AntiRevisionism wrote on 2020-12-11, 17:05:

I've been leaning toward a GeForce2 GTS or Radeon 7200.

GeForce2 GTS.
Better compatibility with older games.

A GeForce card will give you better compatibility with older games that use Table Fog and Palleted Textures e.g. Thief, Final Fantasy VII etc.

Since you don't intend to play any games that use DirectX 8 and above, a GeForce4 MX440 would be a solid budget option as well. Its performance is somewhere in between a GeForce2 GTS and the Ultra. It also comes with passive cooling which is nice in case you're aiming for a quieter rig.

GeForce2 for sure.

A passively cooled Radeon 9000 or 9200. Or slightly faster 9000 pro if you can find one cheap. Just make sure you get the version with 128bit memory bus. I put a passive heatsink from a dead Matrox G200 onto a Radeon 9000 pro, and it works well.

These cards actually have usable performance with 32bit color, and AF implementation is fast enough to be usable, unlike early Geforces. Plus I don't have to play driver jeopardy to see which driver actually works with the game I'm playing.

geforce 3