What graphics card should I get to upgrade my desktop computer?

My sony vaio VGC-RC310G currently uses a NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT (256MB) and I am looking to upgrade it. My budget is around $300 but I might go a little higher. I also heard that running two lower grade graphics cards gets better fps than a single higher grade graphics card for the same price. What are your suggestions?

What graphics card should I get to upgrade my desktop computer?
Personally, I suggest you spend less as you get seriously diminishing returns when you get into the $300 nVidia cards. There are two setups I would recommend to you:


But first off, ignore anything said about SLI (nVidia dual card), as it will not work on your motherboard. You have an Intel 945P chipset, which supports X16/X4 crossfire (ATi's SLI). Only nVidia chipsets support SLI:


So here are my two suggestions:





For a single card, the 8800 GTS G92 is only a fraction slower than the 8800 GTX, uses less power and produces less heat, and costs $100 less. It's quite similar to the 9800GTX. 5-10% performance isn't worth $100 though.


http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/...





Normally I would recommend classic HD 3870 crossfire to you, as it is cheaper than the HD 3870 X2, but because your motherboard will cripple the bandwidth of the second card (16x for the first card, only 4x for the second), I recommend you stick one HD 3870 X2 (two GPU's on one board, functions like 2 cards) in your one PCI-E 16X slot. This will perform roughly the same as 2 3870's (also the same as two 9600GT's).


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...





The 3870x2 is a wonderful card and will take any single nVidia card. That said, crossfire takes CPU, and on a pentium D 940, you may have some reduction in performance. As for nVidia's answer to this, the 9800GX2, it's buggy, only likes nvidia chipsets, hogs power, and is overpriced.





Given this, I think the 8800 GTS 512mb (G92 based) is by far the best option for you. Furthermore, I would spend that extra money you have to upgrade to a Core 2 based cpu (Conroe, Allendale). Unfortunately, your motherboard has a low front side buss, so your limmited to the Pentium Dual Core line. That said, their architecture is way better than the Pentium D. You'll really see the difference when you overclock. These CPU's reach over 3.0ghz easily (so does the Pentium D), but you get vastly superior performance on par with Core 2 Duo E68's at stock. I'll recommend the e2200 as it has the highest stock speeds if your not comfortable overclocking:


http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/...


The E2200 will slaughter your current CPU at stock as well. Be sure to bios update before installation to make sure it will work. Also check intel's site. It wins at 2.2ghz vs your 3.2ghz Pentium D, and that same advantage per clock will continue as you overclock.
Reply:First of all, you CANNOT run two graphics cards in your Vaio.





To run two graphics cards, you need a motherboard with two PCIe 16x slots that can handle SLI (Scalable Link Interface). Your Vaio does not have that.





Since Sony has a lot of proprietary stuff in its machines, I doubt you can swap out the motherboard for an SLI board anyway.





And before you upgrade to a card like the 9800GTX, beware that the card might not fit in your Vaio. Some of these cards are pretty long and may bump into your drivebays, considering that Vaios usually have pretty compact cases. Measure and make sure a card will fit before you buy it!





Also, some of the really high-powered cards like the 8800GT draws 130 watts of power. Best make sure your Vaio's power supply can provide sufficient power.





Good luck.
Reply:I got an Nvidia 8600 GT card for my computer. It uses a slightly lower version of the rendering engine that the 8800 uses BUT it has 1GB of onboard RAM and cost considerably less. It also is smaller and takes less power and produces less heat than the 8800 which is good for a computer like the Sony Vaio which, while it is stylish and quiet, is not very well cooled for a hot running card like the 8800. I used to have a NVIDIA 7800 card with 256 MB and this new 8600 card blows it away. With all the onboard RAM, it takes a lot of pressure off the central processor which makes playing DVD's and video cutscenes in games much more smooth. I've also noticed a huge difference in how well my games play. On the 7800, playing games like Battle for Middle Earth II, for example, I had to turn down some of the settings to get smooth framerates. Not with my new card. I can play that game and even newer ones with all the settings on full without any glitches. I have an 2.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and my motherboard has the Nvidia bridge that can use Forceware.
Reply:check around and i bet that you can find two 9600gt for around that price and they will blow away most 8800 series cards (that might cost more than your budget of 300)


ncix (the canada site as i have not checked the usa part of ncix ) has had 9600 gt with 512 mb of ddr3 for 159 so check there http://www.ncix.com/


the new tech


http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?s...


and the old tech for about the same price


http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?s...


both of these are in canadian dollars





hope this helps





gl and tc
Reply:I had the 7600gt myself and i went to 8800GTX and i can play Crysis without to much trouble in XP even with the dx10 hack :)





btw your pricepoint is PERFECT for that card





Newegg.com is your best bet to get a cheap card plus read other reviews... toms hardware is also the most trusted resource i would recommend, next would be guru3d.com for graphics card support and info
Reply:A NVIDIA 9800 GTX 512MB. These are the highest graphic cards out right now. You most likley wont have to replace it for a very long time. If you go to newegg.com they have 10 of them all under $300. Just make sure you have a high enough power supply 700Wts should do.