How can I tell which Graphics Card is best for me?

I am looking for a new Graphics Card to restore my old computer. I am looking for a NVidia GeForce. My OS is XP Pro and I am looking to play games such as Counter Strike: Source, Half Life and Garry's Mod. There are so many types of Graphics Cards, that it confuses me. I own a Desktop with 512MB RAM. Can you suggest a decent Graphics Card that would work with my computer. Please backup your answers. Many thanks.

How can I tell which Graphics Card is best for me?
To be honest, any 6 series upwards is good for Source games.


If you have the money, get an 8800GT.
Reply:Without saying which computer you have, no-one can give an answer of one that will work.





The Nvidia 8800 range of cards are good.
Reply:well i'm running a system that is about 4 years old now and i have a ati x800. its a agp and it runs all the games i've had and is still going strong. you can pick them up quite cheap now but you really need more ram. it helps alot when playing games.
Reply:nvidia just released 9600 gt


its best for gaming if you are on a budget


it'll just rock up crysis


but with 512mb ram i doubt u will be able to play games at any decent detail or frame rates


upgrade to 2 gb ram at leat and get a core 2 duo processor if u haven't got one yet





with all that u'll just fire up any game at present!!!!!!!!





HAPPY GAMING
Reply:Really depends on your system. If your motherboard can take a PCI-E then the Sky's the limit, but if it only takes a AGP 4X/8X then you're limited. Although some companies are still making AGP type cards but very few. PCI-E is the new format. For helpful tips try going to: www.tomshardware.com they have many comparisons between AGP and PCI-E cards. They even have a best bang for buck section whether on a budget or just broke the piggy bank. Never buy lite versions or LE editions they run at a slower clock speeds. For shopping comparisons try www.mwave.com, www.newegg.com or www.pricewatch.com. Some decent cards are nvidia GeForce 7 series 7600GT, 7800GT, 7900GT, GTX. GeForce 8 series 8600GT. Avoid 7300, 8400, 8500 they suck and not worth the money.
Reply:First you have to find out what type of video card slot your motherboard has. There are three options: PCI, AGP and PCI express. Every computer has PCI slots but if that is all you have then you are out of luck as PCI video card are terrible.





(Backup statement: Max information through card slot: PCI 133MB/sec, AGP 1024MB/sec, PCI express 2048GB/sec.....PCI is 16x slower than new standard).





When choosing a video card its important to get a recent model card to ensure that it is compatible with games. For geeks that means looking at its direct X and pixel shader version. For non geeks it means looking at the model numbers. The 'current' model numbers for Nvidia are the 7000 and 8000 series and for ATI is is the X1xxx, HD2xxx and HD 3xxx series (like X1600, HD 2400, HD 3450 etc)





The ATI Xxxx series (like X800 etc) is getting dated but still useful and the Nvidia 6000 series is also dated but still useful.





When looking at models in a similar line the second number is their relative speed in line (think of rating the card on a scale of 1-10 where 1 is terrible and 10 is really awesome).





So in the newest ATI line an ATI 3450 is '3' for 3rd generation (the newest) and '4 of 10' so a little under midrange.





In the Nvidia line an Nvidia 8400 is '8' for 8th generation (their newest) and again '4 of 10' so a little under midrange.





If someone tried to sell you an Nvidia maddog 4200 you would know that it is 4th generation (really old) and '2 of 10' really slow....so not worth your time.





So a lot of backup to give some recommendations:





As the other poster said the Nvidia 7800's, 7900's, 8800's are all awesome cards (7th and 8th generation and top end) but they are expensive.





If your card slot if AGP I would look at either an Nvidia 7600 (no 8 series cards for AGP) or an ATI Radeon 2600 (no 3 series cards for AGP). Both are strong midrange cards and newer generation cards so will not have trouble playing games.





If your card slot is PCI express I would look at an ATI Radeon 3650 (strong midrange card) or Nvidia 9600. Yeah, I didn't mention the 9 series Nvidia before because it just came out three days ago. Most video stores won't even know about it yet however it is absolute latest generation card (still only gets a 6 of 10 as they are planning faster ones later.....but is still very quick for games)





Sorry for being longwinded but now you know :)