Graphics card problem

[Mosine]

Just thought id start this topic as i was just looking at the 'Your graphics card and you' thread.
I finally gave in to my impulses and bought spore yesterday but it keeps crashing, it said i needed to update my video driver before i started but i figured it would be fine as Left for Dead said that to and that runs fine, but everytime i play it it crashes when a new animation comes up or i scroll over a body part in the creation menu and the little info bubble is supposed to come up. I have to press Ctrl+Alt+Del and get windows task manager up then it automatically goes back to the game and continues on until it crashes again 1 minute later because of another info bubble or something. So i reckon this is probably something to do with my graphics card (if it could be something else please enlighten me), because of this im looking for advice on a new fairly cheap graphics card to buy, figured some of you computer smart people on the escapist could help me.

Atm i have a fairly crappy nvidia 7300 LE gfx card i got in ready made mini packard bell computer, i don't know what my motherboard is as i don't know how to check but any advice on a new graphics card that would be compatible with the current motherboard would be helpful.

 

[Baby Tea]

Why don't you 'update your video drivers'?

 

[Mosine]

I tried that, it did nothing. Plus i've wanted to get a new graphics card for ages and only just got enough money together to get one now

 

[Baby Tea]

Then find out what BUS your card is. AGP? PCI-E?
Then find Eggo, and ask him what a good card is for that BUS.

 

[Mosine]

ACPI x86 based pc
Would that be what i'm looking for?

 

[TwistedBishop]

Download CPU-Z to find out if you have a PCI-E or AGP slot. That, and your power supply, will dictate your options.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

 

[Adam Jenson]

If it doesn't fit, make it fit

hope you dont use that philosophy for every endeavor you undertake

 

[Starnerf]

With a prebuilt system, the power supply probably won't be too great so your choices will be limited.

Decent AGP card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131097 (75W)

Decent PCI Express card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133250 (43W)

There are plenty of others to choose from but those would give decent performance for fairly low power.

 

[Nimbus]

Your card isn't the problem. The 7300 is above and beyond the minimum specs and is on the "supported cards" list.

 

[TwistedBishop]

Or the card could be defective. It's worth a try to get a new one, especially given how old and underpowered that card is. Worst case, you can always return it.