Gaming Help with graphics card

[prowler]

Well, with the list of stuff I want to get, a new graphics card is on it but I have no idea how to tell what graphics card to go for.
I just basically want one to play L4D and some other games (like the latest game I've got (That I bought ages ago but since the computer downstairs has Ubuntu recently installed I can't play it) is The Sims 3)
So really, I want a 256 MB (or more) graphics card with pixel shader 2.0 support.

Right now I have a ATI Raedon X300.
I've been told that I will need to check inside my computer as well, but I don't know what I'm looking for

I'm guessing you'll need information about my computer too, just tell me what and I'll get it

I'm not looking for the best graphics card, or anything really expensive, just something that would play the games I mentioned at mid quality.

Thanks

 

[Berthenk]

Okay, computer specs plox? ATI Radeon XPress X300? I had an ATI Radeon XPress 200.

Anyway, where will you be buying it from?
If you open your case, you should look at the bottom left. Some PCI-E and/or PCI/AGP slots should be there, they look like this:

However, since your graphics card, it's an IGP (Integrated Graphics Processor), there won't be a GPU there (Graphics Processing Unit).

 

[prowler]

Well, I see two PCI slots and one PCIe 1x slot (at least, I think it's that) I took a picture but I can't find my USB cable atm D:

CPU: http://screensnapr.com/u/i/3zgxmx.png
Mainboard: http://screensnapr.com/u/i/9zutpc.png
and memory: http://screensnapr.com/u/i/4mf2zg.png

 

[Maplemage]

I have 2 laptops. 1 has bad graphics card, cant play combat arms, the other has good graphics card and can play any online game.

And I have another 2 more laptops here and plus my sister has 1 with her so basically I have 5 laptops in this house =D but 2 are my sister's and 1 is my bro's and the other one is my dads brother.

Btw, tryout this website, it will tell you if your computer can run the game or not.

http://cyri.systemrequirementslab.com/CYRI/intro.aspx

 

[Berthenk]

Ah, you have PCI-EX16... now you only need to choose a GPU, which is pretty hard. How much do you want to spend?

 

[Rogue_Syst3m]

i smell upgrade

 

[prowler]

I have 2 laptops. 1 has bad graphics card, cant play combat arms, the other has good graphics card and can play any online game.

And I have another 2 more laptops here and plus my sister has 1 with her so basically I have 5 laptops in this house =D but 2 are my sister's and 1 is my bro's and the other one is my dads brother.That helps because?

Btw, tryout this website, it will tell you if your computer can run the game or not.

http://cyri.systemrequirementslab.com/CYRI/intro.aspxIf I had a pound for every time someone has suggested that, I wouldn't need to worry about buying a graphics card, I'd buy alienware.
That site IS NO HELP AT ALL.

Ah, you have PCI-EX16... now you only need to choose a GPU, which is pretty hard. How much do you want to spend?

Well, really, I'd like it to be anything up to £50 because I'm cheap but that's not going to happen.
Oh and about where I'm buying it from, anywhere really, as long as it's a trusted site and accepts solo cards

QUOTE(Rogue_Syst3m @ May 13 2010, 06:56 PM)

i smell upgrade

No, you don't smell anything at all. This is the Internet.

 

[Joe88]

that P4 is gonna create a huge bottleneck with the more powerful cards
you could get something like a 4670

 

[DCG]

Btw, tryout this website, it will tell you if your computer can run the game or not.

http://cyri.systemrequirementslab.com/CYRI/intro.aspx

that site isn't that precise, I get a fail for certain games from that site, but I can still play them at good quality. the cpu can still handle intensive games only my gpu is dying on me.

 

[Santee]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphi...x-480,2621.html tells you the best ones for your money.

 

[lakaiskateboarding]

Unfortunately your CPU just sucks, so I can´t really say what video card you should get to play those games on medium. An ATI HD 5570 should do the job I think.

 

[Berthenk]

You can go with this, however, it's not really powerful. But, it's at the top of your budget...

 

[playallday]

You have a PCI-E slot. I have the same video card as you in my older system (still plays HL2 well!). I would go for a 4670 on sale for around $50ish or less.

 

[Originality]

To add a little lee-way, £50 is about $70ish. He also implied that he can stretch further, but wants to stick to cheap solutions.

Low end HD4 and HD5 cards are what you're looking for. As mentioned, HD4670 or HD5650 are good choices, possibly along with GeForce 9600 or 9800GT (as mentioned in a site). All the cards I just mentioned will be able to handle L4D without much trouble. To put it into scale, L4D plays on a HD3200 or a GeForce 8600M at medium graphics but no AA. Anything will be better.

Contrary to one opinion, the CPU itself won't cause as much of a bottleneck as people like to think. Games tend to focus more resources on the GPU because graphics take up the most resources. 3Ghz is a decent speed for a CPU so it'll be able to hold its own when paired with a half decent GPU (that generally means any GPU currently on sale). On the other hand, it's only got a single core, so it won't be very good at multi-tasking. If you don't want to upgrade, then you'll want to make sure any background processes (especially anti-virus programs) are disabled before playing or the game will become sluggish (especially when it comes to horde attacks).

 

[Deleted-171178]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173708
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/190132
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/201021

I recommend them if your PSU support it.