AGP GPU for HD resolutions

[Guest]

My old 15 incher CRT (1024x768) Res went bad and I have ordered a Dell S2409W with 1920x1080 native res.
My system is circa 2003:
Athlon xp 2400+ 2.0GHz
1.5GB DDR266 RAM
ASUS A7V8X-MX (VIA chipset)
Geforce 6200 AGP 256MB
300Watt PSU.

I am afraid that the 6200 wont be able to handle HD videos even if it is having a max res of 2560x1600. So looking for an AGP GPU that can do movie decode acceleration and also play games with low to medium settings. I used to play games like Far Cry at very low settings on the 6200 AGP.

I am looking at ATI 2600, 3850, 4670, 4650 cards - All AGP only. I think I will need at least 512MB of VRAM for HD resolutions? Which one is the better pick? I can afford to change the PSU to a 500Watts one. But I intend to keep this rig for another 1-2 years time, as this can run Vista/7 smoothly for everyday tasks.

 

[cyberkuberiah]

my recommendation is to go for the sapphire 4650 1 gb agp card , as your cpu would not allow you to see any benefit over 3850/4670 .

the vram is more than enough , and considering its low power consumption (48w max) you can surely try running it on your old psu before you upgrade . it will outperform the 6200agp by miles . i had a 6600 agp myself , but i will be giving this system to a needy family instead . i did research all agp upgrade options before for my pentium 2.4 1gb ddr .

and one more thing , this card has dvi to hdmi , dvi to vga adapters so that you can connect your hdtv if needed .

this card will play 1080p mkv with glory on your system , better than any high end hardware bluray player . here is the guide to using a great free software to do this :-

http://www.guru3d.com/article/accelerate-x264-1080p-movies-over-the-gpu-guide/

cheers , and lemme know once u've made your decision as well as when u've purchased