[Solved] Help choosing a Video Card

I am new to upgrading computers and stuff, and I have a really outdated machine, but I like to game a little, with games like WAR / Aion / DAoC. I am not looking to play Crysis or anything, just be able to play those games on decent settings with 30-60+ FPS. I have an eMachines: ET11061-07: AMD Athlon X2 4050e Processor / nVidia Geforce 6150SE Integrated / 320GB Hard Drive / 3GB DDR2 Memory. I really have no idea what to get, I heard the Geforce 8600GT would be decent and cheap, but I really don't know what would be bottlenecked, etc. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks in advance.

so am guessing your motherboard does support PCIE x16 graphics card (would be great if its a pcie 2 slot but anyways)

would be helpful if you could link us with some details of your motherboard, and PSU.

as for the processor, you can well as go with a ATI 4670. worth the bucks, and don't think you will be bottlenecked.

But again, some more details about your motherboard and PSU would be helpful.

Here are the specifications for your computer - you perhaps should copy and save it for future reference:

http://support.gateway.com/emachin [...] 1sp2.shtml

It has a PCe x16 slot for a graphics card - which is good.
But it only has a 250w or 300w power supply - which is not good.
Plus most models specify exactly what the how much the power is.
The difference between the two may be critical in determining what size video card you can get - it will be the limiting factor.

Can you carefully open the case and check the label on the power supply and see which you have?

The next link takes you to a page of user and reference guides which you might also want to save. It includes a harware reference guide with directions on how to open your computer. You might have a paper guide on how to do that provided with the system. Note that even when I have a paper guide I find it convenient to save the electronic ones - they are often easier to reference and don't get lost.

http://support.gateway.com/emachin [...] 61ul.shtml

Also - what other components does you system have?
More than one optical drive?
Card Reader?
How many USB devices are connected - or might you connect in total?

Okay Im not sure this is all you needed but this is what it says. FSP Group Inc. - Model No.: ATX-250PA(1) / AC Input: 100-127/220-240V, 6/3.15A, 60/50Hz
DC Output: 250W (+3.3V & +5V= 110W Max) (+12V1 & +12V2 = 180W Max)

I have a DVD+RW Super Multi Format Dual Layer Optical Drive and I have 4 USB ports in the back, 2 in the front.

I don't know how to edit my post, sorry for double posting, but I have Windows XP for reference.

And that is a PCI Express 2.0, will that work for me? I only see PCI Express Slot available.

1 GB is better and the specific card I recommend that is on sale has the 1 GB and DDR3 graphics memory. And because it is on sale, it is cheaper than any 512MB card.

PCIe 2.0 is fully compatible with PCIe 1.0. The latter will not slow it down as long as the video card does not exceed the bandwidth of PCIe 1.0 - which it does not.

Thanks alot for all of your help, the new shipment will be in on the 26th, I'll get it then. Take it easy.

I will definitely tell you how it improved, judging on my FPS on Aion and DAoC, which is what I play mostly. Now I get probably about 20 FPS avg. in full scale RvR, not very great at all, and that's on Fastest Framerate on the game settings/nVidia Control Panel Settings. On DAoC the results are similar, maybe a little bit better, but after playing for a few hours, my GFX card might start failing, resulting in the "black screen" effect. Thanks so much for the patience and the help. Get back to you in a week/2 wks.

his cpu wont be bottlenecking the 4670. Mostly coz' his MMOS's graphics render would hardly involve the CPU.

Josh let us know how it goes, or if you need any more help once you get your graphics card.