Graphics Card Question - Gateway Computer

Hello everyone! I'm trying very much to get my computer up to speed to handle Second Life better. I'm thinking that it is time for a new graphics card. I have a Gateway E-4000. It is a Pentium 4, 2.0 GHz, 768 MB of RAM -- Technology mystifies me...so I'm not sure if I'm giving enough information for you to even help me.

Thanks for your time and help in answering my question!

Vali

it says you have a agp slot with a geforce 4 mx something, so you can put basicly any agp card you want in it. the Geforce 6600 is a popular one on the forums for its power and price.
768mb of ram could be better, and you probally could get a few .ghz more processor shoved in that thing if you really wanted to.

From what i could find about Gateway E-4000, its a minitower, wich mean its using a non standard powersupply, and for a better vid card you need least 350watt (id say 400-500watt) , wich probably wont fit in that case.

So they pretty much cheated you , reason why i never buy brand name pc's , if you where to get a gforce 6600 card i doubt your power supply would keep up.

For SL now you do not want a MX video card (nor intel), since it finally uses some instructions thats only availible on 5200 nvidia / 9500 ati card (id rather pick 6600/9800 card min there tho), to render the new pixelshadered water.

For SL youd want least this or higher:

amd 64bit - 3000+ cpu (p4 cost to much to what you get imo)
1024 mb ram
400watt powersupply
nvidia 6600
miditower case ,

Reson why i dont like name brand pc's?, they use parts thats nearly impossible to change, like powersupply, wierd cases, some motherboards are just plain nearly impossible to upgrade, ectect, set up a few pc's and when it came to certain ones id rather shoot them with a shotgun then to update them eerr well

I nosed around the Gateway site myself. Does this resemble the patient?

Thanks so much for your help. I appreciate the advice.

Vali