Best Graphics Card I can Afford

[Slavic]

I've finally decided to set aside some money to buy a decent graphics card, my current one is an ATI Radeon Express 200 : (. It is essentially bottlenecking my system's performance.

I have a 2.2 GHz AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 896MB RAM, I don't know why my ram is some weird fucking number like that.

I don't know what kind of motherboard or the kind of graphics card slots it has. I do not know much about graphics cards.

I am willing to spend bout $100 to at most $150 for a card.

Any advice????

[LegalSmash]

Some medium 8 series nvidias are ok for a 256/512 range, 8600 is a nice bet for the money you are talking. Red and Zero would know best, I defer to the former's advice most often on this issue.

[Slavic]

Is this an AGI port that I have above the PCI ones or a PCI-X

[Itch]

Looks like PCI-E.

[Slavic]

I found out its PCI-E, my friend found this deal for me, it looks pretty damn sweet.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...dlist=celebros

[Misanthrope]

If you're positive it's a PCI Express slot then I'd recommend either of these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150277
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130333

If you don't want to go with Nvidia you're best bet is probably one of these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161216
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161206

Just as importantly, you need to make sure you have a good power supply, if you've got some 400 watt pile that came with the PC you'll have to upgrade your PSU when you get a new card. At least 550 watts would be recommended (don't bother with the card requirements since PSUs only have a certain efficiency)
Something like this would be a good PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817339006

[Slavic]

If you're positive it's a PCI Express slot then I'd recommend either of these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150277
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130333

If you don't want to go with Nvidia you're best bet is probably one of these
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161216
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161206

Just as importantly, you need to make sure you have a good power supply, if you've got some 400 watt pile that came with the PC you'll have to upgrade your PSU when you get a new card. At least 550 watts would be recommended (don't bother with the card requirements since PSUs only have a certain efficiency)
Something like this would be a good PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817339006

How important is upgrading the power supply?

[Misanthrope]

How important is upgrading the power supply?

Like I said, it's JUST as important, if you've already got a good PSU (500+ watts) then you won't need to worry about it. Otherwise, take it into consideration.

Actually, you could get the card and try it, if it works just fine, no worries. However, if you get a lot of crashing/errors/really bad fps, then you should upgrade.

[Slavic]

Like I said, it's JUST as important, if you've already got a good PSU (500+ watts) then you won't need to worry about it. Otherwise, take it into consideration.

Actually, you could get the card and try it, if it works just fine, no worries. However, if you get a lot of crashing/errors/really bad fps, then you should upgrade.

aight thanks for the help man

[Zero001]

What's the exact model of the motherboard? The black slot in the picture is definitely PCI-E, but the reason I ask is because you could benefit more from a multi-part upgrade over just a video card upgrade.

- 8600GT $80
- 2GB RAM $47
- 2.3Ghz X2 $59

Total = $186 shipped - $30mir puts you back in the $150 range.

Those three pieces will give you a better improvement over just a $150 video card. You should at least do RAM and video card, which I would then swap the video card to an 8800GS.

Someone mentioned it, but if you have a generic power supply don't buy a power hungry video card unless you're willing to upgrade. You're going to ended up losing your power supply and it can potentially take out your other hardware in the process.