New Video Card Advice

Hey,

I am in the process of specing and building a new system for myself. I am looking for a cheap(ish) video card to play the very occasional game, some dvds, and a bit of photo and video editing. No serious requirement, just a bit of future-proofness would be ideal. No plans of overclocking the card, something quiet would be nice and as long at it can fit with the sound card and wireless card I will be happy.

I don't need to buy right now, so if waiting a month or so (until after Christmas) is wise, then I can happily do so.


1) What are your system specifications? Give us full specs:

CPU = Q6600 or new 45nm equlivent?
Motherboard = Abit IP35
PCI-E / AGP = PCI-E?
RAM = Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 PC2-6400C4 800MHz Dual Channel
PSU = Earthwatts 500W PSU
Current Video Card = None
Wireless Card: Belkin Wireless G Desktop Network Card F5D7000UK V3
Sound Card: EMU 0404
Case: Antec Sonata III


2) What is your budget? £100 ($150-200ish) MAX


3) For how long are you planning to have this new card? 2-3 years hopefully


4) What will the new Video Card be used for?

Either, maybe a bit of both?:
--- b) Mixed = Some gaming but not much, a card that will let me play at least at medium/high settings.
--- c) A cheap-o card on which I might be able to game sometimes, not much power needed.


5) If Gaming, please tells us the games you're planning to play. Please list as many as you'd love to play.

Unreal Tournament (3?), Live For Speed, neither seriously


Any info is greatly appreciated, if you can work off UK prices then all the better.

Cheers

Rob

Since you posted in an nVidia category your choices here arethe 8600GT/S (< $200) or 8800GT (< $300).

For your price range you are probably looking at an nVidia 8600GT/S (or an ATI 3850). If you are playing at low resolution like 1024x768 these cards should do you fine. You will not be maxing out any eye candy but they will allow you to have some fun playing UT3.

If you wanted to spend a little more, say $250-$300, I would suggest the 8800GT (or ATI 3870). These cards have 512MB of memory so they can take on higher resolutions better and will pretty much let you have all the eyecandy turned on in any new game at ~1600x1200.

3850 is much faster than the 8600GT/S and prices should come down by xmas time. And please don't make the same thread more than once. The one in general GPU was appropriatie. Not meant to be rude