which video card should I buy?

[Guest]

I am needing to upgrade my video card. Which is better for my system the,
Radeon 128mb ATI or the Geforce 5200 series? I have a HP pavilion 520w. It
has windows xp, 40gb hard drive. 256mb, 1.3 GHz processor.

 

[Jim Macklin]

What do you do with the computer? What software or games do
you play? How large is your budget and how long do you
intend to keep the computer?

ATI Radeon comes in several series, so include TV in/out and
capture [All-in-Wonder]. You computer is now getting old,
the hard drive is smallish, the CPU is slow, consider what
and when you'll upgrade and whether you'll want to move some
hardware to a new machine.


--
The people think the Constitution protects their rights;
But government sees it as an obstacle to be overcome.


|I am needing to upgrade my video card. Which is better for
my system the,
| Radeon 128mb ATI or the Geforce 5200 series? I have a HP
pavilion 520w. It
| has windows xp, 40gb hard drive. 256mb, 1.3 GHz
processor.
| --
| help please

 

[Gus Davis]

Yes, I agree with Jim.

Before you even try and open your computer case ...video card in one hand,
screwdriver in the other, you must consider those factors that Jim mentioned
about your current system.

There are a lot of variables to consider. Sometimes if you're doing an
upgrade like your video card, you might consider upgrading your motherboard.
Which will mean you will have to invest in some RAM & CPU.

It's something to consider when you think most good video cards cost about a
little more than a third of the cost to do this upgrade.