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**Praetor** · 02-26-2006, 02:59 PM

Section 02 - Short and Sweet: What videocard should I get?
Before Reading Further aka "How to Use this Suggestion Guide"

Figure out what type of card you need. For instance, if you are building a machine that is never ever going to play a single videogame, there is no reason to consider a top of the line videocard that will weigh in at several hundred dollars. Once you get an idea for what type of performance requirements you have, have a look at the category titles to see which category your requirements fall in.
Once you've picked a category, you should figure out how much money you have to work with. The suggestions are listed top-to-bottom in order of price tag. This list is not computer generated: I've hand selected every entry here and made sure that as you go down the list, not only does the price tag increase, the performance of the card will also increase (except where noted). The reasoning here is that, there is no point to spend more money and get the equivalent/less performance
Please keep in mind that the reccomendations are grouped by ATi/nVidia and AGP/PCIE ... while picking an ATi or nVidia based card may only be a preference, picking an AGP or PCIE based card is often a condition: you need to pick a videocard that will fit into your motherboard. Now for those who are trying to decide on ATi/nVidia or AGP/PCIE, these two issues are explictly dealt with in the VFAQ section of this 101 guide
If this is all still way too overhwhelming, at the bottom of every category I've picked out a few cards from those listed as "Praetor's Picks" and provided more detailed information on what you're getting and why I chose that particuar card.

Now once you've settled on the above steps, pick a category either scroll down or click on the links to see the appropriate reccoemdnation block:

02-26-2006, 02:59 PM	#3 (permalink)
Praetor Administrator Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Canada Age: 26 Posts: 19,953	Section 02 - Short and Sweet: What videocard should I get? *Before Reading Further aka "How to Use this Suggestion Guide"* Figure out what type of card you need. For instance, if you are building a machine that is never ever going to play a single videogame, there is no reason to consider a top of the line videocard that will weigh in at several hundred dollars. Once you get an idea for what type of performance requirements you have, have a look at the category titles to see which category your requirements fall in. Once you've picked a category, you should figure out how much money you have to work with. The suggestions are listed top-to-bottom in order of price tag. This list is not computer generated: I've hand selected every entry here and made sure that as you go down the list, not only does the price tag increase, the performance of the card will also increase (except where noted). The reasoning here is that, there is no point to spend more money and get the equivalent/less performance Please keep in mind that the reccomendations are grouped by ATi/nVidia and AGP/PCIE ... while picking an ATi or nVidia based card may only be a preference, picking an AGP or PCIE based card is often a condition: you need to pick a videocard that will fit into your motherboard. Now for those who are trying to decide on ATi/nVidia or AGP/PCIE, these two issues are explictly dealt with in the VFAQ section of this 101 guide If this is all still way too overhwhelming, at the bottom of every category I've picked out a few cards from those listed as "Praetor's Picks" and provided more detailed information on what you're getting and why I chose that particuar card. Now once you've settled on the above steps, pick a category either scroll down or click on the links to see the appropriate reccoemdnation block: Category A - "I'm Building a machine that does not have any gaming requirements, I just want a basic videocard" Category B - "I want a video card that will let me play the occassional videogame: I'm not looking for the best of the best, just something that will let me play the occasional game." Category C - "I'm building a gaming box, but I dont have a fortune to spend on the top-tier parts; I'd still like to play my games at near-max settings if possible" Category D - "I want to play all the latest games at the highest settings, I'm willing to pay the premium for it" __________________ ASUS P5K Premium WiFi-AP, Q6600@3.7 / ASUS P5ND, E6400@3.8 4GB OCz Platinum XTC 8500 / 4GB CorsairXMS2 6400 5x500GB Seagate 7200.10 / 2x500 Seagate 7200.10 OCz 8800GTX 768MB @ 630/800 / 2x Galaxy 8800GT SLI Last edited by tweaker; 02-26-2006 at 04:24 PM.