No, I don't believe the old geforce 2 mx400 will support the new widescreen.

 

That's an old card that was manufactured well before the advent of widescreen lcd monitors.  I doubt there are drivers for it.

 

Second you "want" to operate the new monitor at its max resolution.  That's the only way its going to look its absolute best.

 

So I'd say you need to update the video card.  But keep upgrades costs down.

 

My recommendation:  7600gs agp card like this one:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130076

 

It will work just fine with your existing power supply.

 

Good Luck

Dale

thank you for the response, is it hard to swap out and install a video card by your self? are there any diagrams or pics on the site showing how it's done? i remember when i added ram, someone sent me a link with pics and a step by step explanation how to do for my comp. thank you for your help.

Karen.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8200/  Your User Guide information on the 8200 system.  Look for the Add Parts and follow their instructions.

 

If you are going from a ATI card to a nVidia card, then look at the below instruction to help further

 

Step One....

Download the most current driver for the video card, and have it placed on the desktop for later install. Try not to use the video card driver from the cd that comes with the card, since they are some what out of date. ( If it’s a nVidia card, go to www.nvidia.com . If it’s an ATI card, than go to www.ati.com  for the driver download.

Going from an ATI card to NVIDIA or vs. versa, one should uninstall the old driver first. Before installing a new driver, make sure you uninstall all nVidia or ATI display drivers from the Windows Control Panel. Browse to the Start Menu > Windows Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs, and search for nVidia or ATI Windows Display Drivers or called nVidia Display Drivers, than select remove. Than use the driver cleaner, to get all the old driver code completely off the system. Use the driver cleaner twice. If you are going from a nVidia card to another nVidia card ( Same for the ATI card ), you may not have to use the driver cleaner, but I do to be on the safe side, but many, including myself, have not seen any issues with this procedure. Others may have.


http://www.drivercleaner.net/  Driver Cleaner Pro download site. ( Now they are charging $10 for the program, where it was free before. You can try to manually clean out the old driver if you wish, but this is still a good program to have around )

Free version that you might want to use ...

http://www.3dchipset.com/utilities/ati/driver_removal/dclean.php


1. Turn off the system, unplug the power cord, and push in on the systems power button for about 5 seconds to discharge the system further.

2. Remove the old card, and install the new card, firmly. Attach, if required, any power cable to the card, and to a power connector on your system. ( Some video cards, but not all, may need a power connector that you may have extra from the power supply connected to the video card or use a Molex Y power cable connected to the rear of the video card, and the other end to a power connector often found next to the cdrw or dvd drive, to get the video card to work )

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812189003  This is what a Molex Y cable looks like.

 

Some systems also have an extra power cable coming from the power supply that can be utilized instead of the molex Y power cable

3. Plug the power cable back in, and reboot the system. You may notice that the monitor screen is larger now. Not to worry if this happens, since you are now using Microsoft’s Generic video driver, prior to installing the one you downloaded.

4. Now disable your anti virus software, and disconnect the modem at this time..

5. Install the newer video card driver from the desktop, reboot the system, than if necessary, go into the Display Properties to reset the monitor resolution after it reboots. You are almost done. Now restart the anti virus program, and connect the modem. ( It has been noted from time to time, that the anti virus program may cause problems with the install of some drivers, and some games, so it’s best to disable this during the driver install to eliminate that possibility )

Display Properties.... Right click your mouse on an empty part of the monitor ( desktop ), click on Properties next, than click on Settings on top. Now look at the screen resolution bar on the left side. Move it to the proper resolution to the monitor you have. Click on Apply, than OK. The monitor will go blank for a second of two, than another box will appear in the upper left side asking you if you wish to keep the new settings. Click OK. Do so before the second counter goes down, and you have to start over.... Now you are done

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest A game system requirement link to test your system to see if you can play that game on your computer


http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html A performance chart on some cards that you may wish to look at

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=437&card2=370 Video card comparison guide.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/01/10/agp-platform-analysis/ AGP card line up information

Proper install of a video card link found here: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=965852