a noobie wanting to buy a video card, but has no idea...

[dao]

first off, i would like to thank the ppl that are willing to help a noobie like me that has little knowledge about computers. ok, now on with the question. i want to purchase a video card for my computer. i know this has been asked plenty of times around PC forums. i own a Sony Vaio PCV-RS310. heres a link to the specs of the computer.

http://tech.yahoo.com/ps/sony-vaio-digital-studio-pcv-rs310/1991257960

i was reading the specs and it says that it has PCI. so does it mean that i should purchase a PCI graphics card, if i ever wanted to purchase a new graphics card? the graphics card im using is an integrated intel 845GV. its pretty decent running world of warcraft, but still a bit laggy. it doesnt show the smoothness when playing, of course...but i want to purchase a video card that can run WOW really smoothly for a decent price. say around $75-$100+. my friend told me to buy an nvidia 6600. but i have no idea if it will work on my computer. does it matter if the card is 128MB or 256MB? do i have to purchase a video card that has DDR? etc. etc. i just dont wanna purchase a video card that i have no idea about and will not work on my computer.
thanks for reading.....

 

[Trotter]

Here's a few good cards, starting with the X1300:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814103016
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814129062

the 9250:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814103011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814129071
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814103013

the 6200:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139010

the 5500:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130255

and the 5200:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139009
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139144
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133007

These are pretty much in descending order.

 

[Oreo]

Anything above a ATI 9800 or a nvidia 6200 will handle WOW fine., it only needs 64mb GPU Memory. The higher the grpahics card memory the better. Are you sure its not new ram you need cus it reccomends 1gb of ram, Most pc's come with 521mb. Have a check on your pc. Or i could even be slow internet connection.


1gb=1024mb incase u didnt know

Many thanks

 

[dao]

Here's a few good cards, starting with the X1300:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814103016
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814129062

the 9250:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814103011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814129071
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814103013

the 6200:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139010

the 5500:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130255

and the 5200:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139009
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139144
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133007

These are pretty much in descending order.

thanks a lot. i appreciate the help guys. so those are the cards that will work fine on my vaio? does it also matter if i purchase a DDR video card or a GDDR2 video card? what do you think i should go for? i was thinking about the 6200 maybe? thanks yet again

 

[dao]

Anything above a ATI 9800 or a nvidia 6200 will handle WOW fine., it only needs 64mb GPU Memory. The higher the grpahics card memory the better. Are you sure its not new ram you need cus it reccomends 1gb of ram, Most pc's come with 521mb. Have a check on your pc. Or i could even be slow internet connection.


1gb=1024mb incase u didnt know

Many thanks

the computer came with 256MB of RAM. but then i bought a Corsair 256MB of RAM. my computer now has 504MB of RAM. i think i should upgrade to 1GB of RAM.

 

[Oreo]

Yes that would be a wize upgrade but Your Motherboard will probably not have another slot for 512mb ram. as youve alredy used two slots. You would have to buy 1gb ram or two 512mb of ram and remove the old ones. The 6200 is fast enough for WoW and i would reccomend that or the ATi 9800. You would Need to get these cards in the Old PCI format not the PCI-E. You only need normal DDR Memory if your not chnaging your motherboard.

 

[Trotter]

The X1300 is basically the best PCI card you can get. Buy it if you can.

 

[dao]

before i make a purchase, my computer has a PCI slot and not an AGP slot?

 

[j12]

are you asking us whether your computer has pci or agp? i think that you should tell us. i'm pretty sure you have pci.

 

[peterhuang913]

is the ATI x1300 better than the x1600PRO?

UPDATE: Silly me, x1600Pro runs on pci-e right?