New graphics card advice

[buggerlugs_52]

Hi folks! I'm looking to replace my graphics card as it appears to be slowly dying. I don't use it for gaming at all (that's what consoles are for IMHO), so apart from a blast on angry birds it just will be used for web browsing and office work.

My pc is a core2duo with 4gb ddr3 currently a god awful Nvidia 210. It really lacks in 2d performance so ideally i'm looking at replacing it with something that will make a difference to my general desktop use.

Price wise, cheap would be better. I've been looking on ebay at the radeon hd 5850 or geforce gtx 460, which looks good, but Nvidia also do the quadro range, so i'm wondering if one of them would be more suited?

Any help, advice would be much appreciated as it appears to me most graphics cards are geared towards gaming these days and there is a lack of good quality 2d dedicated cards out there.

 

[randomkid]

The 5850 or gtx460 are overkill if you will not use for gaming. Besides, these cards will require a more robust power supply with PCIe connectors. You will do better with low power graphics cards that do not need those PCIe connectors.

The quadro range are more expensive because they have optimized drivers that are built for reliability but I guess for casual use, it is not required. After all, you survived with the 210 for quite some time.

Given that you are coming from the 210, an AMD HD 6450 will do. But it is not the best $/performance ratio. If you wish the optimum for your $, go for the AMD HD 5670 or 6670.