Advice wanted please for buying graphics card

Hi Everyone, i would like some advice please if possible, on what graphics card would be sutible for my pc, i have limited knowledge of pc's but im a quick learner, however the amount of cards i've come across is mind boggling, and i feel i need abit of help in choosing. My pc is a Esystems pentium D CPU 3.00ghz 1G Ram, I have the option to upgrade the ram with the second slot which i will be doing as well. Any info and advice would be very welcome, I can provide more info on my pc if required. The games im Hoping to run at good settings are DC online,Guildwars 2.

Recommended system specifications for Guildwars 2: Windows Vista or 7/XP/2000 Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or equivalent 1 GB RAM DVD-ROM drive1 4 GB available HDD space ATI Radeon 9600 or NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 series video card or above 16-bit sound card Internet connection Keyboard and mouse DirectX 9 I'd look for a any brand 9600 GS as they are a fairly good card, but have been around for a few years(meaning they are now cheap) and on a performance per dollar basis, 2 to 3 yr old cards, new if possible, are great value. A fast Internet connection is required for all on-line games. Cheers, Lee

Hello cybernaut, Welcome to the WTT forums. Whilst Lee's advice is totally correct and invaluable, I think we might need a bit more info about your system. My concern is that your machine may not support newer hardware standards. Most graphics cards these days use PCI Express 2. This is compatible with PCI Express 1.1, but not with its predecessor AGP. Similarly, other hardware components, such as the PSU (Power Supply Unit), have an affect on what sort of graphics card you can use. When it comes to graphic cards, there are a few simple rules that you need to remember when shopping around. Essentially there are two manufacturers that you need to look at, ATi and nVidia. In both cases they offer "gaming" graphics cards, or GPU's (Graphical Processing Unit), and "design" GPU's. The ones you need to look out for are the ATi Radeon and nVidia GeForce branded cards. The numbers behind each card name also do mean something. The first number denotes the series number. So an ATi Radeon 4xxx is a 4 series GPU. They are currently up to series 5, so in your case a 4 Series graphics card may be the cheapest option. The last three numbers denote the comparable performance of the card within the series. The higher the number, the better it is. The same sort of rule applies to nVidia cards. Up to series 9, nVidia use a similar system. The first number denotes the series number, the last three denote its performance. Keep an eye out for the second number though. If the second number is an odd number, such as an 8500 GT, it is more of a "media" card than a pure "gaming" card. The highest series you'll find in this format is series 9. After series 9 it gets a bit complicated. nVidia started using a new system about two years ago. After series 9 there is the GTX 200 series. After that it is the newest GTX 400 series. This time around the performance is denoted by the last two numbers in the three digit number. So for example a GTX 295 is more powerful than a GTX 285. With that in mind, could you let us know the model number of your machine, and also what your budget is? If you're lucky, a 9600 GS might be the way to go. If your computer won't support it, you'll have to consider a different route. Cheers, Nahumi

Good information and suggestions from both of you! Nice post above regarding the progression and naming/numbering of branded cards. Well stated, Nahumi.