Video Card Upgrade

[djlash]

Greetings,

This is my first post and although I'm "good" with computers I'm not really good with video cards/devices. Specifically I'm not up to date on video cards.

I bought a new bargin gaming computer and although the graphics are
FAR better than my old machine I'm looking to upgrade the card. I play mostly first person shooters. With that in mind my specs are below and my budget is around $150

Thanks for any help. Dave

System Info

AMD 64x2 Dual Core Processor 6000+
Windows XP
3gigs Ram
1 Terabyte HDD

Current Video Card
GeForce 9400 GT
Bus: PCI Express x16

 

[hunter315]

HD 4870, should be going for around 150 for a 1GB card, will play most games maxed at 1680x1050. If you are only running 1280x1024 or so then a 4850 would be a better investment. Either one will blow your 9400GT away.

 

[djlash]

Thanks for your help Hunter, much appreciated.

One more quick question: Will PCI-E 2.0 work with my current PCI-E x16 slot?

Things change so fast!

dave

 

[hunter315]

Yup, PCI-E is fully fowards and backwards compatible across the various versions, the only difference is that PCI-E 2.0 provides twice the bandwidth but that isnt a significant problem for most cards.

 

[djlash]

Yup, PCI-E is fully fowards and backwards compatible across the various versions, the only difference is that PCI-E 2.0 provides twice the bandwidth but that isnt a significant problem for most cards.

You're a lifesaver thanks. I will be doing some shopping this weekend for the new card!

thanks again.

dave