Which graphics card should I purchase?

Question

I currently have a NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430 graphics card, but I am looking to upgrade to a better one. On this one, CounterStrike: Source works fairly well on most maps, but when playing Left 4 Dead or The Sims 3, I have to use the lowest of the low and even then its somewhat choppy and slow. So I need a graphics card that will play these well and possibly future games at desirably medium at the lowest

I have a AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+  2 GB of RAM, and 831 MB Total available graphics memory.

I don't know what any of that means and I don't know if thats good or relates to the card that I should purchase at all, but any help would be appreciated! :)

BTW, my price range is probably around 70-80 bucks

C-Man · Accepted Answer

In your price range, easy call.  The Radeon 4670 - only costs $70, twice the speed of the GeForce 9500GT and usually works fine on stock 300W power supplies. Even though the official recommendation is higher, that's allowing for people with unusually power-hungry builds.  If you aren't overclocking or don't have 4 hard drives, you'll be fine.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102854

Your next best choice is the Radeon 4650, which uses less power but is about 40% slower.  It's still about 5% faster than a 9500GT, though.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161303

Performance:
http://hothardware.com/Articles/ATI-Radeon-HD-4830-Mainstream-GPU/?page=8

The latest list of best graphics cards in each price range, from Tom's Hardware:

? · Answer

I would suggest to buy XFX Radeon HD 6870 1 GB DDR5 Graphics Card The HD6870 is the next step in the graphics evolution by AMD. Cutting-edge graphic, display and memory technology enable you to fly through the most demanding HD titles with ease.

zipcode5000 · Answer

Check buy.com. remember to keep the graphic specs in mind for like l4d or sims 3. It's a trusted site. i bought my ati x1600 for 60 bucks. Great deals. I believe Howie Mandel sponsors it.

David · Answer

Get a GeForce 9800 or 9600 they are a bit old but it can run those games pretty good.

Tyler · Answer

if it is compatible with your computer the NVIDIA 9500 GT would be perfect! very affordable and could play all those games on high settings

? · Answer

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5222605&sku=A271-4675

It's a good option for power. Since you don't know your psu this card will work at 300watts.  It will run most games o Med without chop.

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Which graphics card should I purchase?

6 Answers