strixo: Wow. thanks to everyone for the replies!
My old laptop was one of those Intel integrated graphics jobs, and I've never had any computer with nvidia (or ATI) hardware. I have no idea how to judge system requirements on games when they say something like "NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or greater", so I appreciate the input! Wish I could mark everyone as a solution.
Does anyone know of a website that allows easy comparison of older and newer desktop and mobile GPUs? I've little understanding of all the benchmark tests and what not over at notebookreview.
There's no similarly comprehensive site for desktop GPUs. As a sort of compensation, nformation from the manufacturers and independent reviews are somewhat easier to come by.