video upgrade for geforce 6150+ nforce 430

[lewis]

Hi. I'm kinda new to this so any info will help and many thanks
I have a geforce 6150+ nforce 430 motrher board with onboard graphics and I am looking at running DArkGDK programming the video card doesn't support what I am doing so I am looking for upgrade suggestion
any info will be greatly apperciated.
Thank you

[daglesj]

Hello and welcome!

How much would you like to spend?

Do you have a decent powersupply? i.e. What wattage is it rated at? If you need another card we need to be looking at 300 to 350w for a fairly low power card and then 400W+ for something with more oomph.

As you PC has no graphics card as is, I am wondering if its a barebones style with a 250w PSU in it. I hope I'm wrong of course.

[lewis]

I have a 450w supply and I can afford a good mid range card as far as cost goes.what do you suggest?
and thanks for the Help
Lewis

[daglesj]

Ok as its a 450W and you are developing I's say initially go for a 9600GT.

Why? Well its not too big a power draw and to be honest if you get your stuff to work nicely on a 9600 then it should work on a good range of folks machines. They dont cost a lot either so wont be a hurt to upgrade it in a while if you need more power. Easy steps so to speak.

Some folks make the mistake of making it run great on their top of the range gear then wonder why it works like crud on a average joe PC.

If you are feeling a little more daring then you could try a Geforce 9800GT/250 or a 260 but then you might be wanting to look at getting a good quality 500W+ PSU. They dont cost much more than a 9600GT.

Chances are they would run fine on a average 450W but I like to err on the side of caution. I find good quality clean power means on the whole a happy stable PC.

[daglesj]

So lewis...how have you got on?