Video card for a Dummy?

I'm not able to select a v. card to enable me to add a Viewsonic VA2226w LCD
as a second monitor to my desktop because the specs. offered are so many and
I don't really know what is necessary.
I do no gaming, mostly Inet browsing, email and editing my camera pictures.
I want crisp text and good true colors. That's all. Can someone point me to a
few inexpensive circuit cards? Monitor does have a DVI input conn.
My system:
MoBo=Asus A7N8X-E, AMD Sempron 2600+ @1830 Mhz
BIOS: Phoenix/Award Tech., LTD Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe ACPI BIOS Rev 1013,
11/12/04
2 GB PC3200, 250 GB WD 250 GB HDD, 7200 RPM, 8 MB buffer
LG HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4521B and HL-DT-ST CD-RW
PCI display card: Matrox Graphics Millennium II with 8 MB
Graphics ckt on MoBo is Nvidia GeForce2 MX100/200, with 32 MB
Realtek, AC’97 for VIA ® Audio Controller,
Windows XP Home with SP-3

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?mo...3&l3= 56&l4=0

You don't have a PCI-E card but you do have an AGP x8 slot for a new card.
It won't be state of the art, but it will get you up to running your
monitor. For better performance, you'd need to change a lot of hardware....

Here are a list of AGP cards from NewEgg.com:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...d&Order=PRICED

I'd suggest going as high as you can (pricewise)... but budget is entirely
up to you. At least $75 and you'd be set for a year or so.
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/windows

"***TominFL***" wrote in message
...
I'm not able to select a v. card to enable me to add a Viewsonic VA2226w
LCD
as a second monitor to my desktop because the specs. offered are so many
and
I don't really know what is necessary.
I do no gaming, mostly Inet browsing, email and editing my camera
pictures.
I want crisp text and good true colors. That's all. Can someone point me
to a
few inexpensive circuit cards? Monitor does have a DVI input conn.
My system:
MoBo=Asus A7N8X-E, AMD Sempron 2600+ @1830 Mhz
BIOS: Phoenix/Award Tech., LTD Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe ACPI BIOS Rev 1013,
11/12/04
2 GB PC3200, 250 GB WD 250 GB HDD, 7200 RPM, 8 MB buffer
LG HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4521B and HL-DT-ST CD-RW
PCI display card: Matrox Graphics Millennium II with 8 MB
Graphics ckt on MoBo is Nvidia GeForce2 MX100/200, with 32 MB
Realtek, AC’97 for VIA ® Audio Controller,
Windows XP Home with SP-3

I went to Newegg to look for an Nvidia card, the EVGA for $109.99, and
looked to see what comments were there. Here's one of a few like it:
Pros: When this card worked, I was able to play World in Conflict on decent
settings; not bad considering the age of my system:
3.0 GHz Pentium IV, 2.5 GB DDR-1 400 MHz RAM, 120 GB HD
Cons: This card completely died on me. It started about a 2 weeks ago when I
started noticing WIC was freezing up and starting again (I could tell it
wasn't lag). Then just trying to start up the game caused my computer to lock
up. Next, just starting up Windows displayed garbled images on screen. Now,
finally, it locks up before even displaying the Windows logo. I can't even do
basic tasks like Office or log on to the internet. Argh!
Other Thoughts: This card was supposed to be a stop-gap while I waited to
buy a completely new system mid-2009; I'm waiting primarily for Windows 7,
and then SATA 6Gb/s and any other technological advancements coming out at
that time. I also need to save money This obviously kind of screws
everything up, and I'm stuck trying to figure out what to do in the mean time.

I looked at some of the cheaper ones that were all ATI brand and found some
comments that were completely negative. This leaves me stuck.

I only want to see real clear JPG pics and text. Seems like these may be
overkill?

"Cari (MS-MVP)" wrote:

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?mo...3&l3= 56&l4=0

You don't have a PCI-E card but you do have an AGP x8 slot for a new card.
It won't be state of the art, but it will get you up to running your
monitor. For better performance, you'd need to change a lot of hardware....

