3D card buying advice

[lohocla]

anyone have any suggestions for a good quality card, purely for gaming, I dont care about professional applications, just gaming. Most games I get superb quality but lately I find that some new games I.E. Max Payne(best game out), Hitman Codename 47, 1NSANE, and Colin Mcrae Rally 2.0 are just giving me a difficult time rather than fun. and I have somewhat of a top quality system.
Its tough to pick out a card these days, there are so, so many choices. plus with all the new hd, monitor and memory upgrades I just pulled off I currently am totally poor, so my price range will only be anywhere from 150 to 300 depending on what a 21'st birthday will bring in.
system specs should be below if you need
Thanks to all that help!

[FerrariF50]

I feel your pain I have a Savage4 and I would like to finnish the rest of Max payne.

[It_The_Cow]

If you can afford it, the GeForce 3 or the Radeon II. Depending on when your birthday is, the Radeon II may be out already, and the GeForce 3 should be more affordable with the GeForce 3 Ultra out. If you can't afford it, try the Geforce 2 Ultra or Pro. Those cards should easily be affordable with the newer cards coming in

[Frost Byte]

i love my GeForce 3 :)

[FerrariF50]

thats good! lol you should I mean you did not buy it for nothing I hope not!!! And I hope not just for more 3dmark scours...... also another thing it's said to see something like the Geforce 3 become a $100 a few years later.

[Pinky]

Of course video/sound would have gotten you twice the replies...

for now, maybe the geforce 2 MX would suffice... if you can't afford the more expensive cards, a brand name (leadtek, MSI, ASUS) card goes for under $100

Check www.newegg.com for some of the best pricing on the net.

[FerrariF50]

Narf!

[lohocla]

thats odd, I didnt even see the video audio card section.
it seems to me though that everyone reccomends a geforce, which I was planning on getting anyway. but there are so many different variations on the geforce2,3 that picking one in my price range, for the games I play, and system I have is tough. so lets say I have exactly 300 dollars and I want to get a card that can run Max Payne in 1024x768@32 with graphics on full, which is impossible with my current card. what card would be best?
Thanks for all the previous info as well :) Im gonna check out newegg now

and my birthday is august 22, so is the radeonII out by then?. ill probably end up going geforce 2 ultra or 3 or possibly elsa gladiac 920

[chronic99]

for pure gaming id go for the geforce3 i dont know how the radeon fairs, but my geforce3 clocked up can get up to 250fps in quake, it never budges of 99 in CS and max payne running FSAA looks amazing and runs amazing.

in my opinion get a GF3 it will last long as well.

[bdf24]

I've never owned a Geforce 3, but I'm very satisfied with my Radeon 64DDR. pictures awesome, color is awesome, and speed is good too. I doubt it would beat a Geforce 3 in speed but all games are very, very playable. It maybe worth checking out.

[Mr B]

Moved post to "Video and Sound Cards".

Mr B

[lohocla]

250 fps? damn. I thought my 62fps was alright but that is amazing. I decided I will go with a elsa gladiac 920, if money doesnt allow that then I will opt for the mx400 which is at a really low price right now and will kill my TNT2.
thanks to all for your input