Need help with some graphics card advice

[Hobr0001]

I did a forum search and found out a few things, but a lot of the posts that came up first were more than a year old and I imagine things in this department change rather quickly.  Anyways, I recently had to remove my old graphics card (an ATI X700) because it was overheating and borking my computer (2 year old HP, 2 gigs of RAM).  When I took the card out the part where the fan was was so hot I couldn't even touch it, is that normal?  I am looking getting another card now cause the graphics suck without, and am looking in the sub 100$ range.  Any opinions about ATI vs Nvidia as far as reliability, I would like this new card to last until I get a new comp in about 2 years.  Also, what characteristic is the main thing to look for?  Do you want 256 Mb over 128 every time, or is clock speed like 400 vs 575 a big deal?  Also I have seen some cards where everything is the same except one is PCI software and one was AGP, difference there?  Some cards I have seen on the Best Buy site are the ATI X1050 and Geforce 7300 GT, anybody have experience with either?  Thanks for reading my way to long post.

[Killerbee3000]

tough case... but no worries.. i like a challenge<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/908627bbe5e9f6a080977db8c365caff.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />ok, it would be nice if we could get the detailed specs of the computer as it is right now., that would help a lot with figuring out what parts would be compatible and which not. a dxdiag would allready help a lot, how to get it below, (quoted from another thread(Credit for that to TSR-Jasonc))<span class="postbody">To create your DirectX Diagnostic (<i>DXDIAG</i>) information: <ol><li>Click on the START menu, select RUN and type in DXDIAG and select OK.</li><li>When the DirectX Diagnostic tool opens, click on the SAVE ALL INFORMATION button on the lower right, next to the EXIT button.</li><li>Save the DxDiag.txt to your desktop or other easily found location.</li><li>Copy and paste the contents to your thread.</li></ol></span>Hardware can run hot, 60 - 70 Celsius are not uncommon, but, it shoudnt be the case with non highend hardware such as your x700 graphicscard, to prevent overheating you should clean out all fans (and dustfilters if there are any) from dust that has built up over the time.

[antwar]

<p>well, personally i would go with an nvidia card myself, especially because of the fact that EQ2 is "designed" to run on nvidia hardware according to the splash screens, although i believe the ATI stuff has to still be supported. better safe than sorry imo.</p><p>anywho, for 100 bucks, i really dont have any ideas for you. i WOULd recommend getting, if you can find them yet that is, the new 8800GT video cards for around 200 bucks. according to the reviews i have read, (which admitedly isnt many) these cards are supposed to be on par performance-wise right in between the 8800GTS and the 8800GTX. mostly due to a new chip design with the same architecture. it sucks less power and uses a much smaller cooling fan.</p><p>on the subject of video card cooling, i HIGHLY suggest you invest in an aftermarket cooler, such as one from zalman. couple one of these with some new thermal paste (artic silver ceramique NOT artic silver 5, the ceramique is designed for video card and motherboard chipset heatsinks), and you have yourself one fast and more importantly, COOL card that also happens to support DX10.</p>

[Bloodfa]

<p>Step number 1, ignore Best Buy.  You'll pay $100 for a $30 piece of junk from them.  Go to <a href="http://www.newegg.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.NewEgg.com</a> and you'll get much more bang for your buck.  Just do a search in the forums for NewEgg and you'll see how many others will suggest buying from them.  I've bought the makings for about 8 computers from them, and countless upgrades.  Great customer support, and the best prices out there.  </p><p>For $100, I'd suggest either a GeForce 7600 or an ATI 1650.  You should be able to do that including tax & shipping for a c-note.</p>

[Killerbee3000]

guys.. you are a bit too fast there... not meant as an insult but.. we dont know his system spec yet. we dont know if he needs a agp or pci-e card.we dont know yet what power supply he got....

[Bloodfa]

Sorry, assumed AGP because it's a 2 year old HP with the X700.

[Hobr0001]

Thanks for all the help so far.  I'm at work so can't do the diagnostic thingy yet, but the comp is like I said a 2 year old HP that came with 1 gig Ram and I added 1 also.  It has an AMD athalon 64 3700 I believe thats runs at like 1.66 or close to there.  I am pretty sure the other card I had was PCI express so that works with my comp.  As for the power supply, ahhh, I plug it into wall?  lol, I know thats not what you mean prob but I'm not great with comp lingo so thats all I can think of right now.  I just wanted any tips like as far as which brand may be the better choice (like a honda civic will prob outlive a chevy cavalier).  Also are there certain things that matter more like clock speed or is it more dependant on your particualr set up?

[Dracosy]

don't know about clock speed, but 256 meg card is better than 128. my personal choice would be Nvidia as i've never had any probs with them. in regards to price, thats a hard question. i've learned the hard way that in the pc parts business you get what you pay for, so if you buy a cheap card, 9 outa 10 says it won't last long.try the online shop newegg.com they have good prices and a feedback section from other users

[Hobr0001]

<a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/HP_Administrator/Desktop/DxDiag.txt" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settin...ktop/DxDiag.txt</a>Ok, if this works, heres my system info, if it doesn't, I'm just slow

[Killerbee3000]

you cant link documents like that, you would have to copy paste the text in it into a forum post here,anyway, for the sub 100$ range there are several cards, the ATI 1650pro, avalaible for both agp and pci-e, the 2400XT and 8500GT (which are only avalaible in pci-e form(AGP versions would exceed your budget by a few $).I'll hold off recommending a specific one for you though until ompatibility is clear