Entry Level Video Card

[Off Top]

Hi,


I'm building my own for PC for the first time, and I've been making some progress. I learned as much as I could about RAM, and putting together PCs.


So far, I've decided to get a ASUS P4P800SE Intel mobo, a P4 3.0E Prescott 800MHz processor, and Kingston 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) for the RAM.

First I need some opinions on these choices. I'm 95% sure they're all compatible. Crucial.com isn't showing otherwise.

Second, now I need to figure out what video card to get. I won't be using this PC for gaming, just web browsing/Photoshop/watching avi's... I need a cheap, entry level video card that's reliable.

Third, with this mobo/ram/proc, will I need special cooling, or will a regular case and fan do the job?

Thanks in advance

 

[Finchy]

From what I can see, thats an AGP motherboard, so i'd recommend, if your not gaming, a ATI Radeon 9250SE will suite you fine. However, if you do feel like dabbling in gaming, it won't get you far, it's not powerful enough for modern games, old ones will be fine, But if you do decide to become a gamer, something more powerful will be needed.

 

[Clit_YeastHood]

There are some decent adapters in the £40-£50 price range, like the low 9XXX ATI and GF440mx cards, as Finchy says, you wont be playing BF2 on them, but they do the job.

If all youre gonna use the machine for is browsing and maybe a bit of PS, you have the option of going for a Mboard with integrated graphics, which will lower your costs (by about £40-50) but you may limit yourself when it comes to upgrades.

A normal case with at least one fan should keep your temps down just fine, good luck with your system.

 

[dennmarck2004]

Your set-up is similar to mine but I'm using a 2.8. I'm into Videos and occasionally on gaming. My graphics card is an Inno3D GeForce FX5200 and its quite ok for me.