Video Card for Dragon Age

[Hyperlite]

I'd upgrade the 9600 GT. If you're not trying spend an arm and leg and want to stick with nvidia, the gtx 260 is probably the best bang for the buck right now. If you want an AMD card, then the I'd recommend the 4890 or 5770 if you can find one.

You've got another year out of that processor. I have my e8400 overclocked to 4.0ghz with no voltage modifications, and it is ROCK solid.

I've got to disagree with the GTX260 suggestion. Newegg has a 4890 for $160 AR right now. It significantly outperforms the 260. http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3539&p=16 pick your game. Then again, the 4890 and 260 were never intended to compete with eachother.

 

[Winterpool]

Get the game, run it on your system, and see if you are satisfied. If not, then overclock. If still not, then upgrade.

This seems eminently sound advice!

 

[garritynet]

I did notice that a simple 400 MHz bus overclock to 3.6 GHz yields a respectable framerate (my rooms could probably do with the additional heat in winter). Would this suffice with a 9600 GT, or would I still require a video upgrade?

I don't see how the 4670 would be fine but the 9600GT which performs slightly better would not. If you give me a few days I'll get the video card configured on my buddies PC and see how well DAO runs on my 16*10 monitor when paired with a AMD X2 @ 3.0. Since your rig is better than this, you will have a good idea if you need to upgrade. Delivery is slated for this coming up Tue. and I will have something for you by Wed.