What would be the best video card for this system?

[BBCMember]

I have a system that I built, and the video card is in need of replacing. The video keeps going out. Btw, could dust cause a video card to behave like this (video keeps going out)? If so, how much dust would be needed to cause this? It's a Geforce FX 5500.

And just in case it's not the dust, what would be the best AGP video card under $150 to replace this one?

The system that I have is the following:

1.8GHz (I believe; it's been a while since I've checked)
ABIT NF7-S v2.0
Geforce FX 5500
2GB RAM
320GB HD
WinXP (soon to be Win7)
Will soon have a SAMSUNG 2343BWX for a monitor

TIA

[Rocketmech]

Dust is an issue if the card is covered in it, but you would have cleaned it by now I would think. Being it's an old card, the GPU is probably heating up from old thermal paste or the fan isn't working or maybe a loose heatsink. When the memory goes bad, my experience is you get lockups and artifacts. I would reapply thermal paste for the GPU making sure the heatsink/fan are installed correctly. If that doesn't help then replace the card.

Your system is old for gaming, being a socket A board with maybe a Barton 2500+ cpu. That means the best card would be limited by your cpu. I think the Egg should have a Nvidia 7600 or ATI 3650 that would be OK if you need to upgrade. I would not recommend spending for more. Be sure your power supply is in good shape also.

[Train]

Newgegg agp cards
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048%201069609639&name=AGP%204X%2f8X

[LiViD]

I use pop in a few 7950GT AGP's into these older Socket A systems. They are very few of them out there anymore, but anything is better than an FX series graphics card.

[BBCMember]

OK. Thanks. I'll give those tips a shot.