PCI Video card for an ancient system

[Germonicus]

My Fiancee is running a very old and crappy system,she's on a budget and can't really afford a full new system.I mailed her (she's in the USA and I'm in the UK) my old 9800 Pro card assuming she'd have at very least an AGP slot but it's so old it only has 3 PCI slots.

My question is,what's the best video card we can get that's PCI? So far the best I can find is a Geforce FX5200 for around $40 but does anyone know if there's anything better?

Also do you think the FX5200 will run (albeit in the very lowest settings possible) Lord of the rings online or WoW?

 

[BlueAcolyte]

On newegg, there is a Radeon X1300 or X1550, as well as a Geforce 6200.

 

[KrillBee]

what kind of proc does it have in it? my guess is that if its only pci, then the cpu is probably pretty slow too, so upgrading the vid card might not even matter

 

[bullbert]

Originally posted by: KrillBee
what kind of proc does it have in it? my guess is that if its only pci, then the cpu is probably pretty slow too, so upgrading the vid card might not even matter

I think even my ancient Pentium I had an AGP slot. I know for a fact that my Pentium II had a AGP rev1.0 slot (which I think is NOT compatible with the "modern" rev2.0 slots). She might have gotten an old server computer (from someones hand-me-downs) where display features are generally meaningless. Either way, depending on her OS, memory, etc, her system is probably not capable of running any "enjoyable" games, anyway.

Save your/her money, and jump on the next cycle of Dell or Acer deals which involve stacking coupons or model closeouts. I beat out the ebay hoarders and got a $169 (Athlon 64, free shipping, 12.5 months ago) Dell outlet machine for mom, so I know deals can be had from time to time. Dell super deals are slowing, however. Search AT Hot Deals from some of the Acer deals this past summer at CC to get an idea what B&M deals to look for, and for some of the Dell deal this past fall to get an idea what mail order deals to look for in the near future.

Sounds like you two live in radically different time zones, so even MMO games together would be a pain.

 

[tcsenter]

Can't beat this:

EVGA 256-P1-N399-LX GeForce 6200 256MB PCI - $40.00 shipped AR

The FX5200 is way slower than GF6200, which is probably more comparable to FX5500.

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: tcsenter
Can't beat this:

EVGA 256-P1-N399-LX GeForce 6200 256MB PCI - $40.00 shipped AR

The FX5200 is way slower than GF6200, which is probably more comparable to FX5500.

fx5500 is actulaly an fx5200 with higher clocks.


a 6200 is way way faster than either.

 

[f4phantom2500]

Originally posted by: bullbert

Originally posted by: KrillBee
what kind of proc does it have in it? my guess is that if its only pci, then the cpu is probably pretty slow too, so upgrading the vid card might not even matter

I think even my ancient Pentium I had an AGP slot. I know for a fact that my Pentium II had a AGP rev1.0 slot (which I think is NOT compatible with the "modern" rev2.0 slots). She might have gotten an old server computer (from someones hand-me-downs) where display features are generally meaningless. Either way, depending on her OS, memory, etc, her system is probably not capable of running any "enjoyable" games, anyway.

Save your/her money, and jump on the next cycle of Dell or Acer deals which involve stacking coupons or model closeouts. I beat out the ebay hoarders and got a $169 (Athlon 64, free shipping, 12.5 months ago) Dell outlet machine for mom, so I know deals can be had from time to time. Dell super deals are slowing, however. Search AT Hot Deals from some of the Acer deals this past summer at CC to get an idea what B&M deals to look for, and for some of the Dell deal this past fall to get an idea what mail order deals to look for in the near future.

Sounds like you two live in radically different time zones, so even MMO games together would be a pain.

i have a friend with an old(ish) dell that only has pci slots, but it has a p4. it wouldn't be too hard for her to just check...

 

[Germonicus]

Thanks for the hints and advice.

She's running a P4 2.6 cpu but when she bought the system it was a refurb (and sadly she knows next to nothing about PC's) I keep suggesting she buy a new PC or even just a mobo/cpu but she's just bought a new home and a new car so she's kinda stretched financially.

The 6200 on Newegg looks like the one we'll be going for,it's also WAY cheaper than the FX5200 she was looking at in Wal-Mart

As to the playing MMORPG's on 2 different continents ,we did it before so the time difference isn't too bad for us.