Advice on upgrading Graphics Card

I currently have an NVIDIA GeForce 8300 GS graphics card and am looking to upgrade. I don't know alot about them so would appreciate some advice. I have an Intel Core 2 CPU (6320 @ 1.8GHz), 4 GB RAM and a 32 bit operating system. I want the best graphics card compatibly with my computer. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Ati Radeon 4670 would be your best bet. Just find the cheapest store. Models between different manufacturers are usually the same there are no big differences basically the cheapest one is the best, well maybe not Gainward but almost any other is good.

 

Thanks for that. What about something in the NVIDIA range?

 

Im not familiar with Nvidia cards of that area but 4670 is a real bargain for its power.

 

Okay, cool. Is that the BEST card compatible with my computer? I want the highest upgrade possible. Price does not matter.

 

Well you could buy Radeon 4770 but then your processor is the weakest link and in games such as GTA IV its gonna get left behind. GTA IV requires a lot of processing power and games like Crysis are more depending on the graphics card.

 

Well it depends what slots you have on your motherboard, what your power supply is and regardless of that your CPU will severely bottleneck your GPU. However if you're looking for top of the line as far as a single board design goes the top nvidia card is the GTX 275/295 and ATI 4890/4890X2 (single GPU/double GPU). And of course you can rack multiple boards together in SLI or crossfire.

With your current CPU I would't bother spending more than around 100$ range whether it's the 4770 or the GTS 250 as notable examples.

 

And the 4770 requires only around 80W of power so i reckon you dont have to byu a new PSU.

 

Cheers guys, thanks. Is there really much point upgrading though? At the moment I'm playing Silent Hill Homecoming and Oblivion Elder Scrolls. They run fine, but only on the lower settings. Am I going to get much difference with these new cards?

 

My PSU is only 300W so I'm thinking that's worthwhile upgrading, but I also need to upgrade my CPU and my motherboard is only compatible with Core 2 Duo... so that would mean a new motherboard as well!

 

As i said earlier it depends on the game how much improvement your gonna see. But it would be wise to upgrade the whole system at once to get maximum improvement.

 

It also depends what resolution you're running at

 

if price really doesn't matter then I think it's worth upgrading both the cpu and the video card...

you can get an E8400 for around 150.00 and very solid video card like an HD4850 from ati for right around 100 dollars... you'll need to upgrade the PSU as well though so add another 60 dollars or so for a solid 500 watt reputable power supply..

lookin at just over 300 dollars for a significantly upgraded system...

what kind of mother board and ram do you have???

 

Motherboard - Dell 0RY007. I bought my computer as part of Dell's Inspiron 530 package.

I have 4Gb RAM.