just summarize, etc

core 2 duo 2.8ghz

2 gb 667 memory

450w psu

radeon 4850

for 200$, you might as well go with a normal video card. i got myself a 4890 and it works great, but if you are set on a workstation, a firepro v4800 with 1gb ddr3 is 180$ + shipping and taxes.

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=52761&vpn=100-505606&manufacture=ATI

but you might as well go with its gpu countepart(4830) for 90$

i hate to sound like a hippy...but it may be a conspiracy, if not just a cheap trick(pun) by nvidia to make more on gtx 480 and implement tesselation and direct x 11 on their cards. last i checked gtx 295s were down to about 415$ here. in benchmarks, 480 doesnt out do a 295 by much. read between the lines, or in this case , the lack of stock.

heres something funny. try to find a gtx 295 in stock. ill start you off. newegg canada and usa - out. ncix - out, tigerdirect - out. good luck. since the release of the 480, everything is gone in terms of gtx 295. is this nvidia being sneaky, or just not time for 2 series production? maybe alittle of both. only one i can find was in a combo deal requiring you to pay for an extra 150$ item. yay.

yea it isnt worth it. i have an e5200 and my games dont go very well with my 4890. they do go well, just not up to the 4890's performance.

yea did the same with me. nvidia display driver stops responding right. if i remember safe oc for one fo those is around 675 core and memory can be anything stable. so i wouldnt go above. just because you can, doesnt mean it is good. my 8800gt went up from 600 to 885 core, and mem from 900 to 1125, but my fps were crap from nvidia not responding. my friend had the sme problem

it actually depends on resolution. at higher the 4870 wins, and at lower they are pretty much equal. this is due to the 4870's 256 bit against the 5770's 128 bit. not to mention 5770 is too slow for any real dx 11 gaming, and the fact it is 60-70$ more then the 4870. again not to mention the xfx 4870 xxx can reach 4890 speeds no problem while the 5770 lacks in Oc'ing performance. i would say a 4870 is the better buy, but that is just sublantics now

what os? no os needs 12gb free to run properly. vista needs about 4 before it becomes critical, and with only 1gb of memory, he probably only has 2gb of pagefile. that means he is still around 6gb in the clear. first things first, is your p4 overheating? 2nd, try doing a defragment, if you did not re install windows you may have a location problem. and 3rd, is your ram fst or slow? is it pc3200,2700,or 2100(or 4200,5300,or 6400 if its ddr2)

a gtx 260 is the 4870's "rival", not the 5770. 5770 is more like gts250. anyway, a 4890 can be had for around 170$ and features better performance on all games then a gtx 260, and even beats the 275 in some. has 1gb gddr5 so more then enough for gta 4(well mostly, you actually need around 1440mb but it handles with the no restrictions). sure its not ati, nor is it sli compatible, but it is by far the best deal out there on a single card. unless you live in canada in which case a 4870 for 125$ is a great deal too. but if your stuck on nvidia, i would wait for the 3 series to officially come out and see the 2 series prices drop like a rock.

gts 250 or a 4870. gts 250 is less then a 9800gtx and the same as a 9800gtx+. for those resolutions, yea a 5850 and gtx 285 is overkill. my 4890 plays everything maxed out at that res, even with AA and AF(even crysis). but if you forsee yourself getting a bigger monitor, then i would go for the 5870. 50$ more then a 5850(in canada) and a lot better. it is also future proof( for a couple years)