has anyone got a list of compatible PCI graphics cards that will work on the sims 2? i have a dell dimension 2400 computer running on windows xp.

Your model of Dell computers is not designed for playing games, especially The Sims2, I'm sorry to say. Even Dell's "gaming" PCs suck with games. They're more for internet surfing, word processing, and multimedia editing. Even if you upgraded your video card, the Sims2 would still run really slow due to the Celeron you have. Celerons have no math co-processors, so they are extremely unstable and aren't designed for 3D graphics. So, if you continue to use the computer you have right now to play The Sims2, you'll get lots of errors and it'll go REALLY slow. So, I'd advise you do construct a new computer with a motherboard with an nForce2 or 3 chipset, an AMD Athlon XP 3000+ or 64, and an nVidia GeForce FX(AGP 8x slot) for a video card. Just make sure the motherboard doesn't have integrated graphics. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, ask someone who does.

Constructing a computer from seperate parts is much less expensive and makes it easier to eleminate bottlenecks(like a mediocre video card). Just make sure to avoid all ATI and Intel products if you plan on playing modern games like The Sims2. Both the ATI Radeon and Intel Pentium series are suckers for stability and compatability, not to mention poor performance compared to a system paired with an nVidia GeForce FX and AMD Athlon XP or 64. And about PCI video cards, they have less the half the bandwith of a modern AGP 8x or PCI Express slot. So, if your PC doesn't have a AGP 8x slot or has integrated graphics(which I'll bet it does, being a low-end retail PC), that reason enough to ditch your Dell for a new Athlon system.

As for a list of good video cards, just go to pricewatch.com, but look for at least an AGP8x GeForce FX 5500 with 128MB of video ram. But nVidia has one bad video card, which I have had problems with myself, that is the FX 5700 LE. But maybe that's just me. I got one with physical defects from Extreme Gear(they're slow-avoid 'em)and because if was the "Limited Edition", I think it meant limited compatability. So get a 5500, 5600, or 5800 (or higher if you're rolling in the dough). But the bottom line it to avoid all Intels, ATI Radeons, and PCI video cards. Do that, and The Sims2 will work without a hitch!

To answer your original question:

system requirements for "The Sims 2." If you have a T&L (info about what T&L is below) capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM (such as nvidia GeForce 2 or better or ATI Radeon 7000 or better) then you need at least:
800 MHz processor
256 MB RAM if Windows XP
128 MB RAM if Windows 98, Windows ME, or Windows 2000
At least 3.5 gigs of free hard drive space
If you have a non-T&L capable video card (such as TNT2, Intel, or Rage for example) then you need at least:
2.0 GHz processor
256 MB RAM if Windows XP
128 MB RAM if Windows 98, Windows ME, or Windows 2000
At least 3.5 gigs of free hard drive space
Recommened video cards (and the more video memory the better):
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Nvidia Geforce 4

The only two PCI cards available are the FX5200 PCI and Radeon 9200 PCI, either will work for the Sims 2, both are quite hard to find now, ebay might be an idea. Remember that PCI-express is a totally different thing to PCI.

True that your Celeron doesn't have a maths co-processor, which isn't ideal for gaming, but it should work, after all them minumum spec processor is 800Mhz, your celeron is 2.6Ghz and there's no suggestion that celerons are incompatible with the game.
A Pentium3 processor will fit a Celeron motherboard.

Now, I wouldn't call the Geforce FX range very remarkable at all, more like a mistake that Nvidia wishes it can forget about. The FX5200 is dire and the FX5500 is just an overclocked FX5200 and is almost as bad, The FX5600 and FX5700 were no faster than the previous genneration Geforce4 Ti range, The FX5800 used DDR2 memory before it's time, so it kept overheating and required a noisy heatsink and fan the size of a small family hatcback to keep it cool, they stopped making it early on and replaced it with the FX5900 series, which reverted back to conventional memory.
The FX5900 was ok, but was generally outstripped in every way by the ATI Radeon 9800 series.
The FX5900xt 128mb is the only FX worth considering, because it offers good performance and is very reasonably priced since Nvidia stopped making FX's and introduced the fabulous 6 series(6600/6800).

All current graphics cards are AGPx8 compatible or PCI-express. Even though the AGPx8 bus is twice as fast as AGPx4, there's little difference in real-world performance on most low-mid range graphics cards available today.

Nothing wrong with Intel or ATI products at all??

The AMD 64-bit is preferable to the now discontinued Athlon XP range of 32-bit processors, High-end Pentium 4's are generally good for gaming, but are more expensive than AMD offerings for equal performance.

AMD Athlon XP2200+
Aero7 lite
512mb Crucial pc2700
Abit NF7-s V2.0
80GB Seagate SATA
120GB Seagate SATA
Geforce4 Ti4200 128mb
Benq FP767-12 17" 12ms
SB live 5.1 Digital

I'm running a Dell Dimension 8200 2.4, 512MB RAM and have the card mentioned above as Nvidia's "bad" card, the FX5700LE. Mine is 256MB. Just to let you know, the game runs fine on my PC. I have all options set to maximum and it looks great. The occasional jerkiness I used to get was fixed by updating my drivers.

Anyway, just thought it worth mentioning as Dell Dimensions seem to be being written off a bit - they might not be 'gaming PCs' as such, but you can still get a decent card and play games very nicely.

I left something out: my 5700 was physically defective. Sorry. LOL

Hey Mitch

dude can you tell me the best assembly for fifa 06 with all options on(like refree,1024*768 res,full detail etc.)?

Regards
Vikas