A Newbie enters the world of Graphics Cards.

[Godly Paladin]

When it comes to the PC, I'm very much a casual gamer. I have a few titles, nothing spectacular. I did, however, buy the EA Return of the King game. Only problem is that it requires one of the following:

NVIDIA GeForce2
GTS or greater
ATI Radeon 7500 or greater.

What we have is and ATI Rage Pro. Not good.

So we're thinking of getting a new graphics card. I don't want (and can't afford) high-end stuff. I'm looking in the price range of under 50 or 60 dollars. Therefore I need an older graphics card. All I want is to be able to play RotK and get a little bit more oomph on my other games.

Questions:

1) GeForce2... I can't get anything higher than that and still play RotK? How good is the GeForce 2, anyway?
2) What is GTS?
3) ATI Radeon 7500... I've been reading reviews on this and it looks like it'll be enough. Is there anything a bit better yet still cheap? And I heard something about a really loud fan...does anyone have experience with this?

General Graphics Card questions:

1) What in involved in installation? Do I just remove the old chip and pop in the new one?
2) How well will a 7500 or GeForce2 run RotK, anyway? Are they part of the "Minimal Requirements" range? And are they just too old by now to be worth it?

(I'm running XP here, by the way.)

I really need some help, both in the form of answers to my questions and general advice. Anyone?

[ThaKladd]

If you have a geforce2 card, the're is probably no fun in playing the game.

Anyway, I think you can get Geforce 5 card for that price, like Geforce 5200.
If you go for ATI you should afford a Radeon 9250 card.

They are really cheap, not good(low end) but many times better than Geforce2 and Radeon 7500.

[shooraijin]

Yes, I think a Radeon 9200 would have much more mileage than a 7500, and not for much more cash.

[Godly Paladin]

Yes, I think a Radeon 9200 would have much more mileage than a 7500, and not for much more cash.

Thanks! Do you think you can give me a link to where I can purchase it for as little as possible?

[Mr. SmartyPants]

http://www.newegg.com

perhaps maybe a ATI Radeon 9600? They aren't that expensive nowadays

make sure the card will fit into your Motherboard, wether it's a PCI, AGP, whatever

[Locke]

I got a new 9250 PCI ATI for christmas and ZI installed it ( messed up my computer) and uninstalled it in a week.

Though my 64 Mb Integrated Intel hasent failed me yet ( even on Half Life 2) I'll get one of the older G-Forces if I were you.

Stay a generation behind and save some dough!

[Fsiphskilm]

[url]http:/

[LorentzForce]

And definately check that your computer at least has an AGP slot. If it uses PCI it's going to be harder to find a graphics card that'll fit.

If you really don't get it then it'll be very wise to take the computer to a shop and let them talk you through the upgrade.

[shooraijin]

You can still do very well, though. There are PCI Radeons, even a PCI version of the same shader used for the 9200, IIRC.

I used a PCI Rage 128 for many years, and it was enough to even play Quake 3 at 800x600. (Granted, the fact the Power Mac 7300 I was using was upgraded to a G3/500 helped.)

[Godly Paladin]

Our computer does indeed have an AGP slot, much to my relief. So I went ahead and bought an ATI Radeon 9200 for a mere $25 dollars. Is that a good deal? I'm pretty sure it is...

[LorentzForce]

I'd say that's a good enough deal.

So, how's the games now? Prettier?

[Godly Paladin]

The downside of cheap prices online is that it takes a while to ship. >.>

Still hasn't come yet.

[Godly Paladin]

Okay, it came! I knew it would amp up everything, but I wasn't prepared for how much better everything would look. Now I can run all of my games in the highest resolution and with the best quality graphics at no frame-rate drop! It's incredible!

And now I can play Return of the King, so I'm happy.