...I knew a lot about gaming hardware. But lately it is hard to keep up. So for instance I really like Nvidia cards, and I would like to upgrade my (wifes) current Gforce 4 TI, to a 6000+ card, I can't really find any reviews that I can really on to tell me if it is good or bad. Considering the nature of where I live it is hard for me to return things so I would like this to be a one stop shop. I don't have PCI-e just AGP.

Any advice on which card to buy (wether Nvidia or Radeon) would be very much appreciated. Primarily I need it to run Sims2 really well, and display bump mapping.

Well, both ATI and NVidia cards are good, the only real difference is if you want high speed (NVidia) or better graphics quality (ATI) at the high end. I used to have a Gforce 5600 FX Ultra, a decent card that never gave me any trouble with games like Halflife 2, Homeworld 2, or other recent games. My next PC though will feature a Radeon X600 PRO, simply because I want to "try something new".

I'd get a GeForce 6600GT if I were in the market to upgrade at the moment. They're a great mid-range card, had for about $160.

I refer to Ars Technica's system guide for good, level-headed recommendations on hardware.

When EQ2 came out I picked up a couple of 6800 GTs, and I've had some really good experiences with the, though I have heard a lot of complaints on various forums.

A good place to look for hardware comparisons & reviews is:

www.tomshardware.com

Actually, TomsHardware tends to have biased reviews. Can anyone say "nepotisim"? Anandtech.com is a better way to go; they're currently only being bribed by Gigabyte inc.
To reply to Omega Skip, the X600 Pro is just the 9600 pro with a PCI-e adapter. It's probbably no faster, and likely slower, than the card you already own. The x700 is nearly three times as fast; you might want to look at getting one of those instead.
To reply to the initial topic, you might want to look at a GEforce FX 6600gt card. It's fast, and, from what I've seen, they're nice cards for the money. If you don't need the speed, the X700 supposedly gets somewhat better colors and shading, but, unless you're a graphics artist, you're not likely to notice the difference, and the 6600 is nearly 35% faster, if I'm not mistaken.
MSI and Chaintech both make some pretty well-rated AGP 6600 cards at reasonable prices. You can see some reviews at my particular favorite PC item vendor, Newegg.com. (You can't beat the service. Trust me, if this thing dies, you'll be happy you did.)
Link:
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/ProductList...ompareItemList=