[Aelithus]

Okay...so Ive got an msi G41M-P23 motherboard. I want to get a new video card because my old one does nothing. I want to play games like Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Grid etc...

What I don't know is how to choose a video card that is compatible with my motherboard/or any other parts in my computer. Or of it really matters.

[Daleon]

Well the mb has "One PCI Express x16 slot (PCI Express Bus SPEC V1.0 compliant)."

So you can put in pretty much any board you want, being 1.0 not the greatest but its an x16 slot still so not a big deal. Your going to be more limited by your power supply and the room inside the case if it is small.

Based on the board and likely your cpu you would have your not going to put in a really high end card. Maybe a 560 TI\6850 at tops anything more and your wasting your money. A used 5850 would be a good option. If you keep your resolution down you can probably play at pretty good visual quality settings or high resolution and low quality, its a toss up.

[Aelithus]

Thank you! I think I'm gonna go for a new motherboard and video card all together though.
Any suggestions for a good motherboard and video card that aren't too expensive?

[fcomstoc]

I guess it depends on what you are looking at in regards to price, any new mobo you buy will need a new processor, new ram, you may need a better psu for the increased power consumption. AMD tends to be cheaper but is not as good as Intel. If you went for the low end, used the existing case you could probably build an ok system for around $500 or so.

[Theocnoob]

What CPU have you got? G41 is pretty old. That's going to be a 775 chip you'll want a new CPU too.

[Mjolnir]

Do a rebuild under a budget IMO. (Start saving :P).

What are all your current system specs?

Motherboard we know;
CPU?
RAM?
Case?
Power Supply?
Current Graphics card?

Budget for upgrades?

[Aelithus]

I've gotta go to work soon, so I cant be too specific.

What I got;

Processor: Something like a Intel 2 LGA 775 Quad core 2.97

RAM: 8 gigs (don't know what kind)

Case: I have an ibuypower case (probably a little bigger than a standard case)

Power supply: I don't know what the power supply is, but I know it probably matches the rest of the computer; old and not good enough.

Graphics card: The only one I have is the one that comes on the motherboard.
Its a Intel GMA X4500.

I didn't build this computer by the way. I bought it from someone.

My budget is probably $450-550 tops.

[Theocnoob]

I'd sell it for $200 and change if you could, turn around and buy a $750 system new. Keep your hard drive/optical drive.

[fcomstoc]

+1, It is hard to upgrade older systems. If you need a new mobo you are basically starting over. I started my oc experience trying to upgrade a 5 yo system and I quicky figured out that in order to get the results I wanted I needed to start over.I spent about $2000 upgrading the old one and starting on a new one.

[Mjolnir]

+1 again. Build your own budget comp..

But.. Download CPU-Z to find out what CPU you are actually running. A quad core 2.97ghz.. Should still be fine realistically..

In which case; grab a HD 6870 1GB or GTX 560 Ti (all price depending).

This assumes your power supply can handle them.. Without knowing what it is; we can't be sure.