Q: I'm going to be buying a new system, probably from Dell, since I don't have the time or inclination to build my own. My question is this... I don't have the cash to buy one of their high-end gaming systems, and I don't play enough games to justify it, but my son is into quite a few computer games for younger people and I've noticed that a lot of them require 3D cards. I've read enough to know that the integrated video solution are generally hopeless for 3D, so I was going to avoid the cheapest systems. How good are low-end but recent cards like the FX5200 for older 3D games? The company doesn;t seem to have a mid-point between the high-end and the low-end that appeals to me.

A: From personal experience ( I have a six year old son that plays games too), I can tell you that a previous generation low-end card like the FX5200 will do quite well on 3D games from a couple of years ago when coupled with a fast processor. The games we've tried all worked smoothly, so I doubt you will be disappointed with the low-end solution. Just steer clear of Guild Wars, Half-Life2 and the like!