Stop me if I am going crazy with this but I really want to make sure. Through work I am able to get an ATi X800 AGP 256MB Vid Card at a really good price. I know this card is listed on the "supported chipsets" in the FAQ's of their site but that is as far as my knowledge goes.

I have a 2GHZ P4 Processor
512MB of dual channel DDR ram
a Sound Blaster card (No idea what type)
and as it stands a P.O.S Nvidia MX 420 Vid card
Not to mention that I have updated just about everything I can possibly think of.

If I replace the vid card with the X800 stated above will I be able to run Oblivion? I really don't mind if I have to run it in 640x480 and with the bare bones settings I just want to play it like mad. Will this setup do until I have the extra cash to buy a Dell XPS system next year?

I don't know what your current vid card falls under, but if YOU do, then check out this; it tells all supported graphic cards

http://www.elderscrolls.com/games/oblivion_faq.htm

oh I know that the X800 I plan to buy is under the listed suported cards but has it been proven to run the game alright?

as far as i know, that card should just work fine. It's the same gpu generation as my 6800 Nvidia chipset.
You should, and i recommend that even more than the gpu, upgrade your ram to at least 1gb. I plan to add up to 2gb, because ram is important for the huge outdoors, textures, physics etc. 512 could result in horrend loading times and very blurry outside renderings.

edit: Only drawback for the x800: Shadermodel 2.0, no hdr rendering imo, just not the uber cool effects. -> If you have the chance, invest your money in a geforce 6800, about the same prices.

Yeah that will be my next endeavor. I knew that if I could even play the game at all it would ease my pain until I save up enough money for more ram. But will the framerates make me not want to play?

Either way, I need this video card and for the 100$ canadian it will cost me then I think it is a sweet deal for a 256MB card no matter what. It will blow my MX420 out of the water (stupid 64MB vid card!!!)

Thanks for the input, I have been trying all morning to get some feedback. Now I can order it and be playing Oblivion by Tuesday/Wednesday!!!!

hmmm the price you get is awesome, congratz to that Mind my edit though

Yeah I couldn't pass up the price. I got it though a company that provides computer accessories for my work and I can just put it on loan and take a year to pay for it if I feel like it.... I might just add some ram to the order to make it that much better

one could become jealous (j/k ) upon your chance to insider-dealing with hardware use it well!

X800's for all lol! (lthough they only have 74 so first come first served hehe)
Anyway thanks so much for the help! No I can order my stuff and go to town. Can't wait to spend like 9 hours just making my Imperial Xander!!!

*Drools* Im so giddy I can't even concentrate!

Trust me, you want the best you can get to play to keep the FPS rate even at the very least.

I'm running oblivion with an ATI x800XL 256MB. I have a faster proccessor though (AMD Athlon 64 3200+) and more ram (1.5GB). I think Oblivion is more video card dependant than morrowind though, and heres what kind of peformance i get:

I run with Bloom lighting (HDR is not supported) no AA, distance sliders nearly maxed and at a resolution of 800x600 I get very smooth framerates and acceptable load times. It also runs pretty smooth at 1024x768 but I think the mods im using are slowing me down some so I dropped my resolution to 800x600.

The only video glitch I have experienced with this card is when I run Anti-Aliasing and any nearby creature uses the chameleon effect, my framerate drops to a slideshow (1 or 2 FPS)

I am acctually upgrading to a Nvidia 7800 and installing a 150GB 10,000RPM Raptor harddrive though cause I just want Oblivion to run super smooth with nearly instant load times. =)

A friend of mine is having trouble with running Oblivion himself as well. He ordered an X700, will he be safe. His system specs are about the same as mine only he has a gig of ram.....

It would definately work. I Have the x700 pro, and it works mainly smoothly. All I need is to upgrade to more ram, but other than that, it would work on an x800.

P.S. I'm running Oblivion at Medium spec, and it only lags for a few seconds when the surroundings load. I suppose I could even run crappier, and get it smoother, but I like shiny. xD

Well this is great news both ways. I have been wanting to play this game forever and I will finally be able to. Even if I have to run it on the bare minimum until I get a new computer! *Drools* Finally!!!