Here are a list of AGP cards from NewEgg.com:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...d&Order=PRICED

I'd suggest going as high as you can (pricewise)... but budget is entirely
up to you. At least $75 and you'd be set for a year or so.
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/windows

"***TominFL***" wrote in message
...
I'm not able to select a v. card to enable me to add a Viewsonic VA2226w
LCD
as a second monitor to my desktop because the specs. offered are so many
and
I don't really know what is necessary.
I do no gaming, mostly Inet browsing, email and editing my camera
pictures.
I want crisp text and good true colors. That's all. Can someone point me
to a
few inexpensive circuit cards? Monitor does have a DVI input conn.
My system:
MoBo=Asus A7N8X-E, AMD Sempron 2600+ @1830 Mhz
BIOS: Phoenix/Award Tech., LTD Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe ACPI BIOS Rev 1013,
11/12/04
2 GB PC3200, 250 GB WD 250 GB HDD, 7200 RPM, 8 MB buffer
LG HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4521B and HL-DT-ST CD-RW
PCI display card: Matrox Graphics Millennium II with 8 MB
Graphics ckt on MoBo is Nvidia GeForce2 MX100/200, with 32 MB
Realtek, AC’97 for VIA ® Audio Controller,
Windows XP Home with SP-3

You will find NewEgg reviews helpful, but remember that more people post
them when they are unhappy than when they are happy! Buyers like to
complain. If it's working great, they may be so happy they forget to tell
others!

Last AGP card I had was an x850 ATI card and I was very happy with it.....
and I have had more luck with ATI than nVidia cards. Last nVidia card I had
was a FX5700 and the fan was very noisy. I replaced it with the ATI because
I was afraid it would fail altogether but it did last me for a year or so.

Any of them that have about 256mb of RAM and a DVI port will work fine for
you. But don't expect these lower specs cards to be good for gaming!
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/windows

"***TominFL***" wrote in message
...
I went to Newegg to look for an Nvidia card, the EVGA for $109.99, and
looked to see what comments were there. Here's one of a few like it:
Pros: When this card worked, I was able to play World in Conflict on
decent
settings; not bad considering the age of my system:
3.0 GHz Pentium IV, 2.5 GB DDR-1 400 MHz RAM, 120 GB HD
Cons: This card completely died on me. It started about a 2 weeks ago when
I
started noticing WIC was freezing up and starting again (I could tell it
wasn't lag). Then just trying to start up the game caused my computer to
lock
up. Next, just starting up Windows displayed garbled images on screen.
Now,
finally, it locks up before even displaying the Windows logo. I can't even
do
basic tasks like Office or log on to the internet. Argh!
Other Thoughts: This card was supposed to be a stop-gap while I waited to
buy a completely new system mid-2009; I'm waiting primarily for Windows 7,
and then SATA 6Gb/s and any other technological advancements coming out at
that time. I also need to save money This obviously kind of screws
everything up, and I'm stuck trying to figure out what to do in the mean
time.

I looked at some of the cheaper ones that were all ATI brand and found
some
comments that were completely negative. This leaves me stuck.

I only want to see real clear JPG pics and text. Seems like these may be
overkill?

"Cari (MS-MVP)" wrote:

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?mo...3&l3= 56&l4=0

You don't have a PCI-E card but you do have an AGP x8 slot for a new
card.
It won't be state of the art, but it will get you up to running your
monitor. For better performance, you'd need to change a lot of
hardware....

Here are a list of AGP cards from NewEgg.com:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...d&Order=PRICED

I'd suggest going as high as you can (pricewise)... but budget is
entirely
up to you. At least $75 and you'd be set for a year or so.
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/windows

"***TominFL***" wrote in message
...
I'm not able to select a v. card to enable me to add a Viewsonic
VA2226w
LCD
as a second monitor to my desktop because the specs. offered are so
many
and
I don't really know what is necessary.
I do no gaming, mostly Inet browsing, email and editing my camera
pictures.
I want crisp text and good true colors. That's all. Can someone point
me
to a
few inexpensive circuit cards? Monitor does have a DVI input conn.
My system:
MoBo=Asus A7N8X-E, AMD Sempron 2600+ @1830 Mhz
BIOS: Phoenix/Award Tech., LTD Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe ACPI BIOS Rev 1013,
11/12/04
2 GB PC3200, 250 GB WD 250 GB HDD, 7200 RPM, 8 MB buffer
LG HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4521B and HL-DT-ST CD-RW
PCI display card: Matrox Graphics Millennium II with 8 MB
Graphics ckt on MoBo is Nvidia GeForce2 MX100/200, with 32 MB
Realtek, AC’97 for VIA ® Audio Controller,
Windows XP Home with SP-3

That's helpful. Thanks.

