I want to buy a PCI video card that'll run Doom 3 (and other games like Doom 3, ex. HL2) at a minimum of 15-20 fps (or a little above). I only have $110 dollars and no job and I wasted $45 on a crap mobo with AGP but the mobo kept freezing when I put in my video card so I gave up on it and went back to my PCI only mobo. Which PCI video card is the best for games like Doom 3? I heard Radeon 9250 256 mb are good and I'm looking into that. I also found this:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-145-087&depa=1

which looks really good as well. Any suggestions on which PCI video card would be appreciated thank you.

P.S Please do not give me pointers on fixing my AGP mobo, I've given up on it and I just want to know which PCI video card is the best one to buy for nex gen games. I know PCI is crap compared to AGP or PCI express but I'm limited to PCI and $110 only(I'll save up to like $120-130 if necessary) I also don't feel like buying a new mobo cause the one I bought stressed the hell out of me and I don't want to deal with that again.

Oh yeah I don't care if I have to run Doom 3 or games like it at the lowest settings to achieve 15-20 fps or above, I just want it to be playable when I'm shooting baddies etc etc. My current card (Visiontek Xtasy Radeon SE 128 mb pci) runs doom 3 at 5 fps or lower whenever I go up to some baddies and shoot them. Is there any PCI card that'll make Doom 3 run 15+ fps when I go up to enemies and etc? I don't care if I have to run it at the lowest settings, the graphics look good to me on the lowest settings anyway

Dude, don't give up on the AGP card...it's not the card's fault, it's not the board's fault...it's the fault of the person putting things together. You're obviously not doing something right. Don't waste your money away on something that's unnecessary!

I know you've posted a lot of questions lately but I don't know what you're doing with all the advice. There is nothing wrong with VIA chipset boards, just like any other board, it has to be configured properly. My guess is your problem is related to your onboard graphics. I suggest you carefully read over your motherboard manual from cover to cover. Go to the Jetway website & see if there's a FAQ (frequently asked questions) section about your board.

BTW, WinME doesn't suck, just like anything else, you have to know how to set it up.

Also, what power supply are you using? How many watts & how many amps on the +12v rail? A cheap PSU can wreak havoc with any system. What about your RAM...did you test it by running memtest86?

It sounds like you've installed a bunch of crap trying to fix your video problem. I don't normally recommend this, but I suggest you format your HDD & start from scratch, but before doing so, make sure your PSU & RAM are up to the task, or you're just gonna run into the same probs. When you do the reinstall, just have the video card installed, no other cards - you can put them in later. Make sure the onboard video is disabled in the BIOS & check to see if there's a jumper involved. If there's a BIOS setting for "shared RAM" or something like that, set it as low as possible or disable if you can. Make sure Spread Spectrum is disabled & set the AGP aperture at 128mb. Do not try to overclock or run "performance settings"...you can tweak the BIOS later.

Asus A7N8X-X
2500+ Sempron @ 2100mhz
10.5 x 200mhz @ 1.80v
512mb PC3200
Ti4200/8X 128mb
WDC 60GB

I just did some searching about your board, went to the Jetway website & downloaded the manual. I find it interesting that nowhere on the website or in the manual is the Celeron mentioned...just the P4. I assume it's supported, by why isn't it stated?

I see the board needs the ATX12V1 square 4-pin plug. Does your PSU have this? Did you plug it in?

Asus A7N8X-X
2500+ Sempron @ 2100mhz
10.5 x 200mhz @ 1.80v
512mb PC3200
Ti4200/8X 128mb
WDC 60GB

Yeah my PSU has the square 4-pin plug and I plugged it in, what's that for anyway? Also, jam, I reinstalled Windows XP like 10 times, I disabled the onboard video, set the AGP aperture at 128mb, didn't overclock anything, installed the video card drivers by themselves in Windows (without any other program) still crashed like 15 minutes later, the ram is fine, nothing works. The only thing is that it might be my PSU, its only 250 watts but i found other people on google with my same problem and they said they upgraded their psu to 400-500 watts and it still didnt solve the problem, so i dont feel like risking wasting my money on a new psu and then end up not fixing the crashing, cause then ill have no money left over. I just have a question that makes me wonder so much, why doesn't it crash on WinME but crashes on XP? So weird, anyways i think i might just go with that chaintech geforce fx 5200 256 mb pci

do NOT waste your money on a PCI card!

A 250 watt PSU is not enough these days. A quality PSU is critical for stability! What brand is it & how many amps are on the +12v rail?

read this:

http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/power_supply/

Asus A7N8X-X
2500+ Sempron @ 2100mhz
10.5 x 200mhz @ 1.80v
512mb PC3200
Ti4200/8X 128mb
WDC 60GB

ok ive decided to reinstall my agp mobo to try and fix this thing, and better that's fimiliar with the infinite loop bug and the via chipset, please help me. i'll repeat it, my visiontek xtasy radeon 9200 se 128 mb pci keeps crashing whenever i install the drivers for it in windows xp and i don't think it's because of an irq conflict

to jam:
thanks for the link, i remember that there's an option in the bios on my new mobo that allows me to monitor all the volts or watts or whatever that is being used buy the stuff in my pc, should i copy them down on a piece of paper then post it here?

on the above post i meant "anyone fimiliar with the infinite loop bug..." i dont know why i put "better" instead of anyone

my psu brand is beltec

heres what's on the sticker:
+12v --- / 13A -5v --- / 0.3A
+5v --- / 25A -12v --- / 0.8A
+3.3v --- / 20a =5VSB --- / 2A
+5v & +3.3v 150w max
total current from +5v & +3.3v shall not exceed 27A

total current from -5v & -12v shall not exceed 1.2A

meant "+5VSB" instead of "=5VSB"

so it actually might be my PSU that's causing my computer to lock up all the time with the video card? o yea i forgot that xp uses my cpu power which answers my "Win ME" question i guess. sorry for posting a lot

CRAP!!!!!!

250 WATTS??????

Go out and buy yourself a good 450 watt psu.

Others may have upgraded, but that doesn't mean it won't fix your problem.

I found this at the VIA website:

"Not all video cards are created equal. Although you may have a well known GPU on your video card, there is a variance between brands and components used on the actual cards. Just because one set of drivers works on one card does not mean that it will work on all cards based on that GPU. A no-name video card, under WinXP, with 20+ detonator drivers may experience the infinite loop. The same system but using Win98 and older drivers might work perfectly fine. That doesn't mean that WinXP or the drivers are the cause of the problem. The issue here is total system resources. The video card might need more voltage. If you try a different brand video card but with the same GPU and it works fine, but 2 cards of the same model cause a lock up, contact that manufacturer for support or refund. Note also that video cards also have BIOS and you may just require a BIOS update. All of the video cards that I tested did not cause the loop, unless they were overlocked or were previously known to be faulty."

This is exactly the problem I have. My video card works fine in Windows ME/98 but locks up in Windows XP. I'll try older video cards on my board to see test if it'll still lock up XP or not.

Bite the bullet & buy a new PSU!

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-153-006&depa=0

Asus A7N8X-X
2500+ Sempron @ 2100mhz
10.5 x 200mhz @ 1.80v
512mb PC3200
Ti4200/8X 128mb
WDC 60GB

i dunt kno if anyone has noticed but it says "150w max" are you sure that's a 250w psu????? is that what the sticker/psu box says or r u assuming its 250?