Good graphics card for a good price

Hi all, havn't been on here a while, my computer life has gone from extreme gamer, to basic user. However just want to be able to play games a bit more. I just want a graphics card, nothing else, just upped my RAM to 2GB about half an hour ago. So I now have 4 x 512MBs running at 332MHz equivalent speed, and my CPu is at 2.5GHz from 2GHz. Now I just want a graphics card that is fairly priced and will give me good performance for what I play.

My current Spec.s are:

Athlon 64 3200+ Venice Socket 939 @ 2.5GHz on Copper AKASA cooling
2GB of PC3200 RAM running at 333MHz 4 x 512MB DIMMs (2 Crucial, 2 TEAM DIMMs)
320GB Seagate 7200.10 Barracuda SATA 2 + Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 6800 25GB IDE
600Watts Thermaltake Toughpower PSu
nFORCE 430 mATX Board from Gigabyte model K8N5IPVM9-RH - Socket 939
Onboard Graphics GeForce 6150 "stealing" 128MB of my RAM

I intend to run:

XP Home and Vista Ultimate x64 and possibly a LINUX partition
New games, my current games like Guild Wars, all versions of counter strike, Battlefield 2, Rainbow 6 Vegas etc.

What card do you think I should get, keeping price / performance in mind? (PS: I am in no hurry for this if you think its worth me waiting longer for something better to come out)

 

Considering your current specs, i would for the Geforce 8500 or 8600's series. The difference between the two:

1. 8600 has 512 ram while 8500 has 256. It may vary though depending on the manufacturer you choose.
2. 8600 i found were 50 more dollars. (sorry, i know your working pounds and can't give you an estimate)

In general, these cards are great: I have the BFG Tech 8500GT and its stealing part of my 4GB ram making it 512mb rather than the default 256 (sweet if you ask me). Also, im glad to say that i run COD 4 MODERN WARFARE... SMOOTHLY and the details are freakin nice.

I would consider these cards if your looking for value and perfomance.

 

I was considering an 8600GTS, maybe a 512MB version if I can get hold of one. (PS: I forgot to say, the interface on my motherboard is PCI-E) I now can't be arsed replacing my CPu or anything, so I need something that is level to the rest of my setup

 

The 8600 and 8500 are cheap but i reckon for value and performance the best card out their is the 8800GT you get a lot of bang for buck. Yes its more expensive but you can consider it as an option.

 

Lol of course... 8800GT is the top out there. Its a freakin monster. Price, like you said... very expensive. Around 650-800

i actually benchamraked my 8500GT with 3dmark06... i was really surprised t find out that even that graphics card would get a sucky 5 FPS in the first testing. I was pretty mad. But hey like i said... i run COD4 with no problems.

No complaitns so far.

 

If you want something that's a bit cheaper the best cheap cheap card would be the ATI 3850. Check it out:
Newegg.com - HIS Hightech H385F256NP Radeon HD 3850 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

 

The 8800GT is $250-300 USD... It's the top budget card right now..

 

Yeah it is expensive but i still prefer the 3870 over the 8800GT especially if i crossfire setup would be interesting to find out if 8800GT in SLi is better then the crossfire 3870XT.

 

Right now the 8800GT is better in SLI because ATI's drivers are still crap. When they get the software worked out I really think the 3870 will beat out the 8800GT

 

I don't get why so many people say that ATI drivers are bad i've used ATI cards/drivers before and haven't had any problems with them. :dry:

(i hope this comment don't start an argument like i have been doing sometimes)

 

OK I have looked at some ideas for cards. The 8800GT looks a bit "much" for my system to keep up with, I may have considered it if I had a dual core CPu. Other things to remember are that I need a graphics card that isn't going to cause CPu / RAM Speed bottleneck.
I want this computer to last me another 2 or 3 years at least, I am no longer a HEAVY gamer, but it would be nice to be able to run the new games nicely.

and just a side note, my monitor is 19" and max display is 1600x1200, not that I intend to go that high on much at all...

 

2600XT. Cheaper than 8600GT and faster.

 

2600XT is not faster than the 8800GT

HAHA oops, you said 8600GT. Ya, alot is faster including the 79xx series. The 8600 card series is a joke lol

 

Lol i don't want to start an argument with you dudes... but the guy wants a cheap card and on top of that he's not an extreme gamer... i really think the 8600GT or the 2600XT is fair...

And gazaway... sorry about the price error... i meant the 8800 ULTRA was 650-800... not the GT... the GT is priced like you said.

 

i'm running on a 8600GT and it runs COD4, Guild Wars, Counter strike: all versions extremely well, no lag & near top graphics.. i would go with this card if your not a heavy gamer

 

If you stick to xp and or arnt too worried about Dx10 then X1950 Pro Would be awesome

 

Hi yes I have considered that card, but I want to run vista x64 too, and run reasonably new games, even if it means turning down the quality. I have 2 GB of RAM now, so that should keep me a "little" bit more future proof, along with an overclocked athlon 64 3200+ that runs faster than a 4000+ but its still single core and not dual. maybe a 8600GTS will do the job, I am aware its not too powerful, but it has a good media encoder, to reduce CPu load on watching videos and things. It also runs a lot of new games on medium settings OK.

 

Get a HD3850 Instead of a 8600GTS

 

Right OK I will consider this, BUT it must be less than 27cm in length otherwise it won't physically fit.

My South bridge heatsink is worrying me a little on whether it will fit too, but then again, it is about the same height as the PCI-E 16x slot, so I may be OK

 

The HD 3850 Is 22.86cm so your fine