Please help select video card

[mooo]

I need a card to do basic work on my computer - software development. No gaming. No DVD.

Very confused by the number of different cards out there + the huge range in prices. Will a $20-$40 card do for me?

The most that I might do is add some photographs to front ends (HTML). Develop some web sites with some nice graphics maybe. Will watch some streaming video. Not sure if I need good 3D for these activities.

I will have Win XP Pro; do I need to get a card that supports Directx8?

Is there any point in getting a card with TV-out?

Any help or pointers to other info sources will be much appreciated.

I am of course on a tight budget, so I dont mind starting with something basic and upgrading later when the cash flow improves.

 

[Moishe]

For what you're looking for I recommend an ATi XPert Pro 8mb card in the configuration (PCI/AGP) that you need.
These cards do just fine for quality desktop work with no frills.
Pricewatch has em for as low as $13 USD, so you might be able to get one in your local store for very cheap.

I bought one for my wife's computer awhile back and it was cheap and has been great for a non-gaming workstation.

 

[AnAndAustin]

Any Radeon card should do you fine, for your uses it's also worth considering an old Matrox card, possibly even a Voodoo4 or Voodoo5 card if you can put up with the drivers (or lack of).

You don't need a card which supports DX7 let alone DX8, that's just about 3D perf and frills which you clearly don't need.

TV-out tends to add little to the cost of most cards, useful if you fancy streaming the pic from your PC to an external source like a VCR or TV set.