The graphics card that came stock with my computer is no longer cutting it. I currently am running a SiS 760. I'm looking for something within $50-$150 range so that I can play a few somewhat graphically intensive games. I have been looking at this model. I am open to any suggestions anyone has, and I have no problem buying from ebay if that is the general consensus.

my GEForce Mx 4000 does more than I will ever need it to do

Rivereye - you have a PNY card as well?

Chipmaster, that's about the best bang-for-buck ratio that you can get in this case I say go for it.

just make sure your running PCI-E

other than that its a great card

Sorry to sound like an idiot, but what is PCI-E?

Edit: To add to my n00bishness, I have never installed a graphics card before. Is there anything to it, or do you just unplug the old one, and plug in the new (unscrewing and screwing of course)?

So then I'm guessing you picked that card on accident? Good guess then

Can you tell us the model number for your motherboard and what company makes it?

PCI-E = PCI Express. It's the second generation of the PCI protocol.

if your comp is >6months old, it MORE THAN LIKELY USES AGP FOR VIDEO!!!

and from the way it sounds, you have ONBOARD video - this COULD BE BAD! the reason is cause some mobo's from OEMs with onboard video do NOT have an AGP or PCI-E slot, so your SOL for a vid card upgrade (aside from PCI vid cards - but you should avoid those at all costs)

do this, open up your case, take a pic of the bottom section of the mobo with all the expansions slots, then post it here - its fairly easy to spot a PCI-E x16 slot or AGP slot if you know what it looks like

Okay here's what I know. I bought this computer in September 2005 so that's about 6 months old. So I guess it could go either way then right?

I'm not quite sure how to find my mother board model number and manufacturer. My first instinct was to go into the device manager. After browsing through it, the only mobo related item I could find was labled Motherboard resources. Under the detals section it read ACPI\PNP0C02\1. I'm not sure if that means anything. Also in the device manager section they had a separate section for "display adapters" and under it was mine; could this mean that it is in fact separate?

Tomorrow I plan on taking off the case and taking a few pictures for you guys to see what's what, which I believe will probably prove more useful than this.

The reason I choose that card was because my cousin suggested it, as that's what he is thinking of getting.

Oh, and before I forget, I need this card to support "Alpha blending," which, after doing so research, I found to be the way video cards handle degrees of transparency. I hope my pictures tomorrow can prove useful. Thanks for helping, I appreciate it because as you can see, I have no idea what I'm doing

@Kllrnohj: What does SOL mean? I hope it doesn't mean something like surely out of luck

sh.i.t outa luck

you find the mobo model by looking at the label on the physical motherboard - windows can't tell you (it can tell you the CHIPSET, but not the actual mobo)

I agree that posting a pic of your mobo would help a lot.

After a quick google search, ACPI\PNP0C02\1 is a registry key...

And from further research, I believe that your board could be a Gigabyte K8S760M SiS 760 Athlon 64 K8, a PC CHIPS M-871G Micro ATX AMD, or a ECS 760GX-M Socket 754 SiS 760 GX Micro ATX AMD. Either way, they're all AMD-socket motherboards, and the SiS 760 doesn't support PCI-E; only AGP 4x/8x .

AGP 8x isn't the end of the world, you know.

no biggie, the card he's looking at comes in AGP form still

So, it will be fine?

Btw, I have an AMD sempron processor if that helps. I simply don't have the time to open my computer tonight, but I promise it will get done tomorrow!

@Kllrnohj: Does that specific card allow for AGP or is there a version of it that supports it. If so, where can I find that?

OK At last, here are some pics. I tried the best I could, but I can always go back and take some more in a certain area as I had no Idea where on the mother board I should be looking. I managed to find the SiS, so most of the pictures are around there.

Alrighty, near the bottom left of the case, you have one vertical card in a white slot with three open white slots and then right under the CPU & fan, another brown slot. That's the slot you need.

Oh THANK GOD! So, I should buy the card right?

Yup, I'm almost positive that's AGP, but let's wait for Kllrnohj to make sure.