Newbie Question

Before I say anything I would just like to state that I know nothing about this kind of stuff, so if I say something a wrong way or say something that doesn't make sense, sorry. I was wondering if someone could recommend a decent graphics card for gaming. I downloaded The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion today and the speed that I have to run it at for it to not be slow, makes the graphics horrible and not even enjoyable. I have bought games in the past that have turned out to need higher specs then my computer had, so I was going to attempt to fix this problem. I'm not even sure if it's a graphics card that I need, it might be something different. When I play high end games, the game play is choppy and unplayable at times. At the moment this is what it says in properties.

GT5220
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual
Core Processor 3800+
2.01 GHz 896 MB of RAM

Card is NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE. Downloaded latest update today (hopefully it worked). What would be a good video/graphics card for running games such as Fallout 3, Team Fortress 2, Farcry 2 or Oblivion that isn't too expensive? If you have any questions let me know. Thanks.


EDIT: Forgot to add the motherboard

Motherboard
Manufacturer: ELITEGROUP
Model: C51PVGM-GB | 1.0
Chipset: NVIDIA | GeForce 6150
Southbridge: NVIDIA | nForce 410/430 MCP
LPCIO: ITE | IT8716

Edited by zbersinger, 21 November 2009 - 02:45 PM.

Before I say anything I would just like to state that I know nothing about this kind of stuff, so if I say something a wrong way or say something that doesn't make sense, sorry. I was wondering if someone could recommend a decent graphics card for gaming. I downloaded The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion today and the speed that I have to run it at for it to not be slow, makes the graphics horrible and not even enjoyable. I have bought games in the past that have turned out to need higher specs then my computer had, so I was going to attempt to fix this problem. I'm not even sure if it's a graphics card that I need, it might be something different. When I play high end games, the game play is choppy and unplayable at times. At the moment this is what it says in properties.

GT5220
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual
Core Processor 3800+
2.01 GHz 896 MB of RAM

Card is NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE. Downloaded latest update today (hopefully it worked). What would be a good video/graphics card for running games such as Fallout 3, Team Fortress 2, Farcry 2 or Oblivion that isn't too expensive? If you have any questions let me know. Thanks.

To be completely honest, your CPU could use a little bit of an upgrade and you might want to install another 1gig stick of a RAM. You could go without the CPU upgrade for awhile, but I recommend getting the RAM upgrade.

The best GPU for the money is by far the ATI Radeon HD 4870. Usually is about $150 for the 512MB model, but that price should drop with the 5800 and 5900 series models that just came back and also the Holiday season coming up.
Oh, I almost forgot. You will need a PCI-E 2.0 X16 port that is open on your motherboard and a 500W Power Supply with 2x6 Pin PCI-E Connectors.

For buying the Video Card I would recommend:
http://www.newegg.com/
Amazing Prices, I buy everything there.

For Video Card Benchmarks:
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/
They Provide a good amount of Video Cards and how they rank against each other performance wise.

For information on if you can run a game, refer to this site:
http://cyri.systemrequirementslab.com/srtest/
They have hundreds of games listed and you can test to see if your computer will run it.

Edited by AlecVincent, 21 November 2009 - 02:57 PM.

EDIT: Thanks for the help. Could you point me into the direction of a 1gb stick of RAM? I will probably get the ATI Radeon HD 4870 if my system can run it, and it's good for the money.

EDIT2: Would this fit my computer? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...9-113-_-Product

Edited by zbersinger, 21 November 2009 - 03:10 PM.

The PSU is only 300-watt. It probably wouldn't work.
For your system, the Radeon HD 4650 would be what you should get. If you get anything better, it would bottleneck everything else.

You might as well just get a new computer.

Edited by RainbowSix, 21 November 2009 - 03:26 PM.

Hmm, so it would probably be a better idea just to get a whole new rig, eh? Could someone get me a link of a decent gaming rig around 500 of that's possible? Thanks.

Hmm, so it would probably be a better idea just to get a whole new rig, eh? Could someone get me a link of a decent gaming rig around 500 of that's possible? Thanks.

I actually was able to build mine without a Video Card on Newegg for $397 (before shipping and taxes, which if you don't live in California, New Jersey, or Tennessee, you wont be charged tax. Not to mention most of Newegg's items include free shipping), you can probably get a decent one with a video card for around $500.

Do you know if there is already a custom prebuilt one or would it be a better idea to handpick the things for the computer?

Would you be willing to build?

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 $50
PSU: OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W $65 ($40)
MB: MSI GF615M-P33 $57
CPU: Athlon II 240 $61
RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 2GB $55 ($50)
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD1600AAJS 160GB $40
DVDRW: LITE-ON 24X $34
Video: Radeon HD 4670 $75 ($65)
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium $105

After rebates, this should come out to just over $500.

Edited by RainbowSix, 21 November 2009 - 04:23 PM.

Looks good. Would this be all I need? I obviously have keyboard, mouse and all the basic stuff but just tower wise, is this it?

Do you know if there is already a custom prebuilt one or would it be a better idea to handpick the things for the computer?

It's always going to be cheaper. If you were going to buy a custom prebuilt computer it would be a higher price than if you built it yourself. Basic profit strategy, set your price higher than the cost to manufacture. Also, it's a bit more reliable to build yourself.

I agree. I guess if I were to buy all of these items, I could have my older brother's friend assemble it. He works for a computer company or something, I would have no idea how to put these things together. Thanks.

I don't think I missed anything on the list above. If you have the money, change the video card to the Radeon HD 5750, add an additional 2GB stick of RAM, and change the hard drive to the Western Digital Caviar Blue 500gb.

Edited by RainbowSix, 21 November 2009 - 04:15 PM.