What Graphics Card is best for my PC?

[Lyllot]

Hey there, I'm new to this forum so please tell me if i'm posting in the wrong section.
I'm wondering what's the best graphic card I can use for my PC? I want to be able to play games such as Grand Theft Auto IV. Here's my computer specs, I got it from DxDiag.

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System Information
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Time of this report: 7/26/2012, 18:19:07
Machine name: HADDOCK
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.120504-1619)
Language: Swedish (Regional Setting: Swedish)
System Manufacturer: HP Pavilion 061
System Model: EW059AA-B1U d4490.se-a
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) D CPU 3.20GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Page File: 1087MB used, 2850MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode


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Display Devices
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Card name: Radeon X1600 Series
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: Radeon X1600 Series (0x71C0)
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_71C0&SUBSYS_04301462&REV_00
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Mode: 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: HP LP2465 LCD Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1920,1200
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6648 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail



I really appreciate any help I could get! Thanks

[JPMiller]

Well your base is very old and im sure requires an AGP card and Im sure a new PSU as well...
In my opinion, its wasted money to invest in anything that old...
Youll pay more for equivalent older tech and your PC is not likely to last as long with the added stress...
If it were me I'd wipe it clean and sell it, and add that to your upgrade budget and buy something more current.
I just cant advise sinking money into something that wont last long or make enough of a difference

[Lyllot]

Okay thanks for the answer, do you think I should buy a cheap desktop pc and just buy and build, or buy an already good computer?

[paul9]

Buy or build something decent so it will last a while. New games always want more grunt from your hardware. Buying a cheap desktop, even if you plan to upgrade piece by piece, will probably lumber you with a crappy motherboard and processor, so you will need to replace just about everything in any case.

[ShyguyXPC]

Well your base is very old and im sure requires an AGP card and Im sure a new PSU as well...
In my opinion, its wasted money to invest in anything that old...
Youll pay more for equivalent older tech and your PC is not likely to last as long with the added stress...
If it were me I'd wipe it clean and sell it, and add that to your upgrade budget and buy something more current.
I just cant advise sinking money into something that wont last long or make enough of a difference

To add to that GTA4 runs like crap on no matter how powerful a PC you have, so on that older Pentium D (first Dual Core CPU's), and run in WinXP it would run like crap no matter what GPU you added.

plus the CPU would bottleneck just about any worth while GPU added.


Also agree with what Paul said as well.

Don't sell yourself short with a low end platform, that you'll end up dumping more money into, usually for what you pay for a lower priced prebuilt, you can order and build for yourself, something thats anywhere from 25-75% better in performance.

One of those Really cheap dell's or HP's out there, you'd be stuck with a small constrictive case, need to replace the PSU, limited feature set on Motherboard, You'd probably want to hack up the case for good Cooling, a mid range Video card or better would be iffy if it would even fit, etc etc etc.

a good case only costs $50, $40-50 for 8GB of RAM, $75-100 for a good feature rich Motherboard, $100-230 for a good Dual to Quad core CPU, $150-250 for a Good Video card, $100 for a copy of Windows 7 64-bit, $75-100 for a 1TB HDD, $15-20 for a DVD Drive.

If you need a Monitor, $100-175 for a decent LCD display.


Just add Speakers/Headset, Mouse, and Keyboard and your set.

[ShyguyXPC]

Off Topic...

PC gaming is currently going from strength to strength. Upcoming games such as Bioshock Infinite and The Darkness II look set to raise the graphical bar even higher, and recent games look phenomenal on the PC. Just compare Skyrim running on a decent PC and graphics card to it running on an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 and the difference is like night and day. Plus as the consoles stagnate due to their ageing technology, it's something that's only set to continue.
GTS 450 and Radeon HD 6990.


Regards,
Kumar.
SPAM REMOVED

Even the spammers don't know WTF their talking about.

PC gaming is currently going from strength to strength.

Yes and No.

Upcoming games such as Bioshock Infinite and The Darkness II look set to raise the graphical bar even higher, and recent games look phenomenal on the PC.

As usual, talking out of ones Arse. Those 2 games can't even compare to some that are out now, and have been for awhile.

Add to that, PC games have almost always looked Phenomenal compared to console systems.

Just compare Skyrim running on a decent PC and graphics card to it running on an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 and the difference is like night and day.

Well Freakin DUH!!! PC has greater CPU and GPU Horsepower than either of those two, hell combined they can't even compete.

Plus as the consoles stagnate due to their ageing technology, it's something that's only set to continue.

False. Used market is VERY much alive, Console market will almost always be much more popular from this point on (or for the last 15 years anyways).

Reason the consoles stagnate is the companies don't come out with new ones that often, as it is, the New Nintendo system is slated next year, the next Xbox is around the corner, no word yet on a PS4, but compared to the other 2 systems, the PS3 is still young.

Add in the Mobile Phone market for gaming, which is technically PC gaming, and it does have some competition there, but Console systems are really not stagnating so much. I mean think about how long the current systems have been around, and the sales of them each year, at some point the market will be saturated beyond capacity for the current hardware, and then all they can do is make money on Games and Peripherals at that point. Once it starts to get to that point, thats when the next gen systems come back around again.

GTS 450 and Radeon HD 6990.

Huh, WTF?

GTS 450 is at low end, and 3 Generations Behind, and Radeon 6990 was at the top end, 1 Generation Behind, only bested by the GTX 590.