HELLLPPP!!! cant find right graphics card!!!

[I Eat N00bz]

Wow. I have spent a loooong time looking up all of these different graphics cards and I'm getting quite frusturated! I want a graphix card that is less than $170 but will support two monitors, and will allow me to play BF2 on max settings...

My computer:
Windows XP Proffessional, 2002
Right now I have an ATi Radeon 9600 (I hate it!!!)
Intel 4 CPU 3.0 GHZ
1 GB of RAM
Two monitors, one is: NEC MultiSync LCD1545v (1024x768)
The other is: Gateway FPD1810 (I might get rid of it because its driving me crazy!!!!) (1280x1024)

Thanks for the help!

 

[Celegorm]

as of posting this this card has a rebate that makes it 160 before shipping. If you cannot play max with this card then there is something else bottle-necking the card.

THis card will also do you good: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130017


if you happen to have an AGP slot, this is probally the best you can do: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130076 Not sure if you can play max of that, but you should be able to.

just as a note, all these cards support dual monitors.

 

[xtremezx2]

how about this one, its like 10 bucks more than what you wanted to spend, but you can do two monitors, and should be able to crank up most games. hope this helps.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122009

 

[Celegorm]

the card xtreame provide is deffinatly the better agp card. That aside, i would still take the evga. Not because of the price, but because of the reliablity. I know and love their products and have never had a problem with them. I have never hard of Leadtek before, so i couldn't tell you how they are. It does seem to be getting good reviews in newegg tho.

 

[I Eat N00bz]

OK... Thanks for the help, but how do I find out if my computer uses PCI Express??

I dont want to invest in the 160 dollar card so I'm leaning toward the eVGA 7600 GT...Will this give me good perfomance on bf2? Also, is there nothing wrong with my original card (Radeon 9600) or is it just sucky? If there is no problem with the graphics card, what could be slowing down my computer? I turn off as many background tasks as I can before I start bf2, and it runs laggy on low settings, especially online.

Thanks for the help!!

 

[I Eat N00bz]

Oh, and I'm not so worried about two monitors, I might get rid of my Gateway monitor, so my res. will be 1024x768

 

[xtremezx2]

if your running a 9600 then you have agp, not pci-express. the 9600 is a decent card, but it is somewhat outdated and tries to do some functions through software that is now done with hardware. an upgrade would be a good idea for newer games. I have a computer with a 9800xt in it which is getting old but for its age it will still run fear very respectfully. Problem is after you upgrade the care your gonna wanna start upgrading everything else because your rig won't be able to take full advantage of the video card. haha, its an endless cycle. I would go with the 7600 whether it be the gs or the gt, leadtek is a pretty good brand, in my book they would be pretty equal with evga as i've had good experience with both.

on another note, nearly all newer video cards have two outputs for video, so you'll be fine with nearly everything. good luck to ya.

 

[Xiggy]

i have an XFX 7600gs...its great man!....runs bf2 and bf2142 on med graphics around 60-80fps (60 on 2142...80 on bf2)

ne ways it has the two different outputs such at vga and the other thing (brainfart)....but yeh its a great card...also you can get 512mb version or im pretty sure...good lucky buying!

 

[superman22x]

Wait, you can play Bf2142 on med settings with a 7600gs? I cant play it on high with my 7900gs, and I get about 40-60fps on med settings. Somethings not right with mine than.

 

[lhuser]

The fastest AGP card is this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143046