Graphics Card

I know very little about graphics cards. I know I need a new one however

Can anyone help me? The technical sticky says you need a graphics card better than the "ATI Radeon 9800".

Does this card fit the bill? http://www.dabs.com/products/gigabyte-ati-radeon-4350-hd-650mhz-512mb-ddr2-pci-express-dvi-5HZ0.html?refs=11-4294963789-50780000

Cheers!

Not if you are into serious gaming. Here is a professional review comment:

The Radeon HD 4350 and 4550 are slotted in between integrated graphics and the set of hardware we took a look at recently in our Radeon 4670 review. The Radeon HD 4550 will run you around $45 - $55, while the Radeon HD 4350 will be priced at $39. Generally speaking, if you're a gamer you're not spending any less than $150 for a graphics card - so these GPUs are mostly for enabling hardware Blu-ray acceleration or providing a boost in performance over games running on integrated graphics

Not if you are into serious gaming. Here is a professional review comment:

The Radeon HD 4350 and 4550 are slotted in between integrated graphics and the set of hardware we took a look at recently in our Radeon 4670 review. The Radeon HD 4550 will run you around $45 - $55, while the Radeon HD 4350 will be priced at $39. Generally speaking, if you're a gamer you're not spending any less than $150 for a graphics card - so these GPUs are mostly for enabling hardware Blu-ray acceleration or providing a boost in performance over games running on integrated graphics

Only need it for FM really.

FM is very graphically intensive so if you need to get a new card, I would suggest that you go for one better than this one

And I'm guessing this card is 'greater than the Nvidia FX 5900 Ultra': http://www.dabs.com/products/zotac-geforce-6200a-350mhz-256mb-agp-6900.html?refs=42220000 ?

That one was released about 5 years ago and is classed in level 4 ( out of 6) in the review tables in here. Not any better than the first one in my view

See:http://www.notebookcheck.net/Comparison-of-Grafic-Cards.130.0.html

I'm using a Geforce GTX 260 which was a decent price for what it does, tho granted it's quite a few quid more than the one linked in the OP.

DirectX 11 is on it's way, so there are some good deals on dx10 cards.

I'm using a Geforce GTX 260 which was a decent price for what it does, tho granted it's quite a few quid more than the one linked in the OP.

DirectX 11 is on it's way, so there are some good deals on dx10 cards.

I would avoid DX10 cards if buying soon or now, they are a little more powerful than the old DX9 cards but you will get more value for money from a DX11 card as DX10 was a hopeless failure (i had a guy who works in the industry explain it 2 me). You can pick up decent DX11 ATI cards for cheap money, almost the same as DX10.

In other words dont get wooed by the power of a top DX10 card for less money than its 11 equivilent, 11 has to have more longevity in it than 10!

Ahh, i read the opposite in a pc mag / forum.

What i read (for what it's worth) is that by the time DX11 games are mainstream, all the current cards (dx10 or 11) will be "old school" and as such, it's likely that whatever card you have/buy now (unless you spend £300+) will need replacing. Besides, a 260 isn't a "top dx10" card, granted it's over £100 but that's far from the £350 you can spend on a top range card.

But i'm far from technical so i'll decline a further debate on it . [besides - again - I've already made my choice ]

The problem I have is it's quite an old motherboard. As such I have an AGP slot, and a number of PCI slots - although I have no idea if they're PCI-Express or not - suspect not

If anyone can find a sub £40 graphics card that's decent enough to run FM10, I'd be much obliged.

Then you will prob need a X1950 at best (ati card)

You can pick those up for not very much on ebay etc