I am starting to look for a new video card and was wondering if anyone could recommend a good brand to look into (or any brands to avoid)… I run windows XP on a year-old Dell system (2.4 GHz with 1GB RAM) and am currently just using the motherboard-embedded video card. I would like something that is good for commercial gaming as well as Java-based game development. I am trying to keep my budget right around $100 or less… so I know I am not going for top of the line, just better than what I have now.
Thanks for any advice you can provide… I'm no hardware guru. 
Try this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102295
It’s a nice card for the price.
darkfrog