HD4850 is WAY better... And the 4870 is the best card on the market... Go with any ATI 485x series right now as they bench the highest; however, remember that if your planning to just swap out the video card make sure that your system isn't AGP... And also note that if you do, your processor and RAM will bottleneck the 4850 and it won't be able to run to anywhere near full potential.

Battlefield 2 is probably the best game to "push" that system on... Since you can test draw distance and graphic power...

far cry, battlefield 2,the orange box,doom 3. i dont think thats your max but those are some excellent fps .

Yeah, the new line of Radeon HD cards (specifically the 4850 and 4870, I think) are slayers in performance and price. However I wouldn't waste your money on either option upless you plan on upgrading your CPU and RAM output. Most of the power in those GPUs will be wasted if the rest of your system cannot keep up. Doubling up on RAM is very cheap and I recommend persuing the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 as your CPU upgrade. Quad core chips are nice but not currently neccessary.

The combination of 2gb system memory, the above mentioned CPU and a Radeon 4850 HD will pretty much punch a hole through anything you can throw at it. Except maybe Crysis, but no terrestrial desktop can do such a thing. Though if you want a benchmark for what your system can handle I suggest downloading the Bioshock, Call of Duty 4 and Crysis demos. Specifically Bioshock since so many games use Unreal Engine 3 these days.

The Orange Box should run just find on your computer, as an example.

Thanks alot y'all, but to buy a C2 would I have to change my mobo too?

Yes, unfortunately. Though the good news is you'll pay under $150 for one. I just wanted to say that without a multi-core CPU and 2gb+ of system memory, either GPU will only get you so much performance before the rest of your system creates a bottle neck for it. While either card is enough to hammer Bioshock or Call of Duty 4 the CPU and ammount of memory listed will hold it back and limit what the card can actually do.

That said if you have intent to upgrade your CPU and memory over time I'd try to grab (first) either GPU and an extra 1gb of memory if you can. However a couple years ago the industry standard changed from AGP to PCI-e and I'm not sure how many card makers still produce AGP based GPUs, especially in the 8000 plus GeForce or the Radeon HD series'. In the event your motherboard only supports AGP your best bet would be to find a GeForce 7000 series GT model.

However if you want to upgrade your GPU, CPU and memory you might as well look into a new computer entirely. Those three components are the most important to system performance and the most expensive parts of most PC's. You can get a pretty hardcore rig for about $600-800. You just shouldn't waste money on a card that won't do much better than something cheaper; or that you already have. Know what I mean? That said for the specs you listed the first thing I would do is up your system memory to 2gb before anything else.

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they are both good take the geforce one

I don't know much abt how the ATI card measures up in performance, but GeForce 8800 is a good buy. And if your mobo supports SLI take the GeForce or if it supports Crossfire take the Radeon. Anyway I think you may need a PC makeover to support the ATI card.

I personally wouldn't go for such a strong processor... It's kind of a waste personally. Why? Because honestly... The PC games that are being developed really wouldn't even come NEAR to even stressing that system, and there really arn't any coming out anytime soon. PC gaming isn't what it used to be (And by the way, I'm running an E6400 with a 7900GTX and I can run crysis fine on high @ 50-60 FPS which is fine for any game... It's not as straining as people say it to be... Mind you, I know how to optimize my computer but still). There isn't much of a point to invest in a PC anymore so much unless your into video editting or 3D modelling.

If you can, try to save money and get a console if you want to game (Personal opinion). For your PC, just get a 4850 since they're so cheap... 2 gigs of RAM (They're like $30-40 now for 2 gigs anyway if you go to a computer-specific store)... and for a processor either get a cheap AMD (Sure, they bench lower then a intel... But they are ALOT cheaper and would be fine in the given circumstance) or a lower end intel (Like the E7200 or E8200 (for the boost in FSB).

Kind of looking at pricings... I would likely go for a E7200 (~$125)
ATI 4850 ($164)
Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L ($86) - Gigabyte motherboards are great OC'ers and they have sold me... Don't like the price next to ASUS's overpriced stuff deter you
Any 2x1 GB RAM package ($40-50)
Total: ~$425-$500

Never EVER get crossfire or SLI... The performance boost isn't worth it (~40% boost instead of 100) and there are no games you even need it for... It's a waste of money. A high end single card is always the way to go. Anyone who says take the GeForce has no idea what they are talking about... ATI wins hands down in performance... But the 4850 is about $170 while the 8800GT you can get for $100... So... IT's all about your price range.

Note: You may also have to sadly change your powersupply... If you didn't build your first one custom originally... You'll likely only have a cheap 350 watt or a 400 watt... Also, if your system is AGP and not PCI-E... You may need to do it anyway to get a 24-pin power thing (AGP's have 20-pin).... Sure you can buy an adapter, but it's unstable when OC"ing.

yep i def agree with RoganSarine - the ATi should outperform the 8800gt in raw power. I also would recommend another gig of ram. As far as games, no matter what, you CAN optimize your system with those components to last you a long time (although the processor will hold you back), and Crysis can be a system hog on any system if not optimized properly. Most people said I wouldn't be able to run it on High with my 9600gt, but (given with no AA on) I can run it on all High 40 to 50 fps just fine (looks purdy too!). if you like action strategy games I suggest WIC or Company of Heroes. For FPS I would suggest Crysis and Day of Defeat Source. PC market is much slower (due to the migration of media to the living room), but there are plenty of PC games out there, and a lot of unique programs too.... that ATi looks VERY NICE by the way.

any total war game. there so fun and easy to run

I dont play PC games,sorry bro.