Need Video Card Help

[hkellick]

OK, folks. I need help of the kind that I think some of y'all can offer.

Three years ago, I bought my computer from CompUSA. At the time, the computer was pretty well loaded... with a whopping 64 MB Video Card (NVIDIA GeForce4 MX420 graphics card) and 512 MB DDR SDRAM.
That was three years ago... nowadays... nowadays, my computer tends to meet minimum specifications for the games I want to play and some of my games tend to get slow (both slow to load and slow to play, depending).

So.. what I want to do is begin refurbishing my computer. My computer doesn't run too slow and I don't have problems, for example, hopping in and out of Word or Excel, so I suspect it's not actually a RAM problem.. I think it's that with the new 3D games I'm playing (Sims 2, Zoo Tycoon 2, etc.), the 64 MB Video Card just isn't up to snuff anymore.

So.. I want to replace it.

The problem is.. I don't know a damned thing about Video Cards. I don't know HOW to compare and contrast and decide which is going to get me the most bang for my buck.
So... could someone with more knowledge of the intricacies of computer parts please instruct me as to the difference between video cards and how to tell which one is right for me?
Please?

Thanks!

Comments

[vissith.livejournal.com]

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.

[vissith.livejournal.com]

For reference, the GeForce 6800GT is like ... 100FPS in UT2004, 60FPS in EVE Online (at 1280x960 max details) and around 30FPS in Doom 3 max details.

So if you are playing slower games you don't need that much power.

[phoenixsong]

He mostly plays Sims 2, The Movies, and other sim-type games. One of the big killers seems to be things like moving water, which at highest settings is designed to shine and sparkle and reflect semi-realistically. The level of realistic detail has gone up orders of magnitude between prior and current versions, which is why I'm speculating it's the video card slowing him down -- sound about right?

The Movies also seems to be crashing his machine, which is why he didn't play much after the first week or two. I'm not sure if that's a video issue, or a general RAM issue -- I believe he's got 512MB right now.

[vissith.livejournal.com]

Crashing can also be bad device drivers.... especially video drivers.