For the best 2D and 3D performance, go with a GeForce 3 video card. Sure, today you might be buying your first PC and not plan to play any 3D games.
Many people say that they just want to run a word processor and use e-mail.
One acceptable reason for getting a cheap AGP video card in your system is if you don't want to spend a lot right now, but plan to upgrade it in the future. Video chips designed for motherboards offer poor 3D performance, and are sometimes annoying to upgrade. If you are just buying a super-cheap computer and don't care, then that's your decision. If you happen to get integrated 3D graphics, at least make sure that there's an AGP slot on the motherboard so that you can upgrade your video properly. If you don't have one, your only option will be a PCI video card, and ATI and Nvidia are not making their newest cards in PCI versions.