Best graphics card for pc ie x16 slot?

Question

have a HP 3Ghz,P4,ram 512k...which graphics card is best suitable for playing games like supreme commander?

Answer 1

well to be honest i think that you need for ram aswell as a graphic card.

You can get a good boost with 2gb memory and an ATI 3850 graphic card.

Can get both for less than £100

Answer 2

You really don't want to get something too quick, otherwise that CPU will hold you back, create a bottleneck, if you like. (to the answerer below--I certainly do not mean to say that having a low spec cpu will make a high end gpu operate at the speed of a lower end gpu, I am simply saying that you should not mix high end components with low end ones--it's inefficient. Seeing as how most games are all-round system intensive, there's always something to hold you back..to put it simply..you wouldn't put standard road car tires on a racing car, would you?)

You'll want at least 2GB of RAM to play SC.

For the video card I would look at something like an ATI x1950 or NVIDIA 8600GT, preferably the former.

Oh, and another thing..make sure your psu is upto par, for most modern video cards you'll want a 450+watt PSU, though it does vary greatly.

Answer 3

Depends how powerful your psu is. You could get a 8800GTX but you would need at least a 600Watt psu.

Otherwise, you need to shop around and look at what card your psu can handle.

Answer 4

it depends what your budget is.

the available extent of the graphics upgrade card is determined primarily by your power supply. You have a 16x slot which means theoretically you can put whatever card into it your budget will allow. If your power supply is insufficient for a high-end card, this will need to be uipgraded too.

The analogy of 'bottleneck' above, is false. Yes, a graphics card will deliver more fps on a more powerful machine, but that is not the same as stating that a high end card will perform at the same level as a low end card because of the cpu. To say that is just wrong.

Basically the more powerful the graphics card, the more fps you will get out of the machine. A graphics card upgrade is the most viable bang for your buck upgrade for what youve got there, and will improve your gaming performance better than any other hardware addition, although another 512meg of ram may also support what you are doing with the card.

If you can stretch to $120, an 8800gt is a very good card.

for more advice on price/performance equation see

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best...