Pink Poogle Toy Forum

I come to you a total techno dummy and ask your patience and help please?

OK, my computer is almost 6 years old and was built for me:

AMD Athlon XP 1800+
1.54 Ghz
Gigabyte motherboard GA-7VRX and is AGP 2.0 compliant - 2x/4x mode
VIA KT266/333 chipset
1 gig ram (DDR)
80 gig hd, about 80% free resources
cd wr
dvd
floppy
modem and nic
Thermaltake 425watt dual fan PSU
Roadrunner cable internet
15" LCD monitor
Visioneer 5800 USB scanner
Kodak C300 digital camera and dock
USB is 2.0
Win XP SP1 (can't get SP2 to play nice for some reason)
This is a stand-alone computer, run standard. No overclocking (whatever that really is), just as it was built. And no, I have no intention of trying to overclock, don't get it, afraid I'll fry everything!

Currently my graphics card is a Hercules 3DProphet 4500 Kyro series 64 MB. The company that made that card is no longer in business.

It must be an AGP (it took me about a week to figure all this out), that much I know know. and the box from my motherboard says it's nVidia GeForce4 compliant. And I know I want a fan on the card, not just a heatsink - have heat problems as it is.

I'm looking at these 2 cards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... etailSpecs
PNY Geforce FX5700LE

I like this one because it's not only 128MB but 128-bit ... I'm guessing that's better?

and

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130207
eVGA Geforce FX550
128MB, 64-bit.

I ran one of those online tests from PowerLeap, called InSpecs, and this one was recommended:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130197
which is eVGA Geforce FX5500 but 256MB, 128-bit. This was the first card I looked at that I really liked, thinking it wouldn't need an upgrade again for a long time. A computer person said he thought it would be too much for my computer, and some people on the forum I stumbled across and found this test said not to trust their recommendations.

I worry because my motherboard is 2x/4x - not 4x/8x. According to this:

http://www.evga.com/support/faq/afmview ... x?faqid=27

the eVGA cards "Should" be backwards compliant. I still wonder if that 256 especially wouldn't be putting too much of a strain on my computer.

I am completely and totally lost. I am on a fixed income, so getting a new computer or even a new motherboard and the card is out of the question. The graphics (excuse me, video card!) is all I can afford - barely. Along with the fact that I think I need new ram (I have mismatched cards and I don't know if they're working quite right?).

And I'm definitely getting a hd cooler because I just don't have great air flow and in the summer I've been having to take the cover off, which I sure don't like doing - but those are cheap.

I don't want to asplode my computer or have it be constantly freezing or crashing because I got a card that was too much for it. Nor do I want a card that will lag, move slowly or "jerkily" or have lines, etc. on graphics heavy sites or playing my online (yes, mainly neo flash/shockwave and other online flash/shockwave) games.

I don't do the multi-player type of games (Halo, WoW, etc.), but I do do lots of graphics, surf alot, sometimes watch a movie and always check out the newest music/videos every week online. Oh and a friend might be giving me her Sims, since she doesn't really use it anymore. Also have psp7 as my graphics program with MGI photosuite as emergency backup for photos.

Please help a very confused person, you wonderful computer geniuses? Thanks!

A Geforce 4 Ti or FX5200 128MB should be ok if you're not going to play 3D games like FEAR, COD2.

But personally, a Geforce 4 MX 440 is ok for graphics work...excluding 3dsmax.

Up until a few months ago I was using an FX5200. It worked fine. It could even (barely) run CoD2 and BF2. So if you don't need to run anything more intensive then that, I would recommend that card. BTW, every other week Fry's Electronics sells FX5200 for very cheap and with a huge rebate. They are virtually free.

However, it wasn't good enough for me. I bought a geforce 6600GT for around $150. It has worked great so far, though it might not be compatible with 2x/4x (i'm not sure). Currently it is around $130.