Choosing a new graphics card(which one?)

Hi Everyone, Im planning to buy a new Graphics card for my computer, it is Dell home compputer and i know which ones fit in. Here is the list:
nVidia Cards:
256MB Albatron 7100GS
512MB 8400GS Inno3D/ECS/Gainward/MSI/Gigabyte/ASUS
512MB 9400GT Inno3D/ECS/Gainward/MSI/Gigabyte/ASUS
1GB 9400GT Inno3D/ECS/Gainward/MSI/XFX/Gigabyte/ASUS
512MB 9500
1GB 9500 = i have this one

ATI Radeon Cards =
512MB 4350 HIS/ Powercolour / MSI /Gigabyte
1GB 4350 Powercolour
512MB 4550 ASUS/ Gigabyte
512MB 4650 HIS / Powercolour / XFX / ASUS
1GB 4650 HIS / Powercolour / Gigabyte / ASUS


I do not know much about graphics cards, other than ONLY these ones are in my price range, and can actually fit in my computer. If you know, please tell me which is best, .

Thanks

Of the cards listed, the HD 4650 is the fastest of the lot and by a decent margin. But if you already have a 9500 GT its not going to be the biggest upgrade in the world. But I would also note that the HD 5570 is typically only a few bucks more than the HD 4650, but offers more performance and is of the latest generation technology, so it consumes less power, puts out less heat, and offers DX11 compliance if you want it.

As for paying extra for more memory, it's not going to make much of a difference in cards of this class. A 512mb will perform the same as a 1gb version given that the memory runs at the same speed. Memory speed is going to be more important than memory quantity in cards of this class.

If your system can only use low profile graphics cards, there are some available that are higher end, and if you are looking to upgrade for gaming purposes, then I would really suggest going that route.

Sparkle has a 9800 GT that is low profile for $100, but it does require you have the slow below your graphics card free - as the cooler takes up 2 slots. This is basically the fastest low profile card on the market and will be well suited to gaming.

What model computer do you have? Honestly I would suggest trying to save up a bit more cash and go for something like that 9800 GT above as going from a 9500 GT to an HD 4650 is a decent upgrade, but really its just going to make games that were somewhat laggy run smoother, you wont really be able to play at higher resolutions or with much higher detail settings than you could with the 9500 GT.

I don't know the model of my computer, and I only have a 18.5inch monitor, so my max res. is 1280x1024, which is fine by me. The 9500GT constantly lags on Call of Duty 4, so Im trying to get one that is better and will run it smoothly.

But thank-you for your reply, it helped alot.

Run belarc and post the results here

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

That way we can tell you whether or not your money would be better put into something else

well 1280x1024 is a more cpu-bound resolution, so the next question would have to be what processor do you have?

Basically, higher resolutions tend to be more video card bound than lower resolutions. At 1280x1024 even the fastest video card available today wouldn't help much because no matter how fast it can render the game, it still has to wait for the cpu to feed it data. Since the video card can render those frames faster than the cpu can feed it, you just create a massive bottleneck.

Also, how much memory do you have? That can effect performance if you are running a game along side a bunch of resource hogging software within windows such as messengers, streaming music, anti virus, malware protection, performance or temperature monitoring software, and so on. If you have 2gb or less, it will probably be worth it to upgrade.

If you have a decent cpu and a fair amount of ram, then yes the upgrade to a faster video card WILL be worth it, but if you are stuck with an old Pentium D or something, then that HAS to go. Even the cheapest chip money can buy today is faster than any Pentium 4 or Pentium D...even AMD's cheapest Sempron is going to out perform the best of the Athlon64 range...thats just how technology progresses.