What's a good, cheap, gaming Graphics Card for an inexperience "graphic card" shopper?

Question

Okay, I need a new Graphics Card for games....

I'm using an ATI Radeon 9250 128 MB graphics card in a Dell 2400 computer right now. Not the best, but I'm able to play such games as Star Wars Galaxies with it.

I am oblivious to Graphic Card lingo, the entire "X1600 series" and "8800 series" boggles me so be nice when explaining.

I'm just looking for a good, 256 or 512MB Graphics Card so I can play games smoothly, with as little lag/loading time as possible, for as little as possible. Playing at low, medium, and high settings doesn't matter as much, but its always a bonus. I'd prefer my price range to be within $50 and $150. And I'd prefer 512MB.

I've seen 512MB cards on Ebay for around 80 bucks (link below), anything wrong with those?

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-ATI-Radeon-X1600Pro-PCI-E-512MB-Video-Graphics-Card_W0QQitemZ250174429192QQihZ015QQcategoryZ80184QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


Thank you!

Answer 1

There are two main types of slots for graphics cards, AGP and PCI Express. Unfortunately for you, your comuter has neither of those slots, so you are stuck with a very limited selection of cards that use the PCI interface. This is the best card that you can use in your computer:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129062
it is an improvement over what you have, but nothing huge.

EDIT: With all due respect to my esteemed colleague Karz, that computer uses the 845GV chipset, which does NOT include an AGP slot. Do not buy one of those cards he suggested, you will quite disapointed when you get it home and it will not fit in your computer.

Answer 2

i assume you're speaking about RCT3. It does take so a lot more desirable video substances than a 6150 can furnish. in case you at the prompt are not thinking replacing a video card, you are able to attempt to lessen the determination contained in the options. The pics will be worse, notwithstanding the FPS will be plenty smoother. when you're procuring for a video card, there are numerous playing cards to judge: yet earlier you should be certain once you've AGP or PCI exhibit. once you've PCI exhibit then you actually can get a GeForce 9800 GT for purely $one hundred on newegg or something like that. 9800 will ten thousand% be able to cope with optimal extremely extreme placing of RCT3

Answer 3

Your Dell is based on the i845 chipset that supports AGP but the expansion slot was not implemented on the motherboard used. http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1610&page=4
That card on e-bay is not compatible because it is a PCIe card.
Possible option:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2467314&Sku=V261-4014
But do not expect awesome result because the PCI slot is inherently SLOW.

EDIT: Upper post is right. I mistook the chipset to be i845G and not i845GV.

Answer 4

Get an 8600GT decent performance. for low price.

Answer 5

all i can say is when you go purchase one request a "dedicated" graphics card.