Video Card for a Budget PC
The computer displays stuff onto your monitor through a video card. Most cards today are 3D accelerated in some form, meaning they will display content that is 3D (mostly games) directly from the video card saving the processor for other tasks. We will avoid onboard video because they put more pressure on the CPU and a cheap add-on video card will provide much better performance for a little more money.
For our basic computer we’ll go with a card that has high 2D performance with decent 3D performance. Ati has a reputation for having high quality 2D, and it definitely shows in their 9200 series video card. The 9200 series (B00009KTMA) has 128 MB of video card memory and allows you to hook up 2 monitors simultaneously to the card allowing more screen space or replicating the same screen. It’s also no slouch in the 3D department, holding it’s own in today’s games.