Hiya,

I've been wanting a new graph card for a while, and now Witcher 2 gave me a convenient excuse to look for one. But since I'm technically challenged, I'm asking your help. Can you recommend me a goodish graphics card?

My current specs:
Asus M4N75TD motherboard
Amd Athlon II X4 quad core processor
4 gigs ram (still using XP)
Power supply is 500w (or 550, can't remember exactly)
nVidia GeForce 9800GT 1 gig

I'm guessing that my 9800gt is the weakest link in my machine?

What's your budget?

I think that with higher tier card you'll have to get a better PSU as well.

In that price range the Radeon HD6950 is probably your best bet. Try to get the 2GB version if you can afford it. That should allow you to max out TW2 no problem.

Ok, but I see from pictures that this card has 2 6-pin power connector thingies, and my Power supply only has one of those (9800 has one 6-pin slot so it sufficed), so do I need to buy new PSU? I would think that the card needs both of the slots plugged to the PSU :)

Absolutely anything that is not an Radeon HD series below 5000's - current HD drivers crash the crap out of them and the older drivers during their release period were buggy.

:)

I kinda like nVidia for some reason, don't know why..most likely because I had some serious problems with ati and its catalysator stuff...

A good 650W PSU should suffice, maybe 700W to be on the safe side. Modular one too, so you could keep only the cables you need.

From NVidia, you can get GTX460 in that range, I think.

You can buy adapters which convert two of the 4-pin connecters into a 6-pin for the graphics card. Supposedly a 500w PSU is enough for a 6950, although if your PSU is very old and/or cheap then it might be wise to get a newer one anyway. As far as I'm aware, any card in that sort of price range will require 2x6-pins for the power.

EDIT: If you're dead set on Nvidia then go for the 560ti. It doesn't perform as well as the hd6950 but it is a bit cheaper. Still needs 2x6-pins though I believe.

tbh recently it's been going the other way ATI drivers are improving as AMD comits more money to them and NV's seem to be dropping in quality like a rock

As long as your PSU is strong enough you can just use a 2 molex - 6pin connector many cards come with them still

Oh, thanks :)

Is 550W strong enough? Just checked the PSU box, it says 550W

I prefer nVidia myself - one the biggest reasons for that prefrence is something simple that they did with their control center - they added definitions and explanations as to what all the control center's tweaks do and how they affect performance VS quality.

Hmm, that card seems interesting. Does anyone have experience whether it runs hot, and if it's loud? And does my motherboard get along with that card (I'm simple when it comes to these things...)

Apparently I already have the 6pin converter, found it in my stash (remember wondering what on earth it was) :D

Hopefully my PSU has enough stamina to run this :)

it's generally considered not worth paying for over the 460