[QUOTE="uchihataru"]or the 4850 which is alot more better but only a few dollars difference..RayvinAzn

You're bottlenecking your graphics card so bad it's not even funny.

And I was afraid the situation might be something like that - can you find the 9500GT in your area? Or maybe even the 8800GS or 9600GSO?

The 8800GS and 9600GSO are probably not available (I would still have the psu problem with the 9600GSO cause the minimum for it is 400W and I have a generic 350W which probably won't be up to the task).

As for the 9500GT, I'll look around, but even if I find it I'm pretty sure it'll cost more than I can afford.

The two cards (3650 and 8600) I mentioned at the beginning have the best combination of performance and price (i.e. my budget) while being available in the local market.

Thanks again for the concern :)!

Thanks for the advice!

I know about the 4670 but the problem is, I live in Bangladesh and the 4670 isn't available here yet. It will be, in few months time, but for about the first 4-5 months of it's release here, it'll be insanely overpriced. The 3650 is an aging card but even now I'll have to buy it for about $20 more than it's price in USA or other international markets.

My other problem is that even if I somehow manage to get the 4670, I'll probably need to upgrade my power supply and that'll cost me about $60 more.

So, that's my sad story :cry:. If you guys ever come to Bangladesh, bring a decent graphics card for me. Just kidding :D! I think I'll go with the 3650.

Thanks again!

I'm gonna buy a graphics card for casual gaming but I'm on a very tight budget. I've managed to cut it down to 2 cards that fit the bill.

One is the Sapphire Radeon HD3650 512MB DDR3 and the other is the XFX GeForce 8600GT 1GB DDR2.

So, which one should I go for? The 512MB DDR3 or the 1GB DDR2?

I can afford both cards so I'll just buy the one that has the better performance. Comments and insights by those who have personally used the above mentioned cards will be really helpful:).

Like many others have said, I can only advise you. The decision to spend will be solely your own.

My advice: Get a PS3. A 40 GB should be enough.

Reasons:

Huge number of promising titles on the way (some are already here).

Blue-ray player.

Price decreasing and on-line support constantly improving.

True next-gen system since it still has a lot of untapped potential so games will continue to improve for some years to come.

Everything in the first post AND:

Variety of environments, snappy, unpredictable A.I., perfectly responsive controls and a difficulty level that challenges you to do better but doesn't become frustrating.

I don't think any other game coming out this year will 'deserve' a 10. You see, gamers now-a-days scrutinize games for faults far more strictly than they did before. Some of the biggest titles of 2007/08 that we thought would be flawless and would blow our brains away (like DMC4, Ninja Gaiden 2, Halo 3, Assassin's Creed) did actually blow us away but didn't get a perfect 10 score. MGS 4 and GTA 4 are lucky exceptions.

However, that's just my opinion and I too am eager to find out what scores the games you mentioned manage to get!

MGS 4, by a mile. :)

As for the single player / multiplayer part, there are a lot of games out there to compete with GoW for the top multiplayer spot, but I don't think anything can reasonably beat MGS 4's uniquely magnificent single player experience.

So in the end MGS 4 comes out at top.

MGS4 of course.8)

However, it's not fair to directly compare the two. They're two very different games and GTA4 has it's share of charms too. I haven't played any one and would like to play both cause they offer two distinctly different experiences.

The Wii is popular. Very, very popular. It outsold both the PS3 and the 360 because it's half the price of those consoles and because of its innovative control system. However, this success is unlikely to last very long because seriously, the Wii has very little appeal as a next gen gaming system.

Gamers now-a-days are getting more and more selective. Forums of new games are now strewn with complaints of how "not" open-ended the game is, how it doesn't feel as real as that "other" game and how repetitive it is. Gamers want to be dazzled. They've seen Crysis, Assassin's Creed, GTA IV, MGS 4. Their expectations are at an all time high. Even very good games are now severely criticized for very minor flaws. At a time like this, the Wii simply can't support the enormous scale of the games both the game industry and the gamers are eyeing.

The Wii is fun. Even a PS3/360 fanboy can't deny that. But almost all of the big new titles, games that are defining gaming today and setting standards for tomorrow, can't possibly be run on a Wii. The Wii is not like the PS2. It's very weak in terms of sheer power. Games for the Wii will definitely continue to pour out, no doubt about that. But developers "abandoning" PS360 in favor of the Wii is a very unlikely scenario.

Here's an interesting point to ponder. Many of the people who bought a Wii when it came out will buy a PS3/360 in 2008/09 when these consoles get cheaper (which they definitely will). Let's face it, no hardcore gamer can resist the temptation of playing DMC4, Fable 2, FFXIII, God of war 3, Gears of war 2, Gran Tourismo 5, RE5, Halo 3, MGS 4, Alone in the dark, Bioshock, Killzone 2, Ninja Gaiden 2 and so many more titles there already are and many more scheduled to come. However, few (yes there will be some) PS360 owners will buy a Wii in 2008/09. So as you can see, the sales of PS360 (particularly the PS3) will continue well into 2010 and beyond. Game developers (including 3rd party companies) always flock to wherever the gamer puts his money. And for now, we all know where the money will be a year from now.