IF you were going to buy a new video card it would be??

[CaptainHaplo]

A few questions Hiredgun....

What is your budget - so we can advise you in the price range of what you are willing to spend (otherwise you just get recommendations to spend 300+ bucks on a card you won't ever use all of).

Second - does the pc you use (since you said it was older) use PCI-e or an AGP slot? You may have to open the box to find out, we can help if your not familiar with that.

Lastly - what is the current rating of your computer power supply. Newer cards often require a bit more OOMPH in this department, so knowing what you have we can tailor the answer to that - or suggest a ps upgrade if needed.

[thehiredgun]

I have a ATI Radeon X1550 PCI 256MB VGA DVI-I TV Out in it & the video is not good. This is an old card I think. I do not want to go real expensive but I want a good long lasting video card. This one cost 116. It does not have AGP slots only PCI-e slot. Whee do I find out what the current rating of my pc is? I also have another computer with a ATI Radeon 9780 in it that needs replacing too. This computer is about 1 1/2 years old. You can clearly see in the video allot of lines & shakieness in the picture. It is a pci-e too.

[CaptainHaplo]

OK - the 1550 came in PCI-e, AGP and standard PCI slot styles....

I am going to assume you know the difference and are sure its PCI-e.

With that said, under 100 bucks your best bet is either a 4770 or 4850 ATI card. Both will handle SH3/4 with no problem, and could probably deal with SH5 at low detail.

Your power supply will need to be at least 450W and have a 6-pin pci-e power connector. That is the minimum stated by ATI - but depending on your CPU - and other devices - 450W is pretty low.

To see how big the PSU is - just take off the side cover of the PC. On the PSU itself there will be a data plate/sticker that will give you its specifications.

[thehiredgun]

It is a regular pci card. I really appreciate your knowledge.

[CaptainHaplo]

OW.. a standard pci slot... ok - that makes it alot more difficult.

About the best your going to be able to do with a standard PCI slot is a HD 4350. Should handle SH3 without an issue, though the slot could still bottleneck you. One source I found was the following:

http://www.directron.com/ap4350512md2h.html

I can't speak to the seller though - never dealt with them.

On the positive side - with a PCI slot, you don't have to worry about your PSU rating nearly as much.

[thehiredgun]

Thanks for the info

[CaptainHaplo]

NP Mate - Good luck.