Graphics card advice please

[Larkspeed]

My oldest son is currently running this system:

AMD X2 4200 Dual Core
2gb Crucial DDR2 667
Can't remember the mobo model but its Asus PCIe nForce 4
On Board video (geforce 6215)
Onboard sound
450watt Huntkey PSU

He wants to upgrade his graphics card to something better

TBH it's been a long time since I have been keeping up on stuff and now all the different numbers between GF and ATI just confuse me I can't tell whats better than what.

We will be traveling to England in a couple of weeks and he wants to buy it there as they are cheaper there than they are here.

Basically he wants as much power as he can get as cheap as he can get without having to upgrade the PSU.

Recommendations please

--- edit ---

I should add he is a gamer BF2 that sort of stuff but he is more worried about smooth frame rate than high detail so even if he has to turn detail down a bit it's ok so long as it runs smooth.

 

[Gunther]

Budget ??

 

[Larkspeed]

Oops sorry around 100 UKP

at a quick glance I see these:

GF 8500 GT
GF 8600 GTS
ATI x1950 Pro

But I'm pretty sure the 2 GF cards require a bigger PSU than he has, I'm not sure on the ATI card tho

 

[steve258]

If he just wants to play BF2 then go for the 1950pro, faster than then 8600GTS just without DX10 support. Yes the PSU is enough for 1950pro.

 

[Gunther]

No fo the moment your PSU should be ok. probably the x1950 Pro would be the best choice.

This Week Only Offer
OcUK ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

Perfornace between the 8600 GTS and this X1950 pro is about the same, only the GTS will be a DX10 card, but will struggle very much to play DX 10 games. so would go for the ATI

 

[Larkspeed]

Right thanks for that guys

looks like the x1950pro it is then

Shame I can't go for that price as it's 2 weeks before we are in england and then nowhere near OcUK

 

[Gunther]

They normally send to The netherlands, don't know the cost but the difference won't be much

 

[Larkspeed]

Yup I know that but I don't have a CC and the last time I checked they did not do paypal.

I'm sure I can find one localy when we are in england