i guess a video card that is 7 years old

[mbossman2]

has done me great duty...but it is time to replace my 16mb Nvidia card for something that is a little more up to date.

Couple this with the fact that my knowledge of video cards (as well as my interest in reading up on them ---network gear fills my available spare time) i am coming to ya'll to get some suggestions:

I need a card that will operate in a 4x AGP slot and cost somewhere between $30 and $45 (yes, I am a cheap SOB and don't believe in buying on the cutting edge)...whats your advice?

(mostly mid to low end gaming is the reason I need to upgrade)

[WhatsThisBoxFor?]

For $45 you can get a Radeon 9200se, although se is sometimes called slow edition with 128mb of ram it is bigger, and better than your current card. It is the only card I could find in your price range that supports DX8.1 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-240-003&depa=0

If you want to stick to nVidia card then you can get a 64mb mx4000 card, but it only has DX 7 support so I would go for the above card. If you don't want the ati it is at http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-164-013&depa=0

What games do you plan on playing?

Edit: For just $3 dollars more you can get a Sapphire card, they make good cards and so if you can stretch your budget higher I would go for that.

[mbossman2]

---question deleted---

to me, as I am not cutting edge, absolute top performance is not a big issue, I am looking for good solid middle of the road, stable card.

Most of the games I play are strategy rpgs etc...what has initiated this is I bought Star wars Knights of the old republic and it squawked at the video card.

Edited to remove a really dumb question posed by a hung over brain

[glc]

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-244&depa=1

Best thing out there under $45.

[mbossman2]

thanks guys

[VideoQuasar]

wait, one more

you may need this card....the mobo has no use for 8x does it?......that and being a legacy system you may need the bundled PCI slot adapter....

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-135-129&depa=0

and it tops the chart here for FPS bucks

http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/vga-charts-16.html

[mbossman2]

the system has a 4x AGP slot...if I go with an 8X capabale card it will step down to deal with a 4x slot. yes? as you can see i tend to hold onto parts and pieces for a long time (for example this video card is on its 3rd mobo....currently a K7T MSI with an Athlon 1700+ and is the oldest component in the system)

[glc]

No, that's a GF4 MX440 on top of that chart - you linked to a GF2 MX400.

A 8X card works fine in a 4X slot, and only takes about a 2% performance hit, nothing you will ever notice. The Radeon 9200 is 3rd on that chart and is the highest current production card. That chart only considers FPS and there's a lot more to a video card than just that. ANY Radeon will *look* a lot nicer than anything Nvidia has ever produced, the difference in 2D color quality and display clarity is very noticeable.