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True enough, it's perhaps not a real low-end PC, more of a mid-range PC. And apparently, GPUs are currently more of a bottle neck than CPUs are, or at least that's true for a high end CPU - GPU combination.

Definitely only if you have money to burn, because you can get a HD5870 at a lower price, which is faster, has lower energy consumption and has better features than the GTX295. Hell, if money is really of no concern you could get a HD5970, the undisputed king of the hill at the moment. If you buy a big graphics card like that, though, you'll likely need a better PSU as well.

If you're a true nVidia fanboy, you're better off waiting for their new graphic cards using the GF100 graphics processor, which should come out some time later this year. Actually, even if you're not it might still be a good idea to wait, because this will likely cause the ATi cards to drop in price.

@Enagios, the recommendation for a videocard is really dependent on what you budget is. For reference, you can check out Tom's Hardware's Best Graphics Cards For The Money, February edition. This should give you an idea of what card fits your budget best.

 

Yeah, once you get your CPU into the mid-end range (E8400/Q8400/i5 and up in their respective lines) the GPU is the real bottleneck.

Some very good suggestions here too. Actually come to think of it there is no real reason to buy Nvidia at the moment if it's anything other than the 8800/9800 GT. At all the higher price points the ATI cards with identical performance are cheaper (or to put it differently, you can get a more powerful card for the same price by going ATI), whether it's the 5770 or the 5870.

Then again there's always the option of waiting to see what Nvidia's response will be once their new cards are out. The problem with waiting is that you can be doing nothing but that for a very long time - once Nvidia release their cards chances are ATI will start preparing for the next round, and so on... so it depends on how much you're in a hurry to play the more recent games (DAO, ME2 and so on). Keep in mind that even something like The Witcher will only run on low-to-medium settings with a 9500 - it is a pretty low-end card.

 

Apparently, even for smaller budgets, ATi is a pretty good bet, if you take a look at the 4xxx series. According to this overview you can get better performance than a 8800GT or 9800GT with a 4850 which, according to the same source, is also available for around $100. nVidia dropped the ball big time last year so until they come out with their new series, and while the HD4xxx series still remains available, your best performance, but also your best value for money is by and large going to come from ATi.

You're right that if you wait, you can end up waiting a long time. In this case, it would again depend on Enagios' budget if it would pay to wait. For $100 and below it's a pretty good idea to go shop now and get a decent HD4xxx series while they're still available. If his budget is $200 or higher, it may pay to wait a while, if only for the HD5850 to have better availability, as the price for the HD5850 now is even higher than it was at its introduction. Apparently, ATi has fixed the yield issues in their production process last month, so availability should improve over the next few months for these cards.

I'd like a HD5850 for the PC I'm assembling, but the lack of non-reference coolers is holding me back at the moment. Those reference coolers make too much noise, which doesn't mesh very well with my desire to make a silent PC.

What settings The Witcher will run on on a 9500GT is by and large determined by the resolution you're going to run it on. Which will likely depend on what monitor you've got appended to your system. Me, I've still got a 19" CRT, so I could play it at 1280x1024 and custom settings with 8x AA, high res textures but low shadows and grass detail and the rest at medium, and get a decent framerate even with my 7600GT, which is even slower than the 9500GT. However, Enagios likely has a new monitor with his new PC as well, which almost certainly is a LCD and has a much higher native resolution than what I played The Witcher at (I'd guess at least 1680x1050), so he may have to lower his settings compared to mine. Or hope his monitor does interpolation for lower resolutions fairly well.

 

Really, the 9800GT is a very old card. And the 4850 would be a better value today, (especially since it is newer, because the 9800GT is really an 8800GT), but maybe not a year ago. Here's a different take on last year:

That was last year. The 4000 ATIs were more expensive at that time and AMD has been cutting prices like crazy to try and save its stock, which is good for consumers, and the drastic price reductions have helped AMD regain some market share for its cards. The new nVidia cards did not make it out in time, which helped as well.

I've had a 9800GT in my machine for over a year now, and have been very pleased with its performance. But the 4850 would be a little better value today, because the 9800GT is still selling for the same price it was over a year ago. nVidia has felt no need to cut the prices on it, and I find that rather odd in the computer market.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1520/gigabyte_9800_gt_zalman_edition/index18.html

 

Thanks for all the help guys.

I'm playing Medieval: Total War 2. Played the short campaign with Venice and I'm about done playing the long campaign with England. I'm definitely thinking about the ATI HD 5770. Going to talk to the guy we get all our computer-related stuff from tomorrow to ask him about it. I did some price checking on the net and it appears to be listed as 170-180usd.

If I upgrade to this video card, with the rest of my computer setup how it is, will I be able to run all the new games at their best with no problems?

 

That's about the right price for the HD 5770. And yes with this card you'll be able to run anything you can throw at your PC. Anything already released (short of shoddy programming) will run with all settings maxed. Perhaps the only setting you won't be able to max is Anti-Aliasing, but this'll also depend on the resolution you're using.

 

Sorry if I'm barging in on Enagonios' thread, but I'm curious how you guys rank the NVIDIA 8800 GTX w/768MB RAM. I've had it for a couple of years, but it seems to do the trick for me. I can run Dragon Age on max settings with good performance. Or would I be having an even better experience on something newer?