Cheap non gaming card - system over budget

well for under $50 you will not see much improvment from a videocard fom onboard video however if your useing xp you only need 1 gig of ram vista only 2 gigs if you opeing game and other things that much of system resouces id go with a geforce7500 or somting to that efect.

What is your total budget for this system. We can help you define a solid build and using a Abit IP35 pro is overkill for what your going to be doing, IMHO, unless there are options on that board that your needing. Here's what I generally look for in a "non" gaming rig:
CPU
e2160/80 (budget) Under $100
e6550/e6750 (mainstream) Under $200
e6850/q6600 (higher end, but not breaking the bank) Under $300

Mobo
DS3L/Abit IP35-e/Asus P5k-se (for solid OC'ing mobo's that don't require RAID) Usually under $100
DS3R/Abit IP35/Asus P5k (for RAID functions and other basic options) Under $140

GPU
2600xt/8600gt (for basic computing that allows HTPC functions on a budget) Under $100
8600gts/x1950pro (upgrade from 2600xt/8600gt for better gaming experience) Under $130
3850 (good budget gaming rig with more potential than the previous selections) Under $180
8800gt 256mb (generally close or equal to 3850, so not as recommended as well as the 3850, because of price) ~$210
3870/8800gt 512mb (best of both worlds, cheap for the performance that you get) Under $300
Anything above these is just too much for what you pay for, IMHO.

Memory
2 gig's CAS5 DDR2 800mHz (should be the standard right now) Under $50
2 gig's CAS4 DDR2 800mHz (if your going to OC much, this is the sweet spot right now, especially around $50)
4 gig's of DDR2 800mHz (only good if your going to use a 64bit OS i.e. xp64 or vista64)

Case/HD/DVD/Monitor whatever you have or can afford.

Get the cheapest Radeon X1000 series or Geforce 6000/7000/8000 series card you can find. Make sure it isn;t a 'hypermemory' or 'turbocache' version.

Overclocking it is a waste if you're not playing games with it.

Should be able to find something under $50 on newegg.

The 8400gs will run you right just over $50 on Newegg...they have an EVGA 8500GT for $54 after rebate right now...

Wait...come to think of it, Dell is offering the same card with the same rebate at the same price, but they are shipping it FREE! (Newegg will charge $5 or so...)

I agree, an IP35 Pro is a tad overkill unless you need some features it has that the cheaper boards do not. The Gigabyte DS3L would save you your $50 and then some and it's an excellent board for the money. Ditto on the E6750 being overkill. An E4500 will work just fine for you.

Do that and now your under-budget.

You could opt for a G33 based MB. It has pretty good integrated graphics, and a PCIe slot to add a graphics card later if needed. For a stock speed system, it would perform just as well as a P35 and is also upgradeable to the next gen 45nm tech.

I am partial to Gigabyte boards, but ASUS and even ECS makes a decent G33. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] therboards