I need some advice on my graphics card please help

So i have a 2.13ghz duo core
2gb ram
7900GS

but the graphics card is having huge problems, giving me artifacts and crashing a few of my games.
So first thing i did was look at some benchmarks and cards.
I am not looking to vastly upgrade my PC in anyway i just want to replace my gfx card so i don't plan to spend huge amounts.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-093-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=356&name=OcUK%20GeForce%209600%20GT%20512MB%20GDDR3%20TV-Out/Dual%20DVI%20(PCI-Express)%20-%20Retail

its 74 quid, i was thinking cheaper but at the same time the i looked at

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-160-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1008&name=Asus%20GeForce%208800%20GS%20384MB%20GDDR3%20HDTV/Dual%20DVI%20(PCI-Express)%20-%20Retail

and thought its like 14 quid cheaper so there is not much difference in price and i can get a better card right? how does the card compete?

are there any better deals?

I tried posting elsewhere but they seem to hate me over there and don't reply

I get the feeling that my PSU has caused my graphics card to die, can anyone outline the problems of having a PSU just from the case at 480w can do to my PC? my friend said it would degrade my gfx card over a long period of time its a slow process and the timing of the death of my card seems about right, i want to confirm this before i buy a proper one, because i was wondering why my card died so early.

And what are some good PSU brands?

The 8800GS is a fair step up from your 7900GS, but the 9600GT is pretty damn tempting at that price. I'd probably opt for the 9600GT if I were in your shoes.

And yes, cheap power supplies often have poor voltage regulation and suffer from power dips and spikes that degrade components over time. RAM is usually the first thing to go, but it can happen to a graphics card as well. There's no guarantee that is what happened to your card though, but if you're using a power supply that came with a case, I'd err on the side of caution. A good power supply won't come cheap though - it'll likely cost nearly as much or more than those graphics cards you're looking at. Some of the best power supplies on the market are made by Corsair, Seasonic, Silverstone, PC Power & Cooling, and Enermax.

So on a quick note, would you recommend i buy a new PSU before getting one of those graphics cards?

and i am hoping there is no bottleneck right?

I wanted to add that if my graphics card has been damaged by the PSU, how likely are my other compenents going to have been affected too? is it worth replacing everything then because i don't want to buy 2 new components and find out that my mobo and hd die after like 2 months.

If the graphics card is already damaged, it needs to be replaced before that power supply does. Well, ideally I'd replace them both, but if it's one or the other I'd probably opt for the graphics card now, and the power supply as soon as possible.

Bottlenecks? Not really. There's always a bottleneck in any system, but your is far from major, I wouldn't worry about it. A little overclock on the CPU would be nice, but it's not necessary.

As for other components being damaged, it's possible. What I'd do is run a few things like Memtest86+, Chkdsk, Prime95, etc. to ensure all your components are still stable. That's the problem with power issues - they're very hard to track down. It's why I err on the side of caution with power supplies whenever possible.

What do you think of this power supply?
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-006-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084&name=Corsair%20VX%20450W%20ATX%20PSU%20(CMPSU-450VXUK)

I am hoping its not too low, i assume since that is one of the brands ( i could not find any others on that website ) quality should be no problem so wattage may be?

Thanks for your help, see i got someone else to build this PC for me back in the day when i was not really confident doing stuff by myself but it seems quite easy with even youtube videos showing me what i need to do.

The last thing i am worried about is this earthing device i have i seen, how vital is it when touching components of my PC? i would rather not have to spend money on it but obviously i don't want to destroy my components just by touching them.

I don't really understand memtest86+ and how to use it, could you give me the name of something mroe simple to use or show me how to use it? i am running the others now.

The 450VX is fine for most current setups, but if at all possible I'd get a little more headroom with something like the 550VX so you don't have to worry about an upgrade later on down the line.

As for a grounding strap, it's not necessary. Just stay of carpet and out of socks while you build, and touch bare metal on the case frequently and you'll be just fine.

Memtest86+ is pretty simple - just download the ISO version, burn it as an ISO to a CD (you can use the free DeepBurner program to do this), and boot to the CD. Instructions are very simple, and it's easy to run from there.