what do you reccomend?

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Bman123

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I have a gt5476E pc
athlon5000+ 2gigs ram 320 gig HD dvd drive.Pc is completly stock.
I sold my 360 since it broke again and I am tired of it,so to venture into pc gaming.
I have a 17inch lcd widescreen monitor which I have set at 1280x768,I may get a new monitor maybe a 19 or 22inch but it will be a year away if I do so.
I will mainly play sports games,COD and other FPS's
What do you reccomend me getting to play games at good fps on this PC
I am willing to get a Video card,power supply,and fans if needed.
The stock mobo has a pciX16 slot so I wanna run 1 card.I just dont know what to get for best bang for the buck with this 17inch monitor.I tried google to figure it out myself but came up empty handed.PLease help.I am willing to spend between $350-$400 Thanks in advance
 
I highly recommend this video card for your resolution:
eVGA 512-P3-N861-AR GeForce 9600GT 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $150

However, more than likely you will need to upgrade your PSU. So I recommend getting any of these PSUs:
Silverstone ST400 400W PSU - $47
XClio Stablepower 460W PSU - $52
Enhance ENP-5150GH 500W PSU - $68
Corsair 450VX 450W PSU - $75
Corsair 550VX 550W PSU - $89
Corsair 520HX 520W Modular PSU - $106

The more you spend, the more quality and power you get. The more power you get, the more upgrades you can add.
 
+1 on the 9600GT and bigger PSU

Wasnt BFG selling the 8800GT w/PSU not long ago?

That would be a good deal as well.
 
Not really for the OP. It was a combo deal for two 8800GT and a BFG 650W PSU. The OP doesn't have or need SLI, so two 8800GT is out. Also, the BFG PSU was kind of crappy.
 
+1 for Silverstone ST400W PSU. At that price its practically theft.
+1 for 9600GT.

honorable mention: 8800GT, for an extra couple bucks get yourself a card totally ready for a new 20" or 22" monitor.
 
how do these cards compare at that resoultion
9600gt,8800gt,3870?
Also how will they do with the settings in these pc games?I heard you can turn up the (eye candy)
I don't know crap about oc gaming so please excuse me
 
The 9600GT will just be fine at 1280x768. That's all you really need now. An 8800GT won't benefit you too much at that resolution unless you're playing Crysis. However, if you think there's a good chance of you getting a bigger monitor within the year, get the 8800GT since it will handle the higher resolutions with more eye candy a bit better than the 9600GT.

Don't bother with the HD3870. The 9600GT and 8800GT cards are the far better value.
 
Can someone please explain the eye candy for me.I don't know what settings are in these games so a good explanation would work wonders for me.Sorry for all the q's Ive always been a console guy but not no more
 
More eye-candy = the better the game looks.

Eye candy can be defined as the settings of the game that affects the visual look of the game. The higher those settings are, the better the game looks. However, some games may require you to lower those settings in order to get better performance.

However, the common eye-candy feature or setting you'll see a lot is Anisotropic filtering or AF, and Anti-aliasing or AA. This is a great article on both settings:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,2136956,00.asp

Basically, the higher those settings are, the better the game should look.

Also note that not all games have the same eye-candy settings. Some may have more or less than other games out there.
 
ok so with my monitor size of 17 inch I am gonna get a 22inch next year.
What video card should I get then since I do want to turn up the AF and the AA.I want the games to look really good but at a monitor size and resolution of a 22inch montitor I am lost for video card purchases.
 
Like a few people have said earlier, an 8800GT will do just fine on a 22".
 
the 8800GT really is the way to go, but just so you dont think were all way to pro 8800GT the next logical step up is the 8800GTS which is only maginally faster and costs and extra $100. the 8800GT has ~13% of its core disabled. The 8800GTS also has a higher stock clock of 650MHz, 50MHz higher then that of the 8800GT. All this is to say that the 8800GTS should outperform the 8800GT by a maximum of 15%, but at a cost of an extra $100. If you do go for the 8800GTS make sure you get the 512MB version (NOT the 640MB version!).

