Which graphics card is better?

Are either one or another(PCIexpress or AGP), very few are both. PCIx are in theory more than twice as fast given a "wider" bandwidth on the bus, but there have been some real world benchmarks which compare similar cards and show little difference. Still for the future, I would use PCIexpress since AGP has a limited life span.

Of the two cards you mention, the x1300 is a much much better card, faster and able to use newer shaders. Tom's hardware has good benchmarks, but the FX5500 is an older card, and there may not be a direct comparison.

James

It depends on the hardware you have and what you prefer to use. I have used Invidia from the beginning and really don't care for ATI. I use a PNY VERTO GeForce 5200 and a 3D Fusion Geforce MX 4000 in my two older systems. My new system has two EVGA Geforce 7300GT cards which are SLI. Since you are using an Athlon the type of Motherboard would usually determine the type of videocard you must use wether PCIe or AGP so the final preference is to the manufacturer. would it make any difference to know that INVIDIA now owns ATI at a cost of 5.4 billion dollars? possibly, but the personal preference usually rules in the end.

If you have an SLI motherboard and you want to use that function you MUST have TWO IDENTICAL CARDS INSTALLED IN THE MOTHERBOARD, Same specifications and connected with the SLI Video Link Card. under normal operation both cards will generate output but under SLI only the main card wil generate output and the other monitor will be blank. Believe me, you will be astounded by the performance under SLI.

I don't know what Athlon you have (I have the 5200+) but check and compare the specs and prices for the ATI and Invidia cards for your board that you like and then decide. You are the only one you need to make happy on this and I hope any info I have given you helps to bring you closer to that point.

Good Luck!