Vista - Req. for Smooth Gameplay

I am close to getting a new processor and it would come w/ Windows Vista Home Premium. I was hoping to get a couple of opinons on if you thought the following specs were good for playing games (LOTR Battle for Middle Earth, Warcraft, AoE...) and other applications in general.

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6700 (4MB L2 Cache, 2.66 GHz, 1066 FSB)

2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 2 DIMMS

256MB ATI Radeon X1300 Pro video card

Would 4 GB RAM be that much better than 2? I know that there have been some issues w/ game lag, compatibility on Vista; reading some of the previous threads has helped me as well. Thanks for the help!

Don't get 4GB it is a total waste of money. Those specs are fine but I don't know anyhing about ATI cards. I have not come across a single game that had any issues. Deihmos

Okay, thanks...what kind of video card would you recommend (for a somewhat reasonable price); the ATI card is what the DELL website offered for the model. So 2GB would be fine for running games on Vista, I assume 1GB would get choppy?

get another card. If you're looking for something that's not to pricey try the 7600gt.achilles614

So the NVIDIA/GeForce cards are better? (I probably wouldn't want to spend more than $200). How hard would they be to install on my own?

[QUOTE="achilles614"]get another card. If you're looking for something that's not to pricey try the 7600gt.bigpella44

So the NVIDIA/GeForce cards are better? (I probably wouldn't want to spend more than $200). How hard would they be to install on my own?

Do you live in the USA? You can get a 7950GT for less than $200 and that is the most powerful DX9 card.

[QUOTE="bigpella44"]

[QUOTE="achilles614"]get another card. If you're looking for something that's not to pricey try the 7600gt.Deihmos

So the NVIDIA/GeForce cards are better? (I probably wouldn't want to spend more than $200). How hard would they be to install on my own?

Do you live in the USA? You can get a 7950GT for less than $200 and that is the most powerful DX9 card.

Yes, I live in the US. Should I get the 7650 GT off a website or just go to someplace like Best Buy?