which video card to upgrade to

[biggles27]

I wish to run games such as black and white, return to wolfenstein, unreal tournament.
and have a PC 2 yrs old running a 650 duron processor, 10 gig HD, 198 ram and a 4MB Rage11CAGP video card. I want to upgrade the video card( thinking of a 64mb card) but am confused about which to buy and wether the latest greatest card on the market would benifit me( with my PC's limited resources) or wether i would be better to purchase an older card without the bells and whistles.
any recomendations on which brand- model card which would get the best out of my system.

 

[engall]

If you have enough money, I hope you will upgrade CPU. Maybe upgrade to DURON 1.1G It is enough.
And your video card can upgrade to GF4MX440.
If you dont wanna to upgrade cpu,you can buy GF2MX400.That is enough

 

[nardvark]

or perhaps to one of the new Radeon 9000's? They're very competitive with the G4MX's, and have better software compliance in the long run...
I would say that you don't need to spend all that much, all of the games that you play have run fine on my Radeon 32MB DDR card, though I'm running on a much faster processor... (a P4 1.7Ghz).
I don't know what the processor scaling is like for some older 32mb and 64mb cards, but I don't think it's as extreme as the newest graphics cards.
I can't see buying a G4Ti series being very justified in your case.
I'd say spring for a radeon 9000, they're pretty cheap, will have ATI's usual good 2D quality, as well as some nice extra features...
just my 2 cents.

 

[max105]

with that older cpu, it doesn't really justify buying any really nice mid-high end video card. a radeon 9000 sounds pretty good in the long run.

 

[AnAndAustin]

Well even the Rad9000pro is inferior (and slower) than the Rad8500LE, there is no question really. If you refuse to upgrade your CPU, it is a shame, but there is little point getting anything faster than a GF2TI/GTS, GF4MX440 or Rad7500. These should knock you about $60, while the DX8 cards (GF3TI200, Rad8500 and GF4TI) won't give you a whole lot of extra perf they will give you DX8 hw support for around $90 (GF3 and Rad8500) and $130+ (for GF4TI4200).

You will gain most by upgrading your CPU AND adding a gfx card, Duron1.2ghz are very cheap and very powerful upgrades and will work with most SktA mobos (do check with your mobo's manu website). I would suggest upgrading your gfx card first, to a GF3TI200 (great AA) or Rad8500LE (great '2D' image quality and TVout) while GF4TI4200-128MB would be ideal. Then save up for a Duron1.2ghz, you may find you need a new PSU (inadequate wattage) or case (poor ventialtion) although you should be fine by adding a case fan or 2. The GF3TI200/Rad8500 should cost you $90ish while the Duron1.2ghz should cost you no more than $50 (inc HSF). This will seem like a new PC to you, and will be a bargain for under $150!