How on earth to compare video cards?

[d000hg]

I'm finally going to get a better video card, but not being the kind of guy who follows every new card I'm largely lost with knowing what's what.
My search is for a low-end < £50 card.
Looking on the manufacturer's websites just gets all their PR crap, and with the various MX/SE versions of chipsets it's not that simple anyway! I am tempted to just use kelkoo and base the quality on the price but that's unlikely to be great.

So here are some key questions to help me make a decision. They'd apply to any video-card purchase not just low-end.


What cards are in my price-bracket (I know of GF4000MX, GF5200, GF6200A, Radeon9250, Radeon 9550SE)
Is there a site where I can do a feature comparison for 2 cards side-by-side

Recommendations? In terms of speed & features....?
IThe Radeon9550SE sounds nice; I believe the 9250 is lame, the Gf4000MX outdated and the GF5200 feature-rich but slow. Otherwise I'm lost.

[FastGame]

Hi d000hg

What are you needing out the card ? if your not gaming then any of the low end models are fine.

Make sure the card supports Direct X 9

Comparison Guide (http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?location=3&var1=88&var2=0)

[d000hg]

I'd like to play some games but I'm not into playing the newest games at maximum detail. I do some programming so a good featureset is useful, but all the newer cheap cards have at least shader version 2.0 and support DX9.0.

That comparision site is pretty useful, thanks.
Can anyone add to this list of budget modern cards:

nVidia Geforce FX5200
nVidia Geforce 6200
ATI Radeon 9250
ATI Radeon 9550SE

It seems all of these are actually about the same speed of a Geforce2 except the 6200, which is also the only shader 3.0 & DX9.0c compliant card. Apparently it exists in AGP flavour, not just PCIe?