A good graphics card

[Dekuno]

I am displeased with my FPS (usually 7-15 in Outlands, it is fine in Azeroth). I have over 1GB of RAM so I figure it isn't that. So i was going to get a new graphics card. Right now I have Radeon 9250. I'd like to get something less than or around $100. Any suggestions? I don't know anything about this kind of thing.

[Swoop]

I don't know the US$ pricing, but some cards that should be nice and cheap and are more than capable of handling anything WoW can throw at it are:

GeForce 6800/6800GS/6800GT. Don't get the cut-down LE etc versions.
Any of the GeForce 79xx series.

Avoid any of the cards which have the "Hypermemory".

Most cards these days are PCI Express. The Radeon is not, which tells me that you probably only have an AGP slot. You're going to have a lot of trouble finding a new AGP graphics card these days. You may need to get something from Ebay. I'd probably suggest looking for a 6800 series card first, as it's most likely to have AGP versions available. The 79xx series AGP cards were a lot harder to find.

[Nattal]

If you have AGP then the best card is the sapphire radeon x1950pro, should be around $200 in the USA. I got one a few weeks ago, its the most powerful AGP card available. My fps never drop below 30 and that is driving a 24" widescreen at 1920 x 1280.

[Lothe]

With a 7800gs which is AGP and 2 gig of ram with nearly top end video settings i get 50+ FPS(generally sitting on 60) everywhere including major cities. got mine 12 months ago they should be fairly cheap nowadays.



*edit*
I did notice after installing my new UI previously I only had titan bar that my fps dropped by 5 or so maybe if you use a lot of addons it could also be affecting your fps. (probably depends on the addons, i.e. the ones that display 3d models of face affected mine worst i think)

[Devicus]

Depends if you luikle gforce or radeon.

I think Radeon's X1800XT is in AGP 8x, I've got the PCI version and it's nice. I think. The whole radeon X1000 series is a very nice set and have recently been suceeded by the X1900 and X1950 series it's cheap. An X1300XT will do the job at a tiny price (housemate has one from Ebay, cost him £40, erm... $80). I like the X1800 radeon though as it has avivo and unlike gforce I can do 2 types of line smoothing at once. So I get MUCH prettier graphics. Though, less FPS at any particular given setting than it's equivalent gforce. (ie both on the same prettification, GForce will be 2% faster or something)

Bear in mind the settings. I have 1152 xsomething resolution and all settings on max and I only get less than 60 FPS on shimmering flats when I look to the horizon and areas like that (or occasionally when skype decided to start getting memory hungry, but that's no the GPU)(where it's drawing several miles at a time). If you or I turn the settings down, it'll be easier on the card (also I'm running 2 1450 x1050 screens on mine, so more work for it)

Also a gig of RAM is nice, but for XP 2 gig or above is needed for *smooth* performance and vista you'll want 4.... If you're running anything else in the background it might be a problem too.

[WesSeid]

A 9250 is really old, so it's no wonder you're having problems.

If you have AGP and don't plan on upgrading the rest of the computer any time soon, I'd take a long look at a 6600GT or 6800/6800GT/Ultra. I played WoW with an Athlon XP 3.2-ish and a 6600GT at 1600x1200 and it was plenty. With 6600GTs being dirt-cheap and 6800s not much more, I'd have a hard time sticking any more money into a video card that costs more than either of those or the ATI equivalent.

Look at some reviews, and whatever card you look at, ask yourself, "Is this worth the price over a 6600GT?" You'll probably find yourself answering no to that a lot.

edit: heck, even an ATI 9600 would probably be light years from the current 9250.

[usmcasa]

I've got a BFG8800 gtx oc'd, a little pricey but with 4gb of mem I don't have any lag what so ever

[Rigo]

Running 6600LE on my desktop all details up to max at something like 1000x800 ish runs about 30FPS in outlands and less in major cities.

My Laptop runs 512mb 7600 and hits about 50fps plus everywhere other than cities which are generally 20 to 30ish.

"GeForce 6800/6800GS/6800GT. Don't get the cut-down LE etc versions.
Any of the GeForce 79xx series"

Spot on I guess you wont have to spend a great deal to get any of the 6800 onwards and they will run like lightning will everything up to '11'.




So I would /agree with Swoops post its on the money unless you want to run other games than WOW that are more intensive like HL2 Olivion or Fear.



For price vs performance required for WOW

[Gritz]

Befoer you plunk down $$ on a new grahics card, check out this post over at notddicted:

http://www.notaddicted.com/forums/showthread.php?t=936

(for those firewalled, the dude dropped 800$ on a new video card, only to find out that his anemic processor was the culprit)

-Gritz