video card recommendation?!!

Yea, peeps i would like to know what you people would recommend for me. Ok, so here's my situation, i'm currently in my 1st year in college and i'm enrolled in creative arts prog which is the path i need to take in order to one day work as a game designer. See the thing is i like to play the games. Ok, so recently my BFG geforce FX5500 agp 4x died out :C. It was a decent card since i wasn't and still am not a graphic whore.(if it looks decent im happy) I played BF 2142 on my cousins comp and i liked it. So since now i had to shove my old mx440 in in order to see the screen i can't play shit . The thing is at around mid february im geting prob dell xps or alienware for school (and games ), but all i want is a quick fix so that i will be able to play BF2142 either at low or mid settings or some newer games. I was looking at the ati radeon 9600 because it was agp 4x but i really don't know the dif. So i would like to know with around 200$ CDN so 150$ americano around what would be my best option. Here are my pc specs, please don't mock it.

Comp specs:

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name MATT
User Name Mat-Lina

Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4, 2400 MHz (18 x 133)
Motherboard Name AOpen AX4B-533 (6 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 CNR, 3 DIMM, Audio)
Motherboard Chipset Intel Brookdale i845E
System Memory 1280 MB (PC2100 DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type Award (11/14/02)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM2)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400 (64 MB)
3D Accelerator nVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400
Monitor Philips 170S (170S6) [17" LCD] (BZ 132655)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Creative SB Live! 5.1 Digital (SB0220) Sound Card
Audio Adapter Intel 82801DB ICH4 - AC'97 Audio Controller [A-1]

Storage:
IDE Controller Intel(R) 82801DB Ultra ATA Controller
SCSI/RAID Controller D346PRT SCSI Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive Maxtor 6Y060L0 (60 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133)
Optical Drive Generic DVD-ROM SCSI CdRom Device
Optical Drive HL-DT-ST CD-ROM GCR-8520B (52x CD-ROM)
Optical Drive PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-110D (DVD+R9:8x, DVD-R9:8x, DVD+RW:16x/8x, DVD-RW:16x/6x, DVD-RAM:5x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:40x/32x/40x DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 58635 MB (16200 MB free)

my power supply is either 300 or 350W.

Thank you, o yea i think my agp is 4x

 

u build this yourself? if so, you can always overclock to get more performance if u arent happy where u stand right now. anyways, i have this card: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2201323&CatId=318
and its great

this is also a possibility: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1779348&CatId=0
probably the best bang for your buck as far as AGP goes

the only thing im wqorried about is your PSU which may not be able to handle a new card. can u double check on the watts?

this is a good card as well: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2169044&CatId=0
or this: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2484234&CatId=0

 

You Dropped the Ball VB, He needs some AGP 4X Cards yo I do not think his comp can run a 8X Id Look for some cards but I am Busy right now

 

as far as i know, most (if not all) 8x cards can run at 4x in a 4x mobo, just like pc3200 memory can run in a pc2700 mobo but at pc2700 speeds.

if u can find evidence otherwise id love to see it. and no, thats not sarcastic

 

ill double check my wattage and repost, thx man for all them links ima start coming here more often you peeps are so helpful. short and to the point just the way i like it, thx viper

 

ok so i checked and i got 300 happy watts. (300w)

:C

PS: i don't need the best i just need a bit better than the min like med settings in graphics.

 

well, if u built it yourself then you can upgrade the PSU relatively cheap, 40 bucks or so (USD)

id go for this card: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2484234&Tab=2&NoMapp=0
as it doesnt seem to have a minimum power requirement. if it does, i cant find it anywhere on the net

 

so do i get it? It looks good. Hey is a Sapphire ATI Radeon X1600PRO 256MB any good? if it only says its agp 8x is it ok that my mobo is agp 4x?

 

id go for it. you can always return it if it doesnt work out. again, in case u just keep forgetting or whatever....did u build this computer yourself? or is it a Dell or HP or something like that?

 

o this guy made it for us,all of the goodies are in a shitty white tower lol

 

yea, its not bad and will get the job done; the x1650 is one step above it. Why do u ask?

mess around with this to see the performance of each card
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html

 

heres the link for what i am going to buy:
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150042842972&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=005

may you please verify, it looks legit hes from canada and so am i. The thing is the power i need, and lets say i were to buy a 400 or 450w psu would it be hard to put in or is it just a couple of screws or do i have to solder stuff.

Once again merci, ive never this many replies and help in any other forums.

 

OMG I FOUND it finally viper i found how much power i need heres the link:

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic58818.html

i guess no need to buy a new one? :$ !

 

wait now i found this!

http://cgi.ebay.ca/HIS-ATI-RADEON-X...hZ005QQcategoryZ80184QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem

its the his one bit both of these cards are gddr2 memory but my ram is ddr is that of importance?

 

yea that card looks great. the performance isnt gonna be the same but it should still hold up decently. Upgrading the PSU is easy and, like u said, is just pulling out the old one and sticking in the new one and attaching the cables. Only 4 screws If it comes to that, let us know and we'll help pick one out for ya.

Yeah, this is a great site

Edit: if ya want the one below, get the new one from TigerDirect. I posted the links from the Canada site for ya in case ya hadnt noticed

 

so am i safe with a 300w psu? for either of the two cards?

 

should be. just to double check, can u see how many amps u have on the 12v rail? it should be on the sticker of your PSU under/next to +12V. It should be around 18A

 

it says 10A next to 12v

 

:C ...... your only 17 shit so am i but you got the comp stuff down lol. So im guessing that now they wont work on my amazing system so what would be another option?

 

If you aren't a gaming "whore" as you said, then you won't need the new Direct X 10 cards that are coming out VERY soon, but if you are prepared to wait (i believe a bit over a month), you can get those for around 449 USD.

If not, the DX9 are fine, I'd get a 7900GT.

 

would this be a good enuf psu viper?

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1389575&CatId=1078

or is there a lesser video card i may get so i wouldnt need to buy a new psu?

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2201323&Tab=2&NoMapp=0

how bout that badboy?

Well, im out ill scan through this forum all day 2moro. THANKS MAN!!!!

 

josh, he needs an AGP card

lol i have that same PSU and it runs all my stuff fine. Ive got the same video card as well haha. Either video card will do what u want it to as long as u upgrade ye olde PSU lol. Alrighty, im outta here too. Tomorrow awaits! dang, im hyper tonight...geez...

 

so u got the xfx geforce? even if its agp 8x it's ok?