Need some help with Video Card info

[PuckfanCraig]

OK, I'm not too "computer literate", so any & all help would be appreciated. I received Civ 4 for Christmas, and was SO into it, when the "infamous" .dll blue screen popped up. I've since updated the drivers, installed the 1.52 patch, ans spent countless hours with Dell Support....Here is what I have in my year old machine: The nvidia card btw is the GeForce FX5200 with 128K. with all that is out there, I honestly don't know which way to go. Dell is telling me I have AGP & PCI slots??and are telling me to upgrade to 256K...my humble ? is WHICH 256K CARD...They offer the FX5500, or should I go elsewhere & get a higher # like a 6800 ( like I can make sense of all this mumbo-jumbo ) all I want to do is play my favorite game..HELP ...Oh Yeah, I did up my RAM to 1GIG


001 K2495 PROCESSOR, 80546, 3.0G, 1M, 800, SKTN, 1.0
000 W2562 CARD (CIRCUIT), PLANAR (MOTHERBOARD), DIM8300, AUDIO 5.1/NIC
001 4N454 KEYBOARD, 104, UNITED STATES, NMB, LOW COST, MIDNIGHT GRAY
001 D1161 KIT, MOUSE, UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS, 2BTN, WHEEL, OPTICAL, PRIMAX ELECTRONICS LTD
002 J0201 DUAL IN-LINE MEMORY MODULE, 256, 400M, 32X64, 8K, 184
001 P1554 CARD (CIRCUIT), MULTI-MEDIA, AUDIO, 1394, SB0353
001 M1198 COMPACT DISK READ WRITE, 48X32, IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS), 5.25" FORM FACTOR, SAMSUNG, CHASSIS 2001
001 5W416 MODEM, V.92, DATA FAX, INTERNAL, ALUMINUM, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION
001 G0001 CARD (CIRCUIT), GRAPHICS, 128MB, NV34, DIMENSION, SECOND
001 X1106 DISPLAY, FLAT PANEL DISPLAY, 18, DUAL, 1801FP, MIDNIGHT GRAY, DELL AMERICAS ORGANIZATION
001 N0738 HARD DRIVE, 80G, I, 7.2K, 80G/P, Maxtor Calypso
001 J1894 KIT, SOFTWARE, WP-PRDCT-STE11, ENGLAND/ENGLISH
001 N2999 KIT, SOFTWARE, MNY-2K4, STANDARD, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR., ENGLAND/ENGLISH
001 P2643 KIT, SOFTWARE, MSENC-2K4, ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MFGR., ENGLAND/ENGLISH
001 R2527 KIT, SOFTWARE, OVERPACK, WXPPSP1A, COMPACT DISKETTE W/DOCUMENTATION, ENGLAND/ENGLISH
001 G2876 KIT, DOCUMENTATON ON FLOPPY DISK, SOFTWARE, CYBERLINK, 4.14, DIMENSION
001 C3164 Digital Video Disk Drive Read Write, 8X, IDE (INTEGRATED DRIVE ELECTRONICS), HALF HEIGHT, NEC CORPORATION, CHASSIS 2001

 

[Dudy80]

If your going with nvidia go with a card thats a 6 series or higher. I have a 5700LE and its still lagging bad but i think this is more from memory leaks. Anyway go with a 6 series if yea got the cash, that shoul play almost any game out right now on fairly high settings. Hope this helps.

 

[superslug]

For a great AGP for not a lot of money, I'd look at a GeForce 6600 or 6800. The 7800's are overkill for the money. Tom's Hardware Guide and NewEgg are both great places to look at product reviews, prices, etc.

I wouldn't really consider ATI. I'm not really partial to Nvidia over ATI or vice versa, but for recent AGP cards, Nvidia's the way to go.

 

[Tae]

There is a difference between PCIe and PCI. It is HIGHLY doubtful you have a Dual AGP/PCIe board, so if you upgrade your video card you should be looking for AGP.

Newegg has the AGP EVGA gf6600GT for $139 with a $20 mail in rebate. That is what I am upgrading to.

Edit...whoops its zipzoomfly that has the card with the rebate. I shop mostly at Newegg but have done quite a bit of business at ZZf too over the years.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=322698

 

[Archbob]

I find the game played pretty well on my ATI 9250 Card with 256mb RAM. It seems to me that video memory is the real killer and with the 256 card, I haven't had problems.

 

[Zanmato]

I upgraded from a FX5200 to the 256mb 6600. All problems with the game like choppy movies, lagging, etc stopped. So I second the recommendation for going for a series 6 card.

 

[PuckfanCraig]

I thank you ALL for the kind & informative help......You guys are great !!

 

[PuckfanCraig]

Just a quick update....purchased a GeForce 6800GS and I just finished my 1st game W/O any glitches or slowdowns...again thanks guys