The Ultimate Video Card Guide!

Ok, i'm jsut buying one of these (NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT 128MB DDR3 PCI Express video PCIe ), because i'm cheap... and was hoping for some insight, since i'm a noob. now, how do i know if my motherboard will take it or not, and how well will my comp run w/ it? my comp is about 18 months old, and i've been playing GW for about 17 on it. Do i have to open up my tower to find this stuff out? sry for the stupid questions, i have to learn sometime tho :x

So, I got the game and it ran.. But not so smoothly, I decided to try it useing my old geforce 2 with a mere 32mb of video ram, and it worked much better then my internal. I do still need a new video card, what should I get for around $40? A link to the site that sells it would be great!
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Oh, lol, nvm, I went back to my intigrated card and it does work better the the old Nvidia

Is PCI eexpress diferent then PCI? LOL, I need to learn this stuff

The 5200 is really that bad? I found it for only $35, doesn't get any cheaper then that

Yes, PCI Express (aka PCI-E) is different from PCI, and physically incompatible with it too. Three different connector slots have been used for video cards in the past 10 years or so:

PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) - Almost 15 years old, not fast enough for modern video cards but still used with sound cards and network adapters, which it's quite sufficient for. Replaced in video cards by AGP around 2000.

AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) - Replaced PCI for video cards, has been losing ground to PCI-E for a few years now.

PCI-E - Faster and can supply a more power to the connected device, although higher-end video cards still need extra power directly from the computer's power supply. Commonly available in multiple variants; x2, x4, x8 and x16, which are progressively faster (and use a physically wider slot). Most new video cards use a PCI-E x16 slot.

New motherboards typically come with 1-2 PCI-E x16 slots for video cards, two smaller PCI-E slots for other stuff and one PCI slot for legacy devices.

It's an entry-level card, meant for light office use, not gaming, from three hardware generations ago. It already sucked for games in 2003 and probably hasn't improved with age.

O.K, here's the deal, I have PCI slots and an AGP slot but I don't think I have an PCI-E slot. What card shold I get? preferable under $50
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Lol, never mine, doesn't look liek I'm goan get anything for under $50, just whatever you is the cheapest but is still good.

Ooh, could this be the one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102428
But it doesn't have a fan, will that be a big problem?

I noticed that this card isn't on the list. I grabbed it for $99 The NVidia 7600GT. I can pull max resolution with 77fps and full graphics settings. I just want to reccomend it to anyone on a budget.

Wow, what's your computer's processor and ram specifications?

$50 in what country? For $95 Australian u can get a new ATi X800GTO. These are renowned overclockers too with stock heatsink/fans. Make sure it says GTO not GT. Mine goes from 400/700 to 510/850 without any trouble, and this is a "generic" Palit brand.
Even with my Celeron 2GHz i can get upto 100FPS in my empty guildhall and about 40FPS on average.

Imo just save up a bit more cash. Dont buy anything less than a FX5700 or a ATi 9600, you'll just buy a better one later on. I know i did with a FX5500 (22fps on av).

Do realise that the OP is now more than two years old so the advice is just slightly dated. Guild Wars graphics needs have risen very slightly through the campaigns, and the prices of cards and the best value for money has changed a lot.