What video card should I get?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I bought a new computer a few months ago. Dell Dimension 3000 with 3 Ghz P4 processor, 512 mb RAM. Problem is, I forgot to pick out a video card though, so it came with an Intel Extreme 2, which isn’t very good.

I play the Half-Life mod Day of Defeat a lot, and it handles the game about as well as my old P3 1Ghz did, which is dissappointing (occassional choppiness with smoke effects, etc). In fact, I downloaded the demo for half life 2 and it wouldnt run. I want to be able to run HL2 and a few other games like that (possibly Far Cry.)

I had ordered a Radeon 9600 but it didn’t fit in my motherboard, so I think I’m limited to PCI Express cards, but I don’t really know much about this stuff. Also, I’m looking to keep my purchase below about 200 dollars.

So, given that information what card would you guys recommend?

Thanks.

2

I think I have the same computer as you AND the same card, only mine fit. I think they sell that card in PCI and whatever that other version is.

3

I believe the geforce 6600 GT PCI-E is the best price/performance card (beats the pants off the radeon 9600 for sure) out there right now. For 160 + tax + shipping.

I haven’t really looked at cards in a few months so I may be out of date.

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041222/index.html
Heres Tom hardware’s VGA charts. It’s a pretty standard reference nowadays.

4

heres some buying guides at anandtech.

5

Get the GeForce 6600GT. The PCI-E versions get really inexpensive.

The ATI counterpart is either the x600XT (which is just a last-generation 9600 with a PCI-Express bridge chip) and the x700 Pro (which is often more expensive and doesn’t really match performance).

6

Another vote for the Geforce 6600GT - best card for under $200. Here is one for $180 with free shipping.