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[lachesis]

I have this ancient PC at home, which I went blank few weeks ago. I suspected that my video card was shot, and I borrowed an ol' Quadro2 MXR card from work - and it's working. Thus I came to conclusion that my card is bad, and if I wanted to keep this system alive, I'd better replace it.

I could easily trash this old PC, but I've decided to keep it for basically internet purposes (Connected to my TV via DVI). For more graphic intensive uses (3d and gaming), I'm currently building a decent PC w/ Q6600 and 512mb 8800 GTS w/ G92 chipset, etc. For this ol' pc - I'm just thinking of maybe adding a bit more ram, perhaps a new HDD and replace this old CPU to a slightly faster one... and add a new video card. Thing is, I've never upgraded a video card before, so I have no idea which one I should get.

So here's basic my mid 2002-esque Dell Dimension 8200.

Pentium 4 2.0 ghz - 400 mhz fsb. I understand that they have 2.4 ghz for 400 mhz mbs, so I'm going to get one... hopefully pretty cheap

512 mb of RD-Ram. Now this is problem for me, because I found out this Rambus ram's obsolete, so it's rather hard to find and pretty expensive too. Since my mb supports to 1gb, I'm thinking of adding additional 512 (256x2), but I can live w/ current memory as well, as I've spent quite a lot of money for the new system. (I see this 512 module can go pretty high on ebay... which I might buy or might not.)

Now, the main question, the video card that needs to be replaced:

GeForce 4 Ti 4600. It's sitting on AGP slot, according to the system info, my mb can support upto AGP x4. (So no AGP x8 only cards please).

And here's the kicker. My Dell came w/ 250w PSU, so it kinda narrows down the choice that I have. Thus it needs to run w/o power problem with my current setup, which has 2 CD/DVD rom, 1 HDD and 3 PCI cards. (sound/network/usb2) I have wi-fi PCI card in there, but I'm going landline soon for this one.

So here's the criteria for the card:

AGP x4 Videocard, better than GeForce 4 Ti. DVI output required, and consumes ample amount of power so that it can run stable w/ my 250w PSU. Price range I'm looking for is nothing higher than 60-70 dollars max. All this will be doing is to surf internet and read some GAF on TV, and watch some anime, non movies, and perhaps some light retro gaming.

Please recommend me the best graphics card for my system!

Thanks in advance,
lachesis

 

[mcgarrett]

I don't normally use TigerDirect, but this Geforce FX 5200 might work for you. It says the minimum PSU requirement is 250W, but might be pushing it. (especially with a generic Dell PSU)

Edit: eh, this may be AGP X8 only.

 

[lachesis]

thx! I'll look into that. I'm actually leaning towards Radeon 9600 Pro... that I hear it's got ver low-power consumption level... (so hopefully it won't kill my PSU. )

 

[Kapsama]

I wouldn't touch a Geforce FX 5200. They have problems with their DVI output, especially when connecting to TVs.

 

[Captain Nemo]

AGP x8 cards are backward compatible, so you can use them with your x4 motherboard.

The 5200 is weaker (see this) than your former card but has more features (ie. dx9) though it should be fine for your purposes. Frys had a silent 256MB version of it free after rebate on black friday and boxing day. I picked one up as a spare for my own old machine and in case if I ever wanted to upgrade (or perhaps its a downgrade) it to Vista.