What are some nice, decently-priced video cards?

Alright, so I like gaming. The Sims 2 in particular. However, my subpar video card can't keep up with my favorite game and its expansions.





At the moment I have a Compaq Presario, I'm not sure how to check my RAM or whatever, but I want a new video card.





It would help if the card cost 100 dollars or less. Helpful answers only, please.

What are some nice, decently-priced video cards?
definitely get this one NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT


it costs only 70$ and is much better choice than any of the 7000 series


(as one of my friends owns one (7600 which sux, and a ATI Radeon x1600 512mb, beats all of the cards below 7800 series nVidia cards)





I am also buying a new card at the moment, so i know :)


I personally would buy only a nVidia 8600 GTS for 105$


(which will play Sims 2 on max graphics)


or the nVidia 8800GTS 320mb (270$), which i personally would want





overall to enjoy Sims 2 (which i also like a lot) you need a good processor and lots of RAM and tons of Hard disk space (for all the expantions)





by the way, have you checked what slot you have in your motherboard?


is it AGP or PCI express?


if its PCI express then get a nVidia 8600 GTS


if its AGP i would recommend ATI radeon x1600 pro 512 mb


(which i have on my second PC, and I can play The Sims 2 really well) it costs about 70$ maybe a little more


(but i also have a good processor and lots of RAM)





overall i would say, if you can spare a little more then a 100$ then get a nVidia 8600 GTS


if not, get 8500 GT 256 mb or x1600 pro 512 mb (i would recommend ATI in this case)


if you see people complaining about ATI or nVidia, ignore them as they most probably have a corrupt version


or the incorrect drivers installed


none is better neither ATI nor nVidia


for example


ATI Radeon x1950 outperforms all graphics cards when playing Oblivion (and several other games)


while nVidia outperforms all ATI cards in demo testing of almost everything else (including Crysis, the new high end graphics game)





overall its your choice what manufacturer to choose





hope i helped


yuri
Reply:well you know the saying, big bucks gets ur big results which is true in the computer indusrty, i would suggest an ATI Radeon 512mb PCI express card, great performance and easy to configure to suit your needs, if you shop around you can get them for round about the $80 mark.....ebay is also a good place to look...hope this helps
Reply:ATI, I had bad experiences with them, so I stay clear of anything ATI if I can help it.





ATI would hang, freeze and generally annoy me because the price I paid for them.





Matrox (Canadian), Nvidia check them out. Nvidia is a good budget card.





I use Nvidia for editing. Great, inexpensive at around $50
Reply:The Nvidia 7600 GT


It is not the newest card, but it will play most games perfectly.





Get it here:


http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLis...








I hope this helps.
Reply:I have an ATI Radeon 9250 (256MB) and it's fine for me. It should play the Sims perfectly. To check your RAM go to rightclick on My Computer and go to properties and near the bottom it should say your manufacturer and all the RAM and processor info.

sweating