AGP video card for troubleshooting and replacement

[dontknowmuch]

Hi there,

My knowledge about video cards is low and I need to take advantage of your expertise to choose an AGP 4x/8x video card.

I have a computer that does not post and I am trying to narrow the causes. One of them could be a bad video card and I need to get a working one to confirm if the card is bad or not...I do not want to spend lots of money in a card if my current one is still good but do not want to get a piece of junk either if indeed I need to replace the card.

Could you tell me what you think about the following 2 cards:

EVGA GeForce FX 5500 / 128MB DDR / AGP 8x / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... &CatId=694

BIOSTAR VP5200SL16 GeForce FX 5200 128MB 64-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Low Profile Ready Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814141052

I do not need DVI at this time. I do not play games, so my video requirements are not very demanding, just need to be able to surf the net, watch videos, photos, basic editing, word processing... just basic stuff.
I do not want to spend more that $25-$30 for this card considering that mine might still be good.

If my original card is still good, I could use this new one on an old mother board I have which is AGP 4X only so backward compatibility is important.

Many thanks for your suggestions and I you have something else in mind, please let me know.

[DMB2000uk]

For a basic video card, one of those will do you fine.

Be aware that the tigerdirect final price includes a $20 MIR, so the newegg card would be better for the lower initial outlay cost (i.e. before MIR).

Dan

[smack323]

does you motherboard have onboard video? you can take out your card and try that. That would save you the time of waitng for a new card to arrive? Just look for a VGA output off of the motherboard. Also you may need to go into your bios and turn it on depending how old the computer is.. usally they auto detect as long as you take your current card out.

[dontknowmuch]

Thanks for the responses and suggestions

My current board is an abit NF-7S V2 and does not have onboard video which would have helped with the troubleshooting process.

The 2 cards I mentioned are pretty basic and it may not make much of a difference if I go with one or another. Because I do not have experience with either brand, nor can I tell if one sounds better on paper or is newer or is more advance technology (I lack the knowledge for that determination), I was hoping someone could eventually comment on these points.

Thanks for the help

[DMB2000uk]

Well as far as brands go, evga are one of the best, so if you are worried about brands you should go for them.

As both cards are so old however there won't really be any difference between them in the performance of general windows programs/video playback.

I have a FX5200go (so slower than a regular FX5200) powering a 1600x1200 laptop display and it works fine in video and normal windows usage.

Dan