Graphics Card Help Requested

The graphics card in my wife's computer died. It was a GeForce 6600, possibly GT, and to the best of my recollection, 256MB. She of course has integrated graphics, but she's becoming more and more frustrated with its (lack of) performance. New computers are on the horizon for both of us, but that will likely be most of a year from now.

What I'd like to do is purchase an inexpensive card to put in her system until that time. We haven't been running Ultra Mode at anything but the lowest settings, if at all, so that's not a consideration. I've tried to research this myself, with the aid of the Graphics Card Hierarchy chart found at Tom's Hardware, but the more I look at it, the more it confuses me. Why can't the numbers progress in a linear fashion instead of jumping around?

And thus I turn to this community for help. Here are the relevant details:

Dell Dimension 4700
PCI Express slot (probably v1.0)
Power Supply is 350 watts, maybe 400
I'd like a card that betters or at least equals the 6600 GT, but the 256MB is not a must
I don't want to spend more than $50.00, if at all possible, since the whole rig will be replaced in less than a year
I've been using nVidia, but I'm not opposed to Radeon

If more details are needed, please ask. Thank you for any and all suggestions or advice.

If you include mail-in rebate, there are a few nice cards for under $50.

For example the GT 430 is a nice card. Look for the ones with higher memory clocks.

I second that 430.

If you're swapping the whole system in a year anyhoo, the 430 is good enough for make-do for now.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

Firstly, thanks to Father Xmas and Hyperstrike for your help way back when. This whole project got delayed/back-burnered, as you might guess, but I'm now back with more questions.

Months ago, I replaced the old graphics card with a used card that was just the same. Cheap (as in free), I knew it would work, and etc. Now, that old card is balking at playing CoH/other games, so I'm trying again. Got this card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133356

Card arrived, properly and safely installed, booted up. DVI connected, if that makes a difference. Booted all the way to the desktop, then the PC locks up. Specifically, mouse cursor won't move. This happens in Safe Mode as well. Maybe not relevant, but I never get a notice of "Found new hardware" either.

Okay, says I, the card asks for a 350W power supply, and I've got 305W (not 350 as I earlier reported). I pick up a new 430W power supply, install it, and boot up. Forgot the floppy drive connection, and a message dutifully informs me of this. Power supply seems to be good, but the same locking up occurs, and at about the same point (after desktop is fully loaded).

Re-installed old card, and no lock-up, but still have graphic problems only when trying to play games. I think the fan on the old card is not working, and thus the card overheats, but that's neither here nor there.

Are there BIOS settings I forgot to adjust first, or is this card just too much for this MB? (MB specs here: http://www.ascendtech.us/dell-dimens...eldim4700.aspx )

Thanks in advance for all advice.

Sounds like it may be a hardware conflict? The manual says a led indicator of, yellow/green/yellow/green is a vid problem? Did you see that sequence and follow the trouble shooting steps? Maybe someone else will chime in with suggestions too.

sound like it an irq conflict. that the video card and the mouse or another pci device is trying to use the same irq. i wouldwith the old card boot into the bios and first see if you can turn off onboard video. in the bios there should be a setting for irq on most mb bios there set to auto to let the os set the devices up. some vendors may have them set irq port 1 to 9/ port 2 to 10 port or slot 3 to 11. this can cuase issus with plug and play os. if your mb does not have those settings then try and free up and irq..if you dont use the com ports or printer ports you can turn then off fre up irg 3/4/7. on thing with older system you may need to update the mb drivers. if the pci bridge drivers are old or out of date they can cause an issuse. just run the intel chipset update. with nvidia run a nvidia drive cleaner in safe mode after you downloaded the newest drivers. you can install the newerst drivers or ones that are newer then on the pc now then run nvidia update when the new card is working.