Graphics Card - The struggle to find a good one

[Flying_Vortex]

Okay, You can see my Specs down the bottom

First off, People have been saying 6800 and yes i agree but simply i cannot afford it, X800 is once again a good card, but i cannot afford it, the reason is i am 14 and have dished out all my money to just build my PC ( which i have finished ) but now im just adding some better parts, At the moment i have PC2100 256mb RAM, But im saving up ( almost there! ) for a PC3200 512mb Stick, and then i will start saving for that graphics card, now what would be a good graphics card. it doesnt have to be brand new one that has just came out, i basically want one that will play nearly all games ( including Doom 3 ) at a reasonable rate and something that will keep me going for a while and it wont become really outdated suddenly and people going " What you have still got a ------ " ..... Can anyone recommend a cheap card ( Maybe $100-$200US ) that will be good? Thanks

 

[BlazingWolf]

First of all I suggest you lay off the 3200 and just get another 265(at least) of 2100, and as for a video card I would say get a higher-end 9800 Pro 128 mb. Thats about as good as you can get for under $200.

 

[GameGURU]

I agree.

 

[Flying_Vortex]

So you are saying that a PC2100 ram.. is good?. Another one?

 

[beedubaya]

The ATi Radeon 9800 Pro is getting allot cheaper, and right now its probably the "most card for your money" option there is.

 

[ag3]

The Radeon 9800 PRO has a great performance to cost ratio.

 

[Blackmoore]

You don't want to buy PC3200 unless your planning on overclocking the FSB of the CPU or buying a new one. Because the FSB on the 2500+ is only 333Mhz if I am correct, which means it won't run PC3200 (400Mhz) at that speed.

 

[Flying_Vortex]

I have been told the opposite of what you guys have been saying, some people have told me on msn and other places that it is not worth getting PC2100 as it is old and sooner or later i will need to upgrade...

 

[BRoWZ]

Get a 512mb pc2700 ram, and try to get a 9800pro or mabey a 9600xt 256mb.

 

[Regulus]

First of all I suggest you lay off the 3200 and just get another 265(at least) of 2100

Yes, I concure with this. Get the exact same type that you got...i.e Kingston, Crucial, Corsair etc. Whatever kind you got in the first place, get another one. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doing so will enable Dual Channel capabilities...better performance. That's the only benefit I can think of. Now if, by chance, you cannot find the exact same RAM, start lookin' for something better...maybe even a dual set (Dual Chnl.). I got my Dual RAM for $87 @ newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-413&depa=1

Or here's a special they are having:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=20-141-424&DEPA=1

For the vid card...ummmm...hmmmm...I can't really aid you in that, 'cause I was having some problems with mine and I need to download the latest driver.