The main issue in terms of compatability between your computer and a video card is to know whether it accepts AGP or PCI-E video cards. The second question would be what power rating is for your Power Supply (and secondarily whether it has a PCI-E video card power cable). Is this a mid-sized tower or a mini-tower? What video card is currently in this computer? Since I don't know enough about what your limitations are, I'll simply make some general comments at this point. ATI/AMD and Nvidia have both released a number of new video cards selling in the $150-$250 range, making this market very competitive, now. The AMD cards are the 3850 and the 3870, Nvidia's new cards are the 8800GT, 8800GTS 512mb (not the earlier 320mb and 640mb models), and the 9600GT. Review sites like Anandtech have quite a bit of information on these cards. They all require a PCI-E video card power connector, however, since they draw more power than can be supplied through the motherboard slot. 8800GT: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3140 3850 & 3870: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3151 9600GT: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3234 And, Tom's Hardware has some video card comparison charts: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/graphics-cards/warhammer-mark-of-chaos-v1-6,581.html With these newer video card, you may find that your system bottleneck becomes your CPU, especially at lower resolutions. Sometimes trying to upgrade an older, inexpensive computer from makers like Dell and HP is not worth the trouble and the expense. The money could be put to better use starting over. Often, these systems were never intended to be a game machines, and they have very limited headroom for upgrading. John Sproule -----------Original Message Below--------- Date: Thu, 1 May 2008 18:24:26 -0500 From: Melani Gump <[log in to unmask]> Subject: Re: Video Cards Hi, I have a Dell Dimension 5100. I was wanting to know what a really good (and cheap) graphics card would be that is compatible to my computer. I would like at least 512MB in ram and at least 6800 GT. Can you help? Thank you, Melani The NOSPIN Group Promotions is now offering our special coffee mugs and mouse pads with the PCBUILD logo... at a great price!!! http://freepctech.com/goodies/promotions.shtml