Windows 7: compatible graphics card for my compaq presario sr1630nx

im going to school right now and im taking a 3d animation class and i finally got the program ive been using in class which is "Maya" it runs good on my compaq presario sr1630nx but it seems to be choppy at times with a little lag my instructor says to get a graphics card. so i was wondering what would be a great graphics card thats compatible with my system for 3d animation and some pc games. right now the graphics card my system is running is a ATI Radeon Xpress 200 i would also like to have two monitors running on my system so i could have maya on one screen and a picture reference on the second screen.

HP doesn't list what it has for a power supply here,

Compaq Presario SR1630NX Desktop PC Product Specifications - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

but going on how HP likes to put in a power supply that is just powerful enough to run the system as it is out of the box, I'm guessing that it will be something in the 250-300W range. If that is what it is (only way to find out is pop the side off and see what it shows on the label), then a new power supply is also going to be needed.

With that in mind, how much are you looking to spend?

i currently have this model running my power an ATX-300-12Z Rev:.BD 300W as for how much im willing to spend between 200 and 350 dollars

Quadro cards are recommended for 3D rendering programs, but as Stormy has said you are going to have to get a bigger PSU (min 500w) to get the best out of a card like this ... unfortunately the Quadro cards aren't the best (or the cheapest) when it comes to games so you will have to decide yourself which is more important

so im guessing a quadro would fit the PCI-Express space in my system so what about those geforce cards

If it were me I would sign up for Newegg emails and look for a combo deal on a card and power supply.
Providing Compaq hasn't used a non standard sized power supply which has been known to happen.

Since e don't know your location we also don't know if you can purchase form Newegg, so I would suggest in your profile select your country or state flag so everyone can easily know where your located and be alot easier to direct you to hardware you are looking for. Since not everything is avalible to everyone pending on non US memebers.
Fabe

im from California

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

Even this will probably be good:

Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, LED LCD TV, Digital Cameras and more!

those are cool combos hey here some of the system requirements to run the program good

So the links above should work well for you.
Fabe