Upgrading seriously old geforce4 mx420 to 6600

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What's up, guys. My computer hasn't had any upgrades since I got it, and I seriously need a new graphics card, because, you guessed it, I'm a gamer. Pretty much the last game I can play is WoW, which is pretty low end. I have a GeForce4 MX 420 card, and I'm thinking about getting a Geforce 6600. I just tried a Radeon 9250, which i later found out wasn't a very good card, but I wouldn't know. It had an error where the monitor wouldn't recieve a signal from it. After hours of mulling over threads that others with the same problem created, I still couldn't get it to work, so I'm sending it back. I decided to try again, but stick with nvidia this time. Can anyone give me an opinion on whether or not I might have the same problem with a 6600? If you need to know anything else, just ask me.
 
I hope you are getting a 6600GT versus a plain 6600.. I'd recommend the barebones minimum to upgrade these days would be a 6600GT.

You may or may not encounter the same problem as we have no idea why your 9250 had this issue. If it was simply a defective unit, then chances are good you'll get a properly functioning 6600GT and problem solved.

The biggest concerns you have would involve three possible issues:
1) Do you have an AGP slot? Were your prior cards AGP or PCI? Does your system even have an AGP slot? The 6600-series only comes in AGP slot-variety.
2) Power. Newer, more powerful videocards do require a bit more draw from the power supply. If you have inadequate power, this could result in the system not booting or yielding flakey/unstable behavior. I'd recommend a good quality 250W-350W power supply or better.
3) Cooling. A powerhouse 3d card can generate more heat as well as tax your CPU/memory more, so it's important your case has adequate ventilation and cooling.

Good luck!
 
I have 4x AGP, and from what I've read, most 8x cards don't have any problem with that, and ventilation won't be a problem, but the power supply could be. I use a Dell Dimension 4550. Any tips on how to check what kind of power supply it's packing?
 
The only real way is to crack the case and have a look at the PSU directly. It will have a sticker on the side listing it's maximum wattage rating and possibly some voltage rail information. I'd be concerned with:
1) It's wattage rating.
2) (optional) Any amperage rating listed for 6v/12v on the sticker.
 
Its max output power is 250W, and I couldn't remember what the other thing you said to look for was while the computer was off, but if it's still needed, I'll look at it and repost when I have a bit more time. Right now I'm crunching to find out what I can before I head to my brother's. Thanks for all your help. See yeh in a few.
 
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