What graphics card would be best for me?

I know there are many questions out there on graphic cards but I looked through them and none of them fully gave me an answer and I would rather receive a personal experience.

But what I am looking for is a good card for games (The Orange Box, Halo 2, Bioshock and some others) that will give me a reasonable frame rate and be able to handle a good amount of power.

Currently, I have intergraded graphics into the motherboard with a GeForce 6100 + nForce 400, the motherboard is a Gigabye GA-M61VME-S2.

So as for my price range I am thinking in between $100-$150 (maximum $200, but probably won't go that high) and looking for 256 MB+ (preferably 512 MB).

Also I only know little on graphic cards specifically so you may have to help me out a bit.

What graphics card would be best for me?

I just bought an ATI HD 3850... you can find them for about 180 bucks, with 256mb DDR3 ram. You can get 512 for more money, but that much memory is really overrated. With the faster DDR3 ram and the fast GPU, things get processed quickly so more ram isn't really necessary.

Tomshardware, Anandtech, and many other hardware sites have given this one their recommendation. Tomshardware.com ranked it as the most performance for the dollar, as it performs almost as well as some cards that cost upwards of 300 bucks.

I know it's a little more than you wanted to pay, but from what I've read it'll definitely be worth it.

You don't want DX10 right NOW, but for every game that is released from this point on, you'll wish you had it. With each new release it will become more and more important.

Go to Tomshardware.com and click on his GUIDES section, and he has a rundown of the best video cards for various pricepoints, I think it will help you in making a decision.

What graphics card would be best for me?

256mb GDDR3 will handle the game better than 512 of GDDR2.

Now the best place to get a graphic card is newegg.com

They really have the best prices.

Here is a link to a card I believe would fit your budget and your needs:

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

What's good about this card

256 bit interface ( really important )

512MB GDDR3

Direct X10

Price: $159

Don't believe anybody can beat this..

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Following your additional details

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I guess this one below would be perfect:

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

The most important is to have good memory interface. make sure you get at least 256 bit interface.

I understand you don't need direct X10 with XP, but you may want to go with one just so the card can handle it, once you switch to vista, if you ever will.

What graphics card would be best for me?

I second the ATI Radeon HD 3850. It's a really good value for the price ($180).

If you want to stick to your price range, the the next best thing is the ATI Radeon 1950Pro. You can pick one of these up for $135. This is a great card at that price, but it doesn't have HD acceleration like the 3850, or DX10 support (although DX10 is not worth it in Bioshock.. future games, however, will better utilize DX10).

Both cards are fairly power-hungry. You may have to look at upgrading your power supply if it is some generic thing.

What graphics card would be best for me?

Well if DX10 isn't an importance get a 7900GT off of newegg for like $110.

I'd go with the 8800GT 256MB...or wait for the 8800GS..which will be right in your price range

http://en.hardspell.com/doc/showcont.asp...

Guy below me...shut up if you just are going to spout false info. 8500 is a TERRIBLE card...good job on wasting your money.

What graphics card would be best for me?

Listen Up M8 U need to get a GeForce 8 Series for the games u mentiontion ur power supply is enough but make sure u have enough ram Bioshock needs to have a 8 series graphics card or it will not work my advise is get a 8 series and make sure u have enough ram for ur games i think un have enough money for a good model maybe a 8600gt or 8500gt like me :::...))))

What graphics card would be best for me?

you can go to Fry's electronics and buy an Nvidia geforce 8600GT for like maybe below 160$. They might have a 40$ mail in rebate too :D