Inexpensive decent PCI Bus Video Card?

[squireglig]

A friend of mine bought a new computer pre-built by Dell, and the mothervoard has neither a PCI-e slot nor an AGP slot.

She has come to decide the onboard video (GMA900) isn't good enough to play some newer games properly. She doesn't want to play anything with high system requirements, like HL2 or BF2, but games like Fable, Need for Speed Underground, etc.

So, I believe a PCI Bus video card would be a good solution. I've seen a GeForce fx5500 for $129 CAD and am wondering if this would be adecent upgrade? How are the PCI Bus video cards in comparison to the same AGP model? Is there ahuge difference? Would this be worth the money? What would be best in a price to preformace view? I've seen some Geforce MX4000s and radeon 9250s for about $80 CAD as well which might be an option.

I can't seem to find a much better video card than the fx5500 in PCI bus type.

The specs on her computer are as follows:

P4 3.0Ghz
512 Ram
Intel GMA900 128 MB
80GB HDD

Opinions?

[NANO3]

PCI bus is old and horrible, really slow speed

whats bad with the onboard ones is that they don't have their own ram system so they steal computer ram...

im guessing you should buy more ram , at least 1gb and then try out your onboard one, which might work better

but getting a PCI bus card is better than onboard

try FX5500 or FX5700LE < if available in PCI

google searches are swamped with PCI Express

:stare:

[Templarian]

^He speaks the truth. You are very limited with the old PCI.
Newegg has a few and you will notice they are all anceint tech.
Here (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1069609642&Subcategory=48&description=&srchInDesc=&minPrice=&maxPrice=&ATTR2=&ATTR3=&ATTR4=&ATTR5=&ATTR6=&ATTR8=&ATTR9=&ATTR10=2010380048+1069609642&ATTR11=&ATTR12=&ATTR14=&ATTR15=&ATTR16=&ATTR17=&ATTR18=) Yes the FX5500 would be your best bet.

//edit, after reading though those cards they all really sux. 4 pixelpipelines lol. What you want to be looking at is a Motherboard.

[squireglig]

The problem is the case is Dell, so I'm pretty sure she would have to buy another case and mobo. That plus a video card would turn out way to expensive I think.

The problem with the onboad is it's not too slow, but some games do not render properly. For example, the grass in Fable does not render at all, just white, and rivers render in yellow. haha.


after reading though those cards they all really sux. 4 pixelpipelines lol.

Would the PCI bus cards still be a decent improvement over the onboard?

I know that those cards are ancient, like the fx5500, but she doesn't need anything too crazy.

Offtopic
------------

It makes me wonder how good these new laptops (like the duo dells) perform with these onboard graphics. I was considering one for a while... but dealing with this i'm really glad I decided against it.

Also, how do you get the off topic thing? haha

[Templarian]

^... most people get dells with the actual vids (like 7800). and a fx5500 will play fable without a problem just go get it you have no other choice lol.

[NANO3]

yea both dells i've purchased i've gone for an extra video card, that's something that you have to have :smirk2:

[squireglig]

Yea, unfortunately, she bought a dell 'deal', which was about $700 and included the 17" Flat Panel... so not a terrible deal.

She's just a casual gamer, so the PCI card will probably do fine.

Another problem... I've seen a cheap PCI FX5500 from XFX.. the problem being it only has a DVI input.. and this monitor is analog only. Has anyone had any experience / problems using a DVI to VGA connector?

[Krilnon]

Off-topic is:

[minimalistik]

The small problem with Dell is what they choose to complete their packages with the Intel's Extreme Graphics which are not good at all (I've got one installed now). The old Nvidia Geforce 4 MX 440 could be a choice but it's defiinitely not going to play well for the new games out now; it can't run Need for Speed Most Wanted for example.

Purchase the video card recommended above and upgrade the RAM to 1GB.

Offtopic: Seriously Dell ripped your friend off even for that price. I mean a P4 3.0GHz? It should have a better card and space in the first place.

[squireglig]

Yea.. Dell is really cheaping out on the motherboards these days. Anything under $999CAD on the Canadian site does not come with a graphics card slot...

[minimalistik]

If the motherboard isn't going to be changed and you will be purchasing the FX5500, the 1GB of RAM will at least keep the existing system running smoothly.