if u have a decent pc u can go with a 9600XT for $130, or nvidia has the 6600GT if u can afford it, I think it is like $250

There really isnt anything good for only $50-100 today the way games are going, the most decent card I have seen for the cheapest price is the 5700LE (256MB) for $119

Which is hardly decent anyway!

Steer clear from budget cards with 256Mb of memory - they typcially perform slower than their 128Mb brethren due to reduced clockspeeds, and the extra memory is useless for such a low-end card.

What games do you plan on playing and what are the rest of your system specs? If you're just after some extra frame-rates in old classics that your Voodoo 2 was starting to struggle in, then an FX5200 of some description would be an enormous performance boost (but we need to know what kind of system you currently have).

If you plan on putting some money on recently released games, then I suggest you start saving for a more comprehensive upgrade!

the 9600XT out performs the 5200 and is only $130 which isnt too bad,and my old 9600XT was able to power through HL2 on everything high

Well currently my computer is running on Win98se, has somewhere around 30gb of storage, with my old Voodoo2 card. I believe its a 400Mhz CPU with an AMD mobo and 96mb of ram.

Before I'm getting my video card I'm planning to upgrade my motherboard to a Soyo with around a 2.0Ghz processor. I'm planning to also up my ram to probably aorund 512mb and get new faster larger harddrives.

I'm really just wanting to play anything, not things really highend, maybe CS, EQ and other games liek that. Really right now even low end games are slow.

the reason I am saying go ATI is because if memory serves me right the 5200 does not work with directx 9.0c only 8.1 (i might be wrong) but the 9600XT is still a video card which isnt afraid to run anything that is thrown at it. I believe newegg has them for about $120-$150, and I had Directx 9.0c installed with my 9600XT

You're looking at a much more comprehensive upgrade to support what you want. You need a new motherboard, CPU, and replacement RAM (you might be able to use the old stuff, but it's not recommended!). Chances are you will also need a new power supply and possibly a case.

To couple with a 400Mhz CPU, I would just look for a second hand Geforce of some description. There's no point going higher than a Geforce 4 MX for a PC of those specifications.

If you would note from my previous post, I said i was upgrading just about everything, and I'm even putting it in a new case. I'm getting all the other stuff before the video card, I'm just planning ahead.