Need help with a video card....

I bought a game, The sims 3. I installed it, but it won't play because it says that my video card isn't supported or something like that. So now I need to buy a new video card…..but I don't know what I need. I've heard talk about PCI…or AGp slots and what not. I have no clue what these are or what my computer has or needs.

Here is what is required to play the game…
http://compsimgames.about.com/od/thesims3/…ims3-system.htm

I have this computer with XP
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/prodinf…879&lang=en
Although I'm not exactly sure its the same as mine…..

This is what it says on the front of my computer:

340 Intel Celeron D Proccessor
512 MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM memory
160GB 7200RPM ultras DMA hard drive

I had an Nvidia video card put in it awhile back, but apparently that one isn't supported now…..

Can you recommend a video card that is reasonably priced??

Any other info you need to know??

I bet your card dosnt support pixel shader. From the link you posted you have a on board graphics controller, but you added a Nvidia card at some point. It must be PCI based because your board dosnt have a AGP slot. So you need a PCI (not PCIE) card that supports Pixel shader 2.0. You might also think about adding more memory which will improve over all performance. I will look for and post some links to PCI based cards that support pixel shader.

Thanks for replying….. How do you add more memory??

Your best source for a 'how to' will be the link you posted to the HP web site. There is a link there to 'Upgrading Memory (RAM)
There is also information on how to determine the exact make/model of your machine since you were not 100% sure.
You will have to determine if your machine has a open PCI slot. Iam assuming it does since a Nvidia card was added at one time.
Please try to determine the exact make/model of your machine from the website. There are also links to removing and adding video cards.

adding memory

Adding Cards