I hope someone can help me, I'm in video card alphabet soup! My son just purchased a game that states the video card requirement as "64MB Hardware T&L compatible" and then notes "GeForce 2 GTS/MX, GeForce 4 MX....are not recommended". I know I need to upgrade but I can't seem to find the T&L compatibility listed very often and I can't figure out if which of the GeForce cards are acceptable. Can anyone point me to some cards that fit this description (and won't bust the bank)? The game also uses DirectX9 Second question regarding AGP or PCI: My current card is a NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64 (PCI I believe). How can I determine if I have an AGP slot?, and is there a speed associated with it? I see cards listed as 8X etc. I really don't want to buy a card I can't use! Thanks so much, Maryann

First off, what game are you trying to run? Reason I ask this is I see you are running a 1GHz CPU. If a game is asking for a card with T&L, it's probably asking for more than a 1GHz CPU. "Pat Buchanan, Bob Novak, and G. Gordon Liddy don't like Mark Felt. Mark Felt is truly a great man."

The game is roller coaster tycoon. The minimum requirements are PIII (.9GHz) but you are right, the recommended is P4, 1.3GHz. Sounds like you are suggesting an upgrade may not be worth it and we may have poor performance even once we get it working.

Yes, unfortunately, if it's asking for a video card better than a GF2/GF4 MX series, I have a hard time believing a 1GHz CPU would cut it either. I would either get a new system, or upgrade your motherboard, CPU, Fan, Memory, and Video Card at the very least, and there's a good chance you would need a power supply. While an Athlon 64 is the best bang for the buck, you could simply do a low end Athlon XP, and that would be more than sufficient for this game. If it were me, I would however just build/buy a new system, and keep that one as an internet surfing machine for another room. "Pat Buchanan, Bob Novak, and G. Gordon Liddy don't like Mark Felt. Mark Felt is truly a great man."

If you current system only has PCI slots, I don't recommend upgrading. But if you have an AGP slot, it might be worth giving it a shot Here's a cheap DX8 compatible card (Radeon 9250 128MB/128-bit) for about $40: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125153R Here's a cheap DX9 compatible card (Radeon 9600 128MB/128-bit) for about $55: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102305R Asus A7N8X-X 1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz 768MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro

Let me modify the 1st card choice that I gave. I just answered another question about video cards & found this one even cheaper & it's new, not refurbed: Radeon 9250 128MB/128-bit AGP 4X/8X for about $35 (after rebate) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814166002 Asus A7N8X-X 1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz 768MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro

Thank you all for your help. I'll figure out if I have an AGP slot and probably try Jam's bargain card if I do. Thanks again!