I'm looking for some advice. I have a Socket A mobo which I am doing the following upgrade to: Ram from DDR333 512mb to DDR400 2gb (max for this mobo), HD from Seagate 110gb 7200rpm 8mb cache to WD 500gb 7200rpm 16mb cache, Processor from Sempron 2300+ to Athlon XP 3000+. The mobo is a Biostar 333ghz FSB with a 4x AGP slot. I'd like to upgrade the Video from the GeForce 4000 MX 128mb to something that will give me a better experience. I have a good 350w PSU on the box. What would be the suggestions for a new VidCard for me? Gaming? Besides my wife's arcade games (Poopcap and Gamehouse stuff), I play the likes of "Pirates", "Railroad Tycoon Platinum" and "SimCity4". I have a copy of "Doom3" that I haven't loaded up yet, but that's not my usual thing. BTW, my OS is XP SP2. Any suggestions? $100 is the neighborhood I'd like to be in. A bit over won't hurt for the right card. And, even the stuff that is $200 now will be $100 somewhere soon! AND Yes, I know that an overall MB/CPU upgrade would be better, but I can't swing the big upgrade and I'd like to squeeze another year or two out of my current equipment with the upgrade I'm doing. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Solution: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ... TMP-Man Asus P5P800 PAT P4 506 @ 4009Mhz 1.3v Thermaltake CLP0024 w/ 1700RPM 92MM + AS5 2GB OCZ 2-3-2-5 DDR400 120GB/300GB 7200RPM HD Leadtek 7600 AGP 590/1600 VF700 ALCU AS5

That lists, in the specs, as an 8x. Does it operate at 4x?

"I know that an overall MB/CPU upgrade would be better, but I can't swing the big upgrade" You're throwing an awful lot of money into an outdated system. I really think you should reconsider. For example, 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2-800 goes for about $70 after rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ... An AMD A64 X2 4000+ Brisbane goes for $70: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ... And there are plenty of decent nForce4 or nForce5 based boards that sell for $50-75. That would put the cost for a much more modern board/CPU/RAM at roughly $200. Plus PCI-e video cards are usually considerably cheaper than their AGP counterparts. How much are the AXP 3000+ & 2GB PC3200 RAM costing you? You could even get into a much cheaper S754 A64/nForce3 setup for less than $75 & it would blow away your AXP 3000+. Here's a board for $28: http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?in... Here's an A64 3000+ CPU for $25: http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name... Here's a HSF for $6: http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name... BTW, do you need a new HDD? If storage space is an issue, that's one thing...but if you're expecting better performance, you're gonna be disappointed.

Thanks for the advice - and it really is excellent advice. My decision to do this upgrade instead of buying a new mobo was based on getting the 2 gigs of ram and the CPU (and cooler) from a system pull in exchange for a little moonlight tech work. That made the decision easy. As for the HD - Hard Drive Inspector Pro tells me that my Seagate is in serious trouble, so I got the WD HD. At only $5 more for the 16mb cache over the 8mb model, that was a no-brainer as well. So, back to the original question...I have a 4x AGP slot currently filled with a GeForce MX 4000 128mb. Any suggestions for upgrading the video? Thanks again for the upgrade advice.

you can get XFX 7600GT AGP8x for $130 from Newegg. Maybe cheaper if you browse for more shops. Dont worry about the AGP8x running on your 4xAGP mobo as the AGP speed won't bottleneck you card very much other than a couple of frame. Its worth the extra $30 from your $100 budget. Dip Electronic Eng Dip Computing & IT BSc Software Eng Core2 Duo 6420 Gigabyte 965P-S3 2x1GB DDR667 7900GS 256DDR3 OC 2xSeagate 160GB SATA300 SB Audigy4 19" 5ms 4:3 Dell LCD

"So, back to the original question...I have a 4x AGP slot currently filled with a GeForce MX 4000 128mb. Any suggestions for upgrading the video?" See response #1... Yes 8X AGP card works in 4X AGP slot... TMP-Man Asus P5P800 PAT P4 506 @ 4009Mhz 1.3v Thermaltake CLP0024 w/ 1700RPM 92MM + AS5 2GB OCZ 2-3-2-5 DDR400 120GB/300GB 7200RPM HD Leadtek 7600 AGP 590/1600 VF700 ALCU AS5