I think that you may find that 512MB is not enough. Most modern 3D games are happy with 1GB. World of Warcraft and Unreal Tournament I've noticed will take 300-500MB if you give them room.
Video cards you get to pick between Nvidia and ATI. I've always been more of an Nvidia fan because "back in the day" ATI was basically a shit farm. They're better now but I'm still happy with Nvidia's driver support (DRIVERS = TEH IMPORTANT) so I stick with them.
Cutting edge when I bought my video card was in the $250 range, and it really hasn't changed a lot for a few years. More than $250 is bleeding edge and less than $200 is getting iffy.
The GeForce 6600 series is becoming slightly dated at this point but is hovering at around $180. It would be a substantial upgrade from your current card. I'm currently running a GeForce 6800GT and love it but they are still slightly pricey.
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Date: 2006-01-20 04:12 am (UTC)Video cards you get to pick between Nvidia and ATI. I've always been more of an Nvidia fan because "back in the day" ATI was basically a shit farm. They're better now but I'm still happy with Nvidia's driver support (DRIVERS = TEH IMPORTANT) so I stick with them.
Cutting edge when I bought my video card was in the $250 range, and it really hasn't changed a lot for a few years. More than $250 is bleeding edge and less than $200 is getting iffy.
The GeForce 6600 series is becoming slightly dated at this point but is hovering at around $180. It would be a substantial upgrade from your current card. I'm currently running a GeForce 6800GT and love it but they are still slightly pricey.