Best card for this comp

[earth4x]

AMD Athlon XP, 1466 MHz (11 x 133) 1700+
ECS K7S5A (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 AMR, 2 SDR DIMM, 2 DDR DIMM, Audio)
512 Mo (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)

What could be the best videocard for a system like this... to get optimal performances in games? I know it's a mediocre system but it's my buddy's pc and he doesn't want to upgrade it just yet.. Could a 9600xt fill the shoes of his gf4mx400? or would the computer slow everything down ?

[F_A_L_C_O_N]

9600XT would be a good choice, however, if budget allows go for 6600GT, which is a much better card and should last longer.
CPU would be a bottleneck, but he could enable some visual goodies and up the resolution, so its not like card would go to waste.

[ThreeOnTheTree]

Yeah, I recommended the 6600GT to a buddy with a 2.0ghz P4 setup. He listened, bought it, and loves it.