B-Day(what should I buy)

[Long Bow]

Well the 2Gb of ram is a defenite, you may even want to with a 2Gb kit and keep the ram you have to give you 3gb (Vista seems to need more ram then xp). That CPU can be overclocked to give you some more speed for free (go to extremoverclocking.com to learn more)

If you keep your current CRT monitor (19" I assume??) You could get away with a 79xx series card or a 1950 pro or gt. You won't need a 512mb of video ram version if you have a 19" (either CRT or LCD). If you are planning in the future to go with a 20"+ monitor you will wan't to think about a 512mb, though you can still get away with the 256mb. Bang for the buck right now is the 8800GTS 320mb. Even on a 20" LCD (1680x1050) they are showing strong results for most current games. A few games are pushing the memory limits and can benefit from the 640mb version. It is a simple matter of dialing back the level of AA or in game settings a bit to make things run smoothly. The 640mb version will be a bit more future proof as the video ram will only be in demand more in the future. The nice thing right now is that any brand you buy of the 8800 series are pretty much identical so pick the one with the best bundle. The overclocked versions command a premium but I would suggest getting the best priced card and learn to overclock in the future. Don't bother with the ATi 2900 as it has a very poor system for dealing with current AA (has a shader based AA system which no games uses yet) and suffers big fps hits currently and is not something that will be fixed with new drivers; hardware design flaw.

Sorry for the lenghty post, I have an inner nerd that likes to escape from time to time.

[[R-MOD]Eddiereyes909]

Trust me i know how you feel,

which is the best brand to buy from?

[Long Bow]

Originally Posted by Eddiereyes909

Trust me i know how you feel,

which is the best brand to buy from?

Well every card out their in the 8800 camp is based on the Nvidia reference design to a tee. The next thing is that some companies overclock the cards, but since the cards are all just reference cards you should be able to reach similar OC speeds on any card. Some cards will be better then others for OC'ing and the factory OC'd cards are still under warranty where as if you OC it you may void the warranty.

BFG, eVGA and XFX are all good companies but like I said try and get the best price. I believe that BFG has the best warranty. eVga has a "step-up" program where if within the first 6 months of purchasing one of their cards you want to exchange it or upgrade for a new/better one you get credit towards the new card (be sure to read the details before going this route as I may have missed something). I would also suggest taking a look at ebay, sometimes you can get a good deal if your patient.