A Good Graphics Card for Games?

[Monica]

It's time for a graphics card upgrade, but I have no idea what's a bargain. I can't tell the difference between Nvidia and ATI, all I know is my computer has an Nvidia GeForce 4 MX 420 and my dad has the very great ATI RADEON whatever that came with his Dell XPS Gen 4 so it's one of the best.

All I know is the GeForce 7800 is $600 but that's too expensive, but I don't really know which of the cards inbetween these is good and worth its price...any suggestions? Thanks. :)

PS - It would be a bonus if it could run Morrowind well, although my dad let me put it on his, he might ask me to put it here after an upgrade... Also, if anyone could, please may I see a screenshot of your cards, how they look in the games? It'd really help a lot, thank you. :)

[MrCow]

I have a nvidia 6600GT which will run you ~~175. Great card great graphics. Not the best out there but for the money its a relaly good deal.

[Masamune]

I have an ATI Radeon 9200 which was about 100 bucks. Pretty good card. Does what I want it to do. I should've held out for the 9800 though. I'd say get a Radeon 9200 if it's just Morrowind. But ofcourse the 9600 and 9800 come with free half life 2. ^.^

[Daarkseid]

I would try and figure out, first, what sort of slot you use for your graphics card, since you didn't mention what you use. What cards are available to you can be affected by what type of slot you use.

Like for example, the GeForce 7800 you mentioned is currently only available in PCI-Express models, meaning it will only work when plugged into a PCI-Express slot.

The three types of slots used for videocards are PCI, AGP, and the newest kind, PCI-Express. I'm not sure how best to figure this out if you don't already know.

[Monica]

Oh I dunno about the slot....my dad just said to find a good card, he said about any one will fit in it. My system is a Dell Diminsion 4500 but I dunno what slot...:(

[Starkist]

It's probably AGP, if it's not a brand new computer. I have a Radeon 9600Pro, which was around $100 new around a year ago. It runs Morrowind perfectly.

I've been having artifacting problems though, grr... I just RMAd the card but nothing improved.

[Daarkseid]

I looked up Dell's webpage and looking up info on the 4500(which is a bitch because they want to keep things simple for their patrons), seems to indicate it came with an AGP slot.

So make sure the card explicitly supports AGP 8X.

[biggiy05]

Depending on your budget and what other games you want to play there are different cards that will fit the bill.

Here are a few vid cards that won't break the bank but will also perform nicely.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814153020

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102362

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102344

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102515

[Sylvan_Wizard]

Simple Google search determined that your computer has a PCI slot and an AGP 4x. Look for an AGP (4x) card.
I'd recommend pretty much any card with 256MB of RAM. You can find prices on pricewatch.com, and check online vendors on resellerratings.com.

[Daarkseid]

Look for an AGP (4x) card.
I'd recommend pretty much any card with 256MB of RAM. You can find prices on pricewatch.com, and check online vendors on resellerratings.com.

The vast majority of cards are going to be AGP 8x, which doesn't matter. 8x cards are backwards compatible with 4x slots.

[goKi]

I wouldn't spend a great deal of money on a card to put in an AGP4x slot. A pricey card would be wasted in a 4x slot.