Graphics Card advice

**Steggy_1** · 12-29-08, 01:42 PM

I am looking to up-grade my graphics card...but I am not an expert in the field...thus I am looking for advice. My computer specs are: AMD Athalon 64x2 Dual, Core Processor 5000+, 2.61 Ghz, 1.93 GB Ram, NVIDA GeForce 6150 LE. Any recommendations?

**RagunCajun** · 12-29-08, 09:53 PM

You should take your motherboard into account, does it have PCIe, PCIe 2.0? PCIe usually are black slots, PCIe 2.0 tend to be blue. Nvidea chipsets tend to work better with Nvidea cards, ATI with ATI. How big is your power supply? and can it accomodate PCIe type cards? On a budget? GeForce 9 series are good cards for a low cost, as are some of the ATI 3800's. Mid range Budget GF 9800 GT's or ATI 4850's, or some of the now old tech GF 8800's, High end no holds barred? Nvidea 260 or 280's, or ATI 4870, currently the ATI's have the frame rate bragging rights. Any of the aforementioned will handle games up to and including Crysis, and can easily manage BF 2142. I run 2- GF 9600 GT's in SLI and have no problems with anything I run on it.

**WileECyte** · 12-30-08, 06:56 AM

Matching chipset to video card is not nearly as important now as it was years ago. My 8800 GT (nVidia) very happily co-exists in my AMD-based chipset motherboard.

**Mad_Hatter** · 12-30-08, 09:10 AM

Judging by the graphics you already have I'm guessing it's probably an HP or something like it. And most of those types of PC's only come with a 300w power supply. Or somewhere around that. You might want to look into a new power supply before beefing the graphics.
When you do that I'd say go for anything in the ATI 4000 series of cards. Any new ATI card will be a good investment.
They're future proof "at least a year", and you'll love all your games.
Also listen to Cajun and find out what kind of slots you have in your motherboard. You can usually look up the model online.