Yeah, the 8800GT has significantly more power then the 9600GT, outperforming it by 20-40%.

As for ATIs offerings, their simply over priced compared to Nvidias offerings. At $200 for an 8800GT, its extremely hard to justify the lower performing but higher costing HD3870, especially when you throw in the board vendors reputations. I would only recomend an HD3870 to you if you could find it for less than $150. And even then it might be a hard sale.

~$200 8800GT, ~$50 400W PSU, and ~$400 22" monitor. Funny how the $100 upgrade turns into a $500 upgrade so fast isnt it?

One more thing, in terms of advice about the monitor, I have the Dell E22" (im typing this message on it actually), and I have few complaints except for the massive backlight bleed. Its worse than any monitor I've seen. Now its not all that noticable, but every once in a while it glares out at me that the bottem of my screen is too bright. Also the vertical viewing angle isn't so good.
 
8800 GTS 512MB is regularly getting down to $200-230 after rebate anymore. It's a serious contender, even here.
 
I was in the same boat. I was basically trying to decide between the 8800GT 512MB and the 8800GTS (G92) 512MB. I ended up going with the 8800 GTS. The difference was $40 (both cards had $30 MIR).

The deciding factor for me was that the 8800 GTS was dual-slot. Yes, I lose a PCIe 1x slot, but it also exhausts hot air out the back, through the slot instead of into the case. Whether this makes a difference or not, I don't know. Plus it is a little faster.
 
Kelvarr said:
The deciding factor for me was that the 8800 GTS was dual-slot. Yes, I lose a PCIe 1x slot, but it also exhausts hot air out the back, through the slot instead of into the case. Whether this makes a difference or not, I don't know. Plus it is a little faster.
Click to expand...

Yes it makes a difference, and it's substantially faster with more demanding games. It's not just a clockspeed boost, it's more shaders as well, 128 vs 112.
 
now what will be my best choice if I want to use aa and af?I know I have a small monitor but I can also play on the 32inch lcd hdtv I have.I want the games to look good and by screenshots I have seen I would really like to be able to use the aa/af in my games.
I am new to this so I don't totally understand the video card performance issues.
I do wanna use the aa/af so will a higher end video card be better like the gts or should I just stick to an 8800gt?I don't wanna spend more money for a perfoming card if it isn't going to make a difference with the aa/af.
Well off I go to look at more screenshots and hopefully I can find some with the 8800gt/gts at or around my resolution
 
For a 17"? Depends on the game but I'd say yes.

For the 32" LCD TV? What is the resolution?
 
ST400 http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQzNCwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
Xclio http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=Search (type in the name, it comes up blank.)
I couldn't find a review on JG for the Enhance 500W, but assuming it performs as well as the 400W he reviewed, that is a good PSU.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=14

I would start with that PSU and work my way up that list. I would also add this Seasonic unit to the list of possible PSU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151040

The price used to be $70, they have cut back on the rebate a bit so its now $72.

To the OP, does your $400 figure include the price of the monitor you want to buy? If you figure $70 for the PSU, and $150 for a 9600GT, that leaves you with only $180 to buy the monitor. If the budget is $400 for the parts now, and you'll worry about the monitor next year, then you are good. $70 PSU and $190 for the cheapest GTS currently on newegg, and your only spending ~$260 depending on the PSU. Save up for another year, and you'll wonder why you ever used the Xbox.

Edited for spelling.
 
4745454b said:
ST400 http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQzNCwxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==
Xclio http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=Search (type in the name, it comes up blank.)
I couldn't find a review on JG for the Enhance 500W, but assuming it performs as well as the 400W he reviewed, that is a good PSU.
Click to expand...

Well the Silverstone ST50EF-PLUS is based off the Enhance 500W. So the review of that is a good starting point for the Enhance PSU.

As for the XClio, that's just an assumption on my part. It's an Enhance built PSU so I assume it's a good PSU.
 
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