After recent discussions about whether or not people should upgrade because they find modern games quite playable on existing and so-called 'ancient' systems, here (http://techreport.com/etc/2004q3/doom3-midlow/index.x?pg=1) is a review by TechReport of how various low end, mid range and vintage graphics cards compare and perform when dealing with the modern Doom3 release.
Hope it is of some use.
TL.
The cards covered are:
Group1:
GeForce FX 5200 64MB
GeForce FX 5200 Ultra 128MB
GeForce4 Ti 4200 128MB
Radeon 8500LE 64MB
Radeon 8500 128MB
Radeon 9000 Pro 64MB
Radeon 9550 128MB
Parhelia-512 128MB
Group 2:
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra 128MB
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra GDDR3 128MB
GeForce FX 5800 Ultra 128MB
GeForce FX 5900 XT 256MB
GeForce4 Ti 4600 128MB
Radeon 9500 Pro 128MB
Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB
Radeon 9600XT 128MB
Radeon 9700 Pro 128MB