Hey folks. Well I've really been out of the loop on graphics cards, and computers in general, for a couple of years (really since Oblivion - nothing since has been worth an upgrade).

But I'm desperate to play BioShock and realise my card is nowhere even near min requirement, being an integrated card (GeForce 6100).

I was wondering if people had any suggestions for a £125 - £175 card (roughly $250 - $325). My set up is a AMD Sempron 3300+, 2ghz, 2gig ram, XP sp2.

Cheers guys.

Have you poked around on www.newegg.com? You can establish your price range there, and have the advantage of looking at specific customer reviews.

Personally, I think graphics cards are one of the most obnoxious pieces of equipment to buy, since there are so many variables and models now. My only suggestion would be to lean towards something with plenty of memory, upwards of 512, as that seems to be where games are heading.

Agree, 512 memory is probably the minimum for the stuff coming out now.

I had my last pute built for me, and had the Nvidia 8500GT with 512 installed, but I hate to say I have no recollection of what the cost was. I will say tho' that it handles everything nicely and I have had no reason to complain to date.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130082

Great card for the price. Even next gen ready for Direct X 10

Thanks so much guys! Just looking around at your suggestions has left me floored. Only a fews years ago there was a small pool from which to choose. Now every tom dick and harry has a card on sale.

The GeForce 8800GTS looks, I must say, pretty swanky. But won't it be fast out of date not having 512, as others have suggested? Otherwise, the price and specs seem great.

Any other suggestions from peeps?

I run an 8800 with 320 mb of ram, and I LOVE it. You can get the 640 MB version for about $100 USD more, but the performance differance is not at all that much.

I run an 8800 with 320 mb of ram, and I LOVE it. You can get the 640 MB version for about $100 USD more, but the performance differance is not at all that much.

/agree!

The 8800 w/320 is a good buy and excellent bang for the buck :) I'm playing most of my games full throttle course I did upgrade my CPU and mb too. Still, don't kick yourself later with a cheaper card get the 8800.

Though I must confess, I've only played 2 games on my new pc since I bought it. I've played through Oblivion from start to finish (had to start my character that was at completion over) both the main game and the expansion on high graphics with everything turned on as high as it would go and Everquest with everything on as high as it would go (in a raid setting, with spells turned off because I found them annoying).

So I guess what I'm saying is, I can't tell you how an 8800 with 320 will act with BioShock.

Here is a good place to check out also, great selection and prices.


http://www.tigerdirect.com

Thanks guys, gonna give it all a look over today.

The 8800 is looking to be the choice, so far. Thanks again.