Onboard video upgrade? Help!

[gtrbryan]

Hello. I have an emachines computer (specs copies below) and am in video hell. The computer has onboard video. It locks up and restarts when running video. The only way I have found to remedy this situation is to completely disable hardware acceleration. I have the latest drivers available.

Would a new video card help the situation? I do have an empty AGP slot. If so, any suggestions on a card. I am not a big gamer, so the latest and greatest is not a consideration. Thanks for any help.


CPU: AMD Athlon™ XP 3000+ Processor
QuantiSpeed™ Architecture operates at 2.167GHz
512KB L2 cache & 333MHz FSB
Operating System: Genuine Microsoft® Windows® XP Home
Chipset: NVIDIA® nForce™2
Memory: 512MB DDR (PC 2700)
Hard Drive: 160GB HDD
Optical Drive: 48x Max. CD-RW Drive; 16x Max. DVD Drive; 3.5" 1.44MB FDD; 8-in-1 Media Reader(USB 2.0, Secure Digital™ (SD), Smart Media, Compact Flash, Memory Stick®, Memory Stick PRO, Micro Drive, Multimedia Card)
Video: NVIDIA® GeForce®4™ MX graphics (1 AGP 8x slot available)
Sound: nForce™ 6-channel Audio
Network: 10/100Mbps built-in Ethernet
Modem: 56K ITU v.92-ready Fax/Modem
Peripherals: Premium Plus Multimedia Keyboard, 2-Button Wheel Mouse, Amplified Stereo Speakers
Ports/Other: 5 USB 2.0 ports (4 in back; 1 in Media Reader), 1 Serial, 1 Parallel, 2 PS/2, Audio-In & Out
Dimensions: 7.25"W x 14.125"H x 16"D

 

[SNGX1275]

A 6200 would work fine, those can be bought for around $30.

I'm sure someone else will try to get you to buy something more expensive/powerful.

You don't want to go too powerful because the PSU's in those emachines are pretty bad.

 

[gtrbryan]

Any suggestions on upgrading the PSU? Thanks!

 

[SNGX1275]

Well, you wouldn't have to upgrade the power supply with that card. But for a cheap, solid power supply, I'd recommend FSP.

 

[kenm]

One thing you have to watch out for on the 6200 is some of them use shared memory with your system memory. A lot of the ads for 6200's say they have up to 256MB memory. If it is a 6200LE or any 'Turbocache' model it probably has shared memory.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

If you don't game at all, the GeForce 4 MX 440 would be perfectly fine. It's dirt cheap (around $30) and will do the job nicely.

 

[mattgreen]

A 6200 would work fine, those can be bought for around $30.

I'm sure someone else will try to get you to buy something more expensive/powerful.

You don't want to go too powerful because the PSU's in those emachines are pretty bad.

to add to that atm i currently am running a similar system with a 6200 and it works great its very cheap and can actualy run a fair few games allright for its price i can evan play call of duty 2 on reasonable settings geting like 540 fps (not very high but good seeming howmuch that cards costs) i have a 7600 gs on order hopefully it will work better

 

[SNGX1275]

If you don't game at all, the GeForce 4 MX 440 would be perfectly fine. It's dirt cheap (around $30) and will do the job nicely.

Problem with that is its the same price as a 6200.

 

[Tedster]

Before you do anything with an e-crap machine (read the FAQs in the CPU forum), upgrade/replace the PSU. You are running the risk of destroying your system unless you replace the PSU.

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

@SNGX, thanks for the info. How come prices for it have dropped so much? I mean, there's a large performance difference between the two, innit?

 

[mattgreen]

@SNGX, thanks for the info. How come prices for it have dropped so much? I mean, there's a large performance difference between the two, innit?

dont no witch one is better? lol i just bought a 7600GS from gamedude.com.au hopefully it will run alot better then the 6200