Myriad of Graphic Cards

[gortonsfi]

I find my GeForce2 32 MB PCI graphics card doesn't run my new game, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King the way I want. So, I'm thinking about getting a new card.

Does anyone have any advice on what to look for when shopping for a new one? There are so many choices!

I have an AGP 4x slot right now, but I am planning on getting a new MOBO and processor sometime in the next couple of months, it will have AGP 8x.

I'm thinking approx 100 dollars for the card, does that sound fair to get a good one that I can rely on to run games well for at least a year to come?

There's NO way I'm spending 2, or 3 hundred dollars on a card, certainly not 1000 ;)

Thanks,

Jeff

[TallCool1]

I find my GeForce2 32 MB PCI graphics card doesn't run my new game, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King the way I want. So, I'm thinking about getting a new card.

Does anyone have any advice on what to look for when shopping for a new one? There are so many choices!

I have an AGP 4x slot right now, but I am planning on getting a new MOBO and processor sometime in the next couple of months, it will have AGP 8x.

I'm thinking approx 100 dollars for the card, does that sound fair to get a good one that I can rely on to run games well for at least a year to come?

Bump that up to about$150 and you will future-proof your video for quite a bit longer. Think about it; an additional ~$50 investment will roughly double your overall video performance. There are several nVidia and ATI cards in that range that are a vast increment above the sub-$100 cards. The ATI 9200 series and nVidia FX5200 series just don't have the oomph for high-demand gaming. I have a slight preference for nVidia due to better Linux support and a more-robust driver model. Boards in the $150 price range include those based on the nVidia FX5600 and (newer) FX5700 series and the ATI 9600 series. 256 MB RAM is a good idea.

Most new cards are 4x/8x AGP compatible, but it doesn't hurt to check.

In your new MB, avoid the Celeron like the plague that it is. I prefer the AMD Athlon series.

Most cards in that price range have both VGA and DVI outputs, so you can use a dual-monitor desktop. It's pretty cool.

[gortonsfi]

Thanks, that definitely helped. Speaking of the nVidia cards, I think I kind of like them too. I really liked my GeForce2 that I have. It was a PNY; are there any manufacturers, to look for or even avoid?

[TallCool1]

Thanks, that definitely helped. Speaking of the nVidia cards, I think I kind of like them too. I really liked my GeForce2 that I have. It was a PNY; are there any manufacturers, to look for or even avoid?

PNY is decent. Another safe bet is a card made by a major motherboard manufacturer like Abit, ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, Albatron, etc.

For more-detailed specs, comparisons, and ideas there are a number of news and review sites that you may find useful. The leading nVidia fan site is nVNews . The leading ATI fan site is Rage3D . Then there are the trustworthy non-aligned sites like The Guru of 3D (a good source for drivers) and PCStats . Other sites include Tom's Hardware and AnandTech ... and then there's the always-amusing [H]ardOCP .

If you need more info, feel free to ask.