I'm running Spore on NVIDIA 7600gs APG and it runs fine with settings all at high apart from shadows. (apart from the probs that spore has anyway

)
I also play Call of Duty 4 and that runs very well at high, it only struggles to play Crysis but then who don't...lol.
£60ish from pcworld ....you dont have to spend alot to keep an old pc going, mines 6 years ( ok i do want a new one..lol )
BTW..mine is only running at 4xAPG not 8x.