"Cari (MS-MVP)" wrote:

You will find NewEgg reviews helpful, but remember that more people post
them when they are unhappy than when they are happy! Buyers like to
complain. If it's working great, they may be so happy they forget to tell
others!

Last AGP card I had was an x850 ATI card and I was very happy with it.....
and I have had more luck with ATI than nVidia cards. Last nVidia card I had
was a FX5700 and the fan was very noisy. I replaced it with the ATI because
I was afraid it would fail altogether but it did last me for a year or so.

Any of them that have about 256mb of RAM and a DVI port will work fine for
you. But don't expect these lower specs cards to be good for gaming!
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/windows

"***TominFL***" wrote in message
...
I went to Newegg to look for an Nvidia card, the EVGA for $109.99, and
looked to see what comments were there. Here's one of a few like it:
Pros: When this card worked, I was able to play World in Conflict on
decent
settings; not bad considering the age of my system:
3.0 GHz Pentium IV, 2.5 GB DDR-1 400 MHz RAM, 120 GB HD
Cons: This card completely died on me. It started about a 2 weeks ago when
I
started noticing WIC was freezing up and starting again (I could tell it
wasn't lag). Then just trying to start up the game caused my computer to
lock
up. Next, just starting up Windows displayed garbled images on screen.
Now,
finally, it locks up before even displaying the Windows logo. I can't even
do
basic tasks like Office or log on to the internet. Argh!
Other Thoughts: This card was supposed to be a stop-gap while I waited to
buy a completely new system mid-2009; I'm waiting primarily for Windows 7,
and then SATA 6Gb/s and any other technological advancements coming out at
that time. I also need to save money This obviously kind of screws
everything up, and I'm stuck trying to figure out what to do in the mean
time.

I looked at some of the cheaper ones that were all ATI brand and found
some
comments that were completely negative. This leaves me stuck.

I only want to see real clear JPG pics and text. Seems like these may be
overkill?

"Cari (MS-MVP)" wrote:

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?mo...3&l3= 56&l4=0

You don't have a PCI-E card but you do have an AGP x8 slot for a new
card.
It won't be state of the art, but it will get you up to running your
monitor. For better performance, you'd need to change a lot of
hardware....

Here are a list of AGP cards from NewEgg.com:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...d&Order=PRICED

I'd suggest going as high as you can (pricewise)... but budget is
entirely
up to you. At least $75 and you'd be set for a year or so.
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/windows

"***TominFL***" wrote in message
...
I'm not able to select a v. card to enable me to add a Viewsonic
VA2226w
LCD
as a second monitor to my desktop because the specs. offered are so
many
and
I don't really know what is necessary.
I do no gaming, mostly Inet browsing, email and editing my camera
pictures.
I want crisp text and good true colors. That's all. Can someone point
me
to a
few inexpensive circuit cards? Monitor does have a DVI input conn.
My system:
MoBo=Asus A7N8X-E, AMD Sempron 2600+ @1830 Mhz
BIOS: Phoenix/Award Tech., LTD Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe ACPI BIOS Rev 1013,
11/12/04
2 GB PC3200, 250 GB WD 250 GB HDD, 7200 RPM, 8 MB buffer
LG HL-DT-ST RW/DVD GCC-4521B and HL-DT-ST CD-RW
PCI display card: Matrox Graphics Millennium II with 8 MB
Graphics ckt on MoBo is Nvidia GeForce2 MX100/200, with 32 MB
Realtek, AC’97 for VIA ® Audio Controller,
Windows XP Home with SP-3