256MB cards are very late generation AGP and you probably need an Athlon 64 or Pentium 4 to get the most out of them.

Geforce 2/3/4 or Radeon 7500/8500/9000 would be more than enough.

GeForce 4 4200 Ti might be cheaper to get than a GeForce 2 GTS. It would be overkill for a Pentium 3, but if you can find one for a decent price might be worth it.

Shponglefan wrote on 2026-01-06, 16:43:

GeForce 4 4200 Ti might be cheaper to get than a GeForce 2 GTS. It would be overkill for a Pentium 3, but if you can find one for a decent price might be worth it.

Actually, in this case it might actually be right on point. It's a DDR build, which is pretty late into the P3 era. Even if it might not do Tualatins (or at the very least, not without mods.)

Depends on what you want out of it but Geforce 2MX is era correct for Coppermine, sufficient and dirt cheap.

Beware. Some VIA boards may be glitchy with AGP Memory bandwidth and stuff. 440BX usually runs faster.

Unknown_K wrote on 2026-01-06, 16:41:

256MB cards are very late generation AGP and you probably need an Athlon 64 or Pentium 4 to get the most out of them.

Geforce 2/3/4 or Radeon 7500/8500/9000 would be more than enough.

More than 64MB is useless until you get into second generation DX9 cards IMO. If you're trying to play a game that demands 128 or 256 MB and this system chokes on it, it will be because it hasn't got a DX9 card or 2Ghz class CPU, not because it has 64MB

There should be a PDF chart made for GPU and CPU overlapped with DirectX/OS revisions. So, you could what OS was generally used with a specific CPU and then see what GPU was native to that timeline. Would probably help most builder out a great deal.

Shponglefan wrote on 2026-01-06, 16:43:

GeForce 4 4200 Ti might be cheaper to get than a GeForce 2 GTS. It would be overkill for a Pentium 3, but if you can find one for a decent price might be worth it.

OMG they are expensive here I couldn't find one that didn't look like a dogs breakfast too.

PcBytes wrote on 2026-01-06, 20:01:

Shponglefan wrote on 2026-01-06, 16:43:

GeForce 4 4200 Ti might be cheaper to get than a GeForce 2 GTS. It would be overkill for a Pentium 3, but if you can find one for a decent price might be worth it.

Actually, in this case it might actually be right on point. It's a DDR build, which is pretty late into the P3 era. Even if it might not do Tualatins (or at the very least, not without mods.)

I initially wanted Tualatin but there was no motherboards with DDR support.

midgard wrote on 2026-01-07, 00:22:

Depends on what you want out of it but Geforce 2MX is era correct for Coppermine, sufficient and dirt cheap.

Beware. Some VIA boards may be glitchy with AGP Memory bandwidth and stuff. 440BX usually runs faster.

They are cheap to buy and still available brand new.

BitWrangler wrote on 2026-01-07, 03:41:

Unknown_K wrote on 2026-01-06, 16:41:

256MB cards are very late generation AGP and you probably need an Athlon 64 or Pentium 4 to get the most out of them.

Geforce 2/3/4 or Radeon 7500/8500/9000 would be more than enough.

More than 64MB is useless until you get into second generation DX9 cards IMO. If you're trying to play a game that demands 128 or 256 MB and this system chokes on it, it will be because it hasn't got a DX9 card or 2Ghz class CPU, not because it has 64MB

Thanks for that I think if I want DX9 games it'd be best on a Pentium 4 system (or better with Windows XP) still lots of fun to be had though.

Unknown_K wrote on 2026-01-07, 06:41:

There should be a PDF chart made for GPU and CPU overlapped with DirectX/OS revisions. So, you could what OS was generally used with a specific CPU and then see what GPU was native to that timeline. Would probably help most builder out a great deal.

That would be very useful.

So far a Geforce 2MX looks promising because its available with 64mb VRAM, has AGP 4x, available as new old stock, and doesn't cost a scalpers fortune.

zapbuzz wrote on 2026-01-07, 07:22:

[...]

I initially wanted Tualatin but there was no motherboards with DDR support.

ECS P6S5AT
(good luck finding one - but no rarer than GA-6RX, that's quite a unicorn you have there).

zapbuzz wrote on 2026-01-07, 07:38:

So far a Geforce 2MX looks promising because its available with 64mb VRAM, has AGP 4x, available as new old stock, and doesn't cost a scalpers fortune.

No VRAM on Gf2MX, they will generally have DDR-SDRAM. Last cards with VRAM were the S3 Virge/VX and similar.

With Gf2MX the GPU will occasionally be the bottleneck, but generally it's a good match and better than what most people would have had in the day. I wouldn't splurge on new old stock, just get a beat-up old one to tide you over until you find a proper (non-MX) Gf2/3/4. Shouldn't cost you more than EUR 10 or so, even on eBay.

I think I’d rather have an FX5200 than a GF2 MX, even moreso if you can get a 128-bit Ultra.

paradigital wrote on 2026-01-07, 11:46:

I think I’d rather have an FX5200 than a GF2 MX, even moreso if you can get a 128-bit Ultra.

I found an FX5200 that has been re-capped bit expensive but considering there's so much capacitor bulge out there its on my watch. (256mb ram)
The ultras seem to be on the scalpers menu unfortunately and are all bulged cap 64mb models

zapbuzz wrote on 2026-01-07, 11:57:

paradigital wrote on 2026-01-07, 11:46:

I think I’d rather have an FX5200 than a GF2 MX, even moreso if you can get a 128-bit Ultra.

I found an FX5200 that has been re-capped bit expensive but considering there's so much capacitor bulge out there its on my watch. (256mb ram)
The ultras seem to be on the scalpers menu unfortunately and are all bulged cap 64mb models

Well if you want it cheaper you can always recap it yourself. Plenty of guides online how to do this. Skills might come in handy when working on these things.

midgard wrote on 2026-01-07, 12:16:

zapbuzz wrote on 2026-01-07, 11:57:

paradigital wrote on 2026-01-07, 11:46:

I think I’d rather have an FX5200 than a GF2 MX, even moreso if you can get a 128-bit Ultra.

I found an FX5200 that has been re-capped bit expensive but considering there's so much capacitor bulge out there its on my watch. (256mb ram)
The ultras seem to be on the scalpers menu unfortunately and are all bulged cap 64mb models

Well if you want it cheaper you can always recap it yourself. Plenty of guides online how to do this. Skills might come in handy when working on these things.

I did think about recapping but I'd have to buy the hardware to do so and I would spend more than just buying a healthy card.

i will post my purchase in 2 days but any more suggestions welcome and thanks.

Be sure to also check for the equivalent Quadro models for any Geforce you are after. I tend to find they are cheaper.