Either Radeon 9000 pci (I'm still waiting for that one to become available), which will be the best when it comes out, or MX440 PCI (best available now). If you are going to buy new, the MX440 can be had for the same price as Best Buy's MX420, with a faster GPU and ddr vs. sdram on the mx420. I just got my mx440 pci last week for under $100 (search "MX440 pci" at pricewatch.com). I have a Dell with onboard video (bitesisgust and no AGP, and the switch was well worth it. First day, I decided to go ahead and try my first oc'ing experience with the 440. All of a sudden, my monitor would not work above 800x600 resolution. Tried several drivers, nothing worked. Took card back to Amamax (shameless plug here , these guys ruled, made my first vid card return painless) and got a new one exchanged with no hassles. Later, found out the card had been worked perfectly, I had just forgotten to switch the monitor settings from "default" back to "Dell monitor" after installing the 440. So, to sum it up, if your friend will not switch mobo's and he has $100 budget, have him get the 440. Or if he wants to wait, he can get the 9000 PCI, or he can purchase my 440 () when I purchase the 9000. Hope that helps.