Help me find a new video card!

As the title says, I think it's time to upgrade my video card. Especially since I've been playing on the same one since Issue 1.

So here's the CoH Helper info:

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.1.1.8---

DxDiag gathered at January 19, 2010 18:31 (-08:00)
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090804-1435)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
System Model: Dimension 4600i
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A10
Central Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.06GHz
Memory: 2558MB
.Net Memory Report: 1784MB out of 2558MB available
Page File: 3807MB (645MB currently in use)
C Drive: (ST380011A) 49286MB out of 72002MB (68%) free
D Drive: (HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8163B) zero-size drive
E Drive: (SAMSUNG CD-R/RW SW-252S) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DirectX Diag version: 5.03.2600.5512 (32-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor's Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce FX 5200
Video Memory: 128.0 MB
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.7519
Driver Date: 5/16/2008 2:01:00 PM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: SoundMAX Digital Audio
Driver File: smwdm.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.3600
Driver Date: 5/6/2003 6:14:34 AM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corp.
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: 0F4491
Motherboard Version:
BIOS Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
BIOS Name: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A10
BIOS Version: DELL - 7
BIOS Release: 20040517000000.000000+000

Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1440x853
3D Resolution: 1440x853 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: No
Maximized: Yes
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: No

Physics Quality: Low
Maximum Particles: 15766
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No

Anti-aliasing: None
Anisotropic Filtering: None
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: None
Bloom: 1.000 (turned off)
Depth of Field Enabled: No
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: No
Shader Detail: Low (with world bumpmaps)

World Texture Level: Medium
Character Texture Level: Medium
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: No
Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of Extra Player FX Enabled: No
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.000
Music Sound Volume: 0.000

Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 0.600
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: Unknown bytes/second
Current Game Version: 1600.20091102.9T4
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
No modifications found

I'd like not to go above $150 range for a card at the most, but I'd prefer more of a $75-$90 range if at all possible.

---

Couple of things first off....

Do you know what wattage your power supply is?
Is your current video card AGP or PCI (Old style)?

To be perfectly honest, I'd say save your money as you'll just be wasting it on a video card. With your current system you're not going to get a decent card (at least by today's standards). Work on getting yourself a better system overall. You can build a decent one these days for $500 or less (sometimes including a fairly decent video card).

---

We'll see....

According to the specs for the system, it's got an AGP slot and a 250 Watt power supply. Knowing what I do of Dell's, it's very probable that it's a non-standard sized power supply.

As far as upgrading your video card, I'd have to agree with Flameshot. At Newegg in the 50-75 price range, there are three nVidia 6200 cards that will fit with your system specs, although the power supply may still be a bit light. In the 75-100 range there is one nVidia 7600 card and this would strain the power supply a bit more I think.

I didn't bother with pricing an AGP version of an ATI card in those price ranges.

Overall I don't think you'd be getting much bang for your buck upgrading the video card. As with Flameshot, I'd recommend saving up to replace your entire computer.

---

If the game spit out 20 dollar bills people would complain that they weren't sequentially numbered. If they were sequentially numbered people would complain that they weren't random enough.

Black Pebble is my new hero.

Ah, I was hoping it wouldn't come to that. Oh well!

Thanks for the info guys!

---

Mate, it would be a waste of money and effort to upgrade a card on a machine that old. Better off saving the cash until you can build a new machine.

My secondary computer is a dell 4600 like yours and thats simply too old to spend cash on. It was a good computer in its time but its not going to give much better performance by sticking yet another agp card in it.

---

Friends don't let friends buy an ncsoft controlled project.

It may be worth looking at the second hand market. I'd expect you should be able to find something better for around a tenner - and probably similar in carriage costs.
New cards to fit AGP or PCI are likely to be more expensive than higher spec modern cards. At least its not a VESA slot.

I'd agree that it would be a better option to bite the bullet look at replacing the whole PC - even the cheapest PC out there would give a big increase in performance.

---

Mind of Gaia lvl 50 Defiant's first Mind/Storm 'troller.
Deadly Doc 50 Dark/Dark Corr
and lots more on Pinnacle,Union and Defiant