Graphics Card decision

Yes, another question about Graphics Cards, well if there's already some out :P.

Yeah, I would ask you guys a question, but I feel like I could get more help just telling my personal situation.

Ok here it goes.

I have been playing the same game (Warrock, yes I know, I feel you) for like a very long time, more then I should. So I want to move out of this game and on to bigger and better things, with all the new games coming out. Then there's the problem =P. I have an intergrated ATI card...yeah lol. So out of all the times of frustration on BF 2 and just low frame rates in general I decided to look on Nvidia's site, and I have come to be very fond of them over ATI, it is just more easier to get around and understand the cards and what not, So I would prefer them over ATI, but I havent really looked on ATI...at all lol.

Yeah so I only have one PCI-E x16 slot on my mother board, so no SLI for me, yet :P, so I need to get a good card as I can only have one. The 8800 ultra is ungodly expensive haha, but if it will help then who cares lol. I want to get in the community of high end games, so I need a medium-high to high performing card. I looked on all of the Nvidia cards and I might get a 8800 GTS 612 (6 something) card or something near that. I'll bet any card,ANY, from Nvidia will probobly multiply my performance by 10x because my intergrated sucks so bad haha.

Oh, side note stuff:

1. Does PCI-E 2.0 work with a PCI-E x16 slot, I heard it's backwards compatible, but others say it isnt, so I need a definitive answer.

2. I'm not to familiar with ATI cards, so if you guys think that would be better then me getting a Nvidia then by all means speak it.

3. My computer specs(from device manager and sys info), yes they will suck 8)

Processor: AMD Sempron processor 3400+

Graphics card: ATI Radeon Xpress 200 (intergrated)

OS: XP Home Edition V.2002

Company: Hewlet-Packard

Manufacturer: Compaq presario

Processor speed: 1.99GHz (btw my processor is a single core, 99% sure)

RAM: 1.43 GB

4. If you have any other tips or suggestions please share

It is EXTREMELY bothersome to just look on sites for reviews and what not, so after many hours on that, I have just decided to come here, because the community is so awesome, hehe :), and I'm sure the members will help me.

Thank you so much in advance this will help me so much, sorry if this is to long, if you need more information just ask, and I will most certainly need more computer and etc. help in the future;). Have a nice day.

Thank you =)

~Truelight

Would it be better to just build one? Yeah, looking for desktops is bothersome to, and I can customize it to my needs, and it will cost less too =). I think I just answered my self on that haha.

Oh another question: Is there anyway to measure FPS in a game without fraps?

Would it be better to just build one? Yeah, looking for desktops is bothersome to, and I can customize it to my needs, and it will cost less too =). I think I just answered my self on that haha.

Oh another question: Is there anyway to measure FPS in a game without fraps?

linkfreak4

Yeah, you should probably get a new computer if you want to play the latest games. You can get a pretty decent budget gaming computer for easily less than $1000 now.

If you just wanted to get a video card, though, go for something like the 8800gt or hd 3850, which are both very good deals (imo) right now, and both will probably be about the limit of what your system can handle.

Alright thanks for the help guys, but ibuy can you give me a site or like some examples of some of them desktops you are talking about, because I am so totally fried from searching google for probably 10 hours now lol (thats total not in a row, oh god :P). I don't really do that multimedia stuff, yeah just mainly games. So if you could help me find some, that'd be great.

Oh and I've done some like "desktop configuring" things on some sites, but its still easily over $2,000, even with my "gaming only components" :P.

~Truelight (stay golden :D)

First of all, major retailers will make you pay an arm and a leg for "gaming quality." Avoid them at all costs.

You could get better deals from sites such as cyberpowerpc.com and ibuypower.com.

Finally, you could get parts and build one yourself. This way, you can get the best deals and lowest price.