Best Graphics Card To Buy?

[El Xando]

I am receiving my Dad's 19" wide screen monitor in exchange for my 17" monitor (he bought a new 24" and wants to dual screen) and want to upgrade my graphics card for it, however as knowledgeable as I like to hope I am when it comes to computers, I have no idea what to buy as I do not understand the specifications of graphics cards.
I currently have an ATI Radeon HD 3450.
I have also established that I am going to get a ATI HD 4850 as they are the best available from Novatech without exceeding the price I'd be willing to pay.
So it's between these 15.
There is a dirt cheap Sapphire one though I don't know if the specs are that good... then there's 1GB novatech one for about

 

[Greyone]

The 4850 would be perfect for that screen size.

I wouldn't go with the Sapphire or Novatech 4830, I think you should go with either the xfx or his 4850.

I'm not too sure, but I think XFX is the only one that offers a lifetime warranty.

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What are the full specs of your pc? Do you have a pci x 16 slot ?

 

[Granite]

yeah 100% the 4850 is ideal for your needs.
The things you need it for really dont even need that 1GB of GDDR3.
But yeah if your going for burnout and some new games its possible you would want to get a 1GB card would most certainly get you on higher settings.

Overall if your not into gaming on it go 512mb, its not going to hold you back.

 

[El Xando]

Yeah I rarely game so I think it'd be pointless buying a 1GB... so 512MB it is...
So which is best of the 512MBs?

 

[Colm]

I can run Burnout on mostly high settings (maxed everything except SSAO), 60fps on a nVidia 9800GT 512mb

 

[Hardrive]

Yeah I rarely game so I think it'd be pointless buying a 1GB... so 512MB it is...
So which is best of the 512MBs?

Get what you need. If a specific combination of the ports on the back of the card isn't enough to sway you, read the comments, or just choose the cheapest one. Basically, these cards have different companies' stickers slapped on them, but they're the same card. Don't worry about it.

I purchased an nvidia card, but the same concept applied for me. I chose to get EVGA cards because I was getting an EVGA motherboard, EVGA has a nice step up program, and a very generous warranty policy.

Hope that helps.