good pci video card under 100 bucks

[allstar]

hey what would a really good pci video card that costs under a hundred bucks be. Btw, I my pc has a intel pentium III processor with a wimpy 128mb or sdram, but ill be upgrading that to.

[Paleo Pete]

First, are you sure it has to be a PCI card? Check inside the case if you have not already, see if it has an AGP slot you can use. If so, AGP would be a better card and easier to find. You'll find pictures of both PCI and AGP Here (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=25502) if you' re not sure what to look for.

[Whyzman]

Would you tell us what your reason is for wanting to upgrade?

[saphalline]

Relative to the performance that you can get out of modern vid cards, there's no such thing as a "really good PCI video card" anymore! :p Do you just want one with good performance compared to your current hardware? Maybe something like this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814145055) would work.

[deddard]

If you're going to upgrade the PIII and memory, it would be as well to let us know what you plan. That way we can show you the best way to get everything working to your best advantage.

[azgta]

I have a PCI slot (eMachines)
I have the ATI RADEON 9250 256MB.

If you're trying to play the top of the line games of today, don't bother.

Some games are fair, others, the characters come out pixelated and/or missing body parts (i.e. HL2 pixelation; Area51 missing body parts)

If you're trying for a game made years ago, than you'll be OK.
CS is good. Even Tiger Woods 2005 looks good.

It's more when the games have things running all over.

FAR CRY is another, the graphics are good but it's laggy in some parts.
(3GHz, P4, 1GB RAM, ATI RADEON 9250 256MB)
But manageable because it's hella fun.

[allstar]

Thanks for looking up the card saph... that looks like a pretty good card for the money.

First of all... I mainly just want to get an improved graphics card for displaying high-res pics better and more quickly, and for playing free online streaming video better. And I would like to add some more RAM to speed up apps, and allow more programs to run simoltaneoulsy without my pc freezing like it generally does.

I would like to play new games like hl2 but I dont have near enough money to replace my my mobo, processor, hdd, and get a kick @$$ graphics card. So Ill just have to hold off untill i can afford more new hardware, or a new pc.

See my computer is 6 years old, and was origionally bought just for homework and internet use.

It has:
8mb trident blade graphics card (pci)
20gig hdd
2 sdram slots: with one stick of 128mb sdram
Intel Pentium III processor
o/s: windows xp
creative soundblaster sound card

Im pretty sure that my mobo does not have an agp slot, but i cant remember cuz i havent opened the case for my pc for a while though.

[saphalline]

Well, that 5200 will certainly be better than what you have now, but it can't work miracles! :p Yes, you'll have to wait until you have more money for a full overhaul. At this point, 6 years is too long. A totally new system is in your future...