lookin for a vid card

[Sagern]

Hello, thought i would ask and see if anyone can enlighten me in regards to video cards. Its been 4 years since i last was "up-to-date" on my knowledge and now i throw my hands in the air while looking at them.

Recently my desktops video card blew up, currently have it limping with the onboard so i can access my music and such but need to replace asap so i can use it for gaming, and save my laptop from exploding. haha

Ive always been an Nvidia "fan", though i won't discount ATI.

Gateway GM5478 is the rig i use, while the rig is not a powerhouse it does fairly well for what i use it for, just want to doctor it up some.

link to specs as it is:

Gateway Support - Specifications

Looking for an upgrade from the stock NVIDIA® GeForce® 8500GT 256 MB
since the original went badaboom


Since Nvidia has changed their numbers around i have no clue whats = to it or better

Also need to upgrade/build up more memory, taking suggestions in that too

Not looking to spend a bunch of money, probably 4-500 total for card and memory. Would actually like to spend less, but i can dig deeper in the wallet if need be.

thanks in advance for any help.

[Bloodwraith]

Here's a sort of ranked list from the nividia site:

Graphics Cards Buy Now

Once you have an idea on which card you could buy it from Tigerdirect. I've purchased multiple things from there with no problems.

TigerDirect.com - Computers, Computer Parts, Computer Components, Netbooks & Electronics

[Sagern]

ill check that out

last time i replaced a card or built a comp was before pci express and havent kept up since.


I have gotten stuff through tigerdirect before when i built my old rig, never had any problems with them other than having to take myself off their email list. i liked newegg too, they used to have some decent deals

[BruisedOoze]

Something in the 9600 is probably the best choice, maybe 9800... You probably already know this but keep in mind that your power supply is 400 Watts if you go for something beefier. I noticed you mentioned 4-500 dollars and this can buy you a hefty card which would be beyond your power supply even with deductions for the memory you bought.

I've always used Newegg and Ncix for parts.

[bluezman]

You may want to add a new power supply to your list of purchases. Modern video cards require a lot more than the stock oem ps can provide. I had a ton of problems with my machine when I upgraded my vid card. Turned out that I didn't have enough power for it. Most oem supplies provide between 250 and 350 watts. That's barely enough for what hardware the manufacturers put in the computers to begin with. I would suggest something in the 600 to 750 watt range, or more, if you can afford it. And, buy a decent one. Read the customer reviews first. They're easy to replace and you'll be much more satisfied in the end. Good luck!

[Sagern]

Thanks for mentioning the power supply. Didn't even think to look at the size of what this one has, assumed it had a bigger one than 400. Luckily I think I have a couple in the 600 range round here somewhere, that may do.

[Mert]

One thing to bear in mind if you go for anything in the new 200 range is that they're quite a bit wider than a usual PCI-e card because the come with a huge heatsink attached to them. On a lot of motherboards you might find that it physically takes the room of two PCI rails, so check you have the space (or can move other stuff around) if you decide for a newer card.

For reference, I'm using the 192-core version of the GTX260 and average framerate is around 40-45 in TotC-25, peaking at around 90 when by myself levelling an alt or something and dipping to around 12 when the entire world AoEs the whelps on the Onyxia fight, heh. Of course my CPU and RAM will be helping with those framerates though (i7 920 and 8Gb DDR3, respectively) but I thought I'd give you a real example of performance anyway in case it helps

[Sagern]

One thing to bear in mind if you go for anything in the new 200 range is that they're quite a bit wider than a usual PCI-e card because the come with a huge heatsink attached to them. On a lot of motherboards you might find that it physically takes the room of two PCI rails, so check you have the space (or can move other stuff around) if you decide for a newer card.

For reference, I'm using the 192-core version of the GTX260 and average framerate is around 40-45 in TotC-25, peaking at around 90 when by myself levelling an alt or something and dipping to around 12 when the entire world AoEs the whelps on the Onyxia fight, heh. Of course my CPU and RAM will be helping with those framerates though (i7 920 and 8Gb DDR3, respectively) but I thought I'd give you a real example of performance anyway in case it helps

Should have plenty of room, may have to move tv tuner card down a slot. While i would love to be able to have top performance or even great performance, i would just be happy to be able to walk around dalaran without stutterframe.

thanks for the advice everyone, like i said I am 4 years behind on whats good and know that really puts me WAY behind in knowledge.

gonna look for some of the items over the holiday, then grab up some things while lookin for christmas presents for the lil ones

[Sagern]

Ok, did some looking around, read up on each item and found what I think is best compatible with what I have to work with. Accepting any pros or cons.

I'll link my current specs as i know again:
Gateway Support - Specifications

Video card:

PNY GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Newegg.com - PNY VCGGTS2501XPB GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Memory:

CORSAIR 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667

(can I upgrade too ddr3 and/or a faster DIMM speed? could not find any definate documentation saying i could or could not. Compatible with mobo i assume?) (also i assume i can get 3-4 of these to get memory up to 6-8gig)

Newegg.com - CORSAIR 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model VS2GB667D2 - Desktop Memory

PSU:

CORSAIR CMPSU-650HX 650W

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-650HX 650W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

[Mert]

DDR3 RAM is (at least as far as I know) motherboard dependent. As for being able to add more sticks up to 6-8Gb - yes you can but bear in mind that if you're using a 32-bit OS then you're wasting everything after 4Gb (in fact with a 1Gb GPU, 32-bit Windows will report 3Gb RAM no matter how much you put in). So yeah, double check you have a 64-bit version of Windows before you spend too much on memory.

Most folk would advise against getting a 64-bit copy of XP but 64-bit Vista/7 is fine and more than adequately supported with drivers etc.

[Seradwyn]

Agreed with the above poster.
You cannot go from DDR2 > DDR3 without a motherboard/cpu replacement 9/10 times.

Good choice on video card and power supply! If you are still using WinXP of any sort you'll get better performance staying with 2Gb of ram, if you are using vista/W7 then an upgrade into 4Gb(more if you are using 64-bit) will be worth your while.

[Sagern]

Have vista home premium i believe, unless i am capable of getting 64bit..so i probably should stick with 4g.

After i get the cast off the thing (vid card/psu replaced) ill get win7

laptop has win7, its awesome, i have fought vista from day one. Win7 out of box i fell head over heels in love.