I need help please, wondering what type of videocard I should purchase for my system

[SleepieFaerie]

Hopefully this is the place i need to be to post this question, if not, I'm sorry, I am very new to all this, so thanks for reading and trying to help me ;0)

So I have recently become an attic to the world of MMORPG's and have become an absolute World of Warcraft addict and want to play Aion when it comes out in a few weeks. I have playing for almost a year now on a very old Dell which could barely handle WoW, so I decided to invest in something mid price range for gaming knowing i might need to upgrade a few things for optimal game play. The system was actually working great for WoW when I first got it two weeks ago, no lag what so ever in major cities of WoW, with at least 60 fps in heavliy poplated areas on up in questing areas on totally maxed out settings in the game. I was so happy with the system that I purchased a large new 25" monitor a few days ago to upgrade from my old 15" one. Well, now my fps is way down and I'm bumed out and thinking that I need to upgrade my video card because i went with such a big monitor. Hopefully someone can reccomend one that I will be able to afford so my brother or boyfriend can install it. After buying a new system and a nice new big monitor to match I really only have $100 - $150 to spend on it, but I'm willing to go up to $200. If anyone could help me out I would really appricate it! Here are my system specs (i'm readding off the box so if I missed something please let me know ;0)

General Spec :
-Brand CyberpowerPC
-Model Gamer Ultra 7212
-Processor AMD Athlon II X2 245(2.9GHz)
-Processor Main Features 64 bit Dual Core Processor
-Cache Per Processor 2 x 1MB L2 Cache
-Memory 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2 800
-Hard Drive 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 7200RPM HDD
-Optical Drive 1 22X DVD±R/±RW Dual Layer Drive
-Graphics NVIDIA GeForce 9500GT 1GB PCI Express Video Card
-Audio Sound card - Integrated
-Ethernet Gigabit LAN
-Power Supply 420W
-Operating System Windows Vista Home Premium 64-Bit

Motherboard : Asus M3A76-CM
-Chipset AMD 760G

CPU :
-CPU Type Athlon II X2
Installed Qty 1
-CPU Speed 245(2.9GHz)
-L2 Cache Per CPU 2 x 1MB
-CPU Socket Type AM3
-CPU Main Features 64 bit Dual Core Processor

Graphics :
-GPU/VPU Type NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT
-Graphics Interface PCI Express 2.0 x16

Memory :
-Memory Capacity 4GB DDR2
-Memory Speed DDR2 800
-Form Factor DIMM 240-pin
-Memory Spec 2GB x 2
-Memory Slots (Available/Total) 2/4
-Hard Drive
-HDD Capacity 500GB
-HDD Interface SATA II
-HDD RPM 7200rpm
-Optical Drive
-Optical Drive Type DVD±RW
-Optical Drive Spec 22X DVD±R/±RW Dual Layer Drive
-Audio
-Audio Chipset Integrated
-Communications
-LAN Chipset Integrated
-LAN Speed 10/100/1000Mbps
-Front Panel Ports
-Front USB 2
-Front Audio Ports 2
-Back Panel Ports
-PS/2 1
-Video Ports 1 VGA, 1 DVI
-TV Out 1
-Rear USB 6
-RJ45 1 port
-Rear Audio Ports 6 ports
-Expansion
-PCI Slots (Available/Total) 1 x PCI Express x16
-1 x PCI Express x1
-2 x PCI

Hopefully this is the info that someone would need to help me out. THANKS AGAIN for your time ;0)

 

[klepto12]

well for your display i recommend an ati 4870 and here is a nice one right in your budget XFX HD-487A-ZWFC Radeon HD 4870 1GB $149.99 Free Shipping it should play wow and about any other game you throw at it on high settings. also make sure if you buy it to go to the XFX website and register the card within 30 days to get there warranty. well now that i look at your power supply you will need to upgrade it before you can do any video card upgrades Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W this one is $79.99 with free shipping but trust me both are of the highest quality and come highly recommended.

 

[ahal]

tbh the spec. looks quite good to my eyes at least. I'm of course aware of WoW but not hugely familiar with it. You mention that the game seemed to be running fine before ... have you tried such boring things as defragmenting the hard drive? - it's amazing how that good 'ole oldie can practically cripple a system!

Update: just read again, it's the monitor lol ... hmm. I've still got a 19" CRT which weighs about 20 kg but is great and very undemanding. This might be another route to investigate? Okay you'll have to drop a few inches, but people do still throw them out and at the end of the day free - vs - $200 can't be bad! My 19 inch works off a PNY GeForce 6200!

Re: Graphics card, I'd recommend Nvidia for compatibility although some say the Ati is more robust. Check compatibility!

 

[klepto12]

lol he is running it on a 9500 gt which is a crap card for gaming since a 25 " monitor is 1920 x 1080 res that card can not keep up its not the hard drive trust me.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

lol he is running it on a 9500 gt which is a crap card for gaming since a 25 " monitor is 1920 x 1080 res that card can not keep up its not the hard drive trust me.

Lol. klepto12 speaks the truth.

 

[red1776]

lol he is running it on a 9500 gt which is a crap card for gaming since a 25 " monitor is 1920 x 1080 res that card can not keep up its not the hard drive trust me.

Klepto is right...might even be an understatement

 

[klepto12]

lol red that is funny an understatement yeah i wouldnt put a 9500 in my worst enemy's computer lol jk. but yeah the parts i suggested will work just fine trust me

 

[SleepieFaerie]

THANK YOU everyone for your suggestions, I really appriciate you guys taking out your time to talk to me and give me advice, you all ROCK, thanks again ;0)