On Wed, 19 Nov 2008 01:00:04 -0000, "The Dude"
<sdfsdfsdf@asdfsdfsdf.com> wrote:

>I'm looking to buy a graphics card mostly for gaming - it needs D-sub and
>preferably s-video and hdtv out.

What interface does your HDTV need?

Most common is analog, DVI, and possible S-Video output.

>Not willing to pay big money for one

Big money is relative, the better it is at gaming the more
it will cost. Having some idea of the budget range would
help.

>and
>have read contrasting reviews. I've just got Far Cry 2 and wouldn't mind
>playing that at decent resolution because at the moment the built-in vga is
>a joke.

What do you consider a decent resolution? To some that
might mean 1024x768 on a CRT, but to others it might mean at
least 1680x1050 on an LCD if not more. Without more info,
to play Farcry with what I consider reasonable resolution, I
suggest at least a 9600GSO. They've often been $50 after a
rebate in the US, but I haven't checked prices or
availability recently. That's a low-end suggestion, for
reasonable performance you ought to aim higher. Like an
nVidia GTX 260.

>The minimum requirements on the game's box doesn't make any sense.

It's not supposed to, nobody wants a new game that is played
at the minimum requirements or it'll look like an old game
without the modern eyecandy.


>Also ideally I don't want a cooling fan on it - do better quality cards need
>fans?

Yes, higher performance gaming cards need either a fan or a
much more expensive passive cooler, or to be water-cooled
within an existing water-cooled system. A fan does not have
to be loud, much progress has been made in recent years to
lower fan noise and make fan RPM correspond to video card
temperature. Mainly, choose a card with a double-height
heatsink, and read user reviews about whether excessive
noise is reported, and of course expect to pay more for a
card that is quiet because it has a more costly heatsink on
it.


> Does the PC's CPU have a big effect on performance or does the GPU
>handle most the load - so if you get a good card then the CPU doesn't have
>to high spec? Cheers if anyone can help

It depends on the specifics, you didn't mention your
specific CPU. Generally speaking, if your system is fairly
modern, like a dual core CPU at 2 GHz or more, the video
card is usually a larger bottleneck. If it's a quad core or
> 2.5GHz system, odds are you have enough CPU processing
power to have a playable framerate from the CPU and need
only be concerned about the video card... but one thing at a
time, buying the right video card is the first step yet how
long that upgrade suits your purposes has a lot to do with
your expectations in the future. Each jump in video card
performance will cost disproportionately more and more, we'd
really need to know how long this upgrade needs to last or
actually what the annual budget is for gaming related PC
upgrades, and what your preferred monitor resolution is.

The generic reply without more info is get an nVidia 260,
I'm sure ATI has a good alternative too, web search
benchmarks will find those, but I prefer nVidia and so
that's the advice I'd take myself.