a completely new one. Would an X850 XT be overkill for my system?
Would i see a good performance increase in all of my games over my 9700 Pro?

Unless you are seeing a noticeable problem with the 9700 I would not
upgrade. You would need to get an AGP video card and then basically
toss it when you upgrade the motherboard. I am still using my 9700 Pro
and when I last upgraded it was either find a motherboard that still
used AGP video cards or buy a new comparable one for another $400. The
choice was easy.