what new graphic card should I get?

[ns175]

Please help me out guys, I'm new to this forum and I dont know much about computers. Right now my cpu specs are

P4 1.8Ghz
Asus P4PE Motherboard
512MB of Ram
GeForce4 Ti 4200 128mb AGP8x

I want a new graphic card to run upcoming games like Half-Life2 and Battlefield 2. What card do you guys recommend?

 

[beedubaya]

ATI Radeon X800

 

[ns175]

I dont know if my power supply can handle it, is there anyway to check it?

 

[beedubaya]

What is your power supply?

 

[ns175]

Dont know

 

[DAVID_15]

fist of all how much do u want to spend. and u should try find out about your psu.

 

[ns175]

Thanks for letting me know more about my board Chris, I've been checking out some video cards lately. I'm thinking about adding up to 1GB ram and get a 9800xt or take your advice, upgrade up to 3.0ghz and get X800. Still havent decide yet, what do you think is the best way to max out my cpu?

 

[ns175]

I just upgraded my mobo to a Asus P4C800-E Deluxe and 1GB ram now. The only problem is I dont know which video card to get. I'm thinking 9600XT 256MB or 9800Pro 256MB. Which one is better?

 

[alexandermcmill]

Well the 9600XT has been rated best value for money card at the moment so if ur on a budget id go with that. And with the 256 MB it should run all the games that come out within the next year

 

[ns175]

I want to upgrade processor before I get a new video card. I'm thinking about 3.0Ghz or 3.2Ghz but not sure how to swap it. I know windows can crash when swapping mobos. But how about processors? Are there effects to changing it? Sorry if I'm asking too much stupid questions, I want to learn more about cpus.