As a professional geek and longtime gamer, this is a subject near and dear to my heart. RAM upgrades will get you more overall bang for your buck as long as you're under 4 gigabytes, but a graphics card will really make a gaming PC shine.
The things to consider when choosing a graphics card are what you're playing and how big your computer's power supply is. Since you can pull a card and put it in a new computer very easily, this is one of those upgrades that you should go as good as you have budget for every time you look at it. Often you can get a really good card and have it last for a couple of years.
What you're playing will tell you what tier of card you want to look at. If you're playing basic stuff on Facebook or feeding your solitaire addiction, then a lower-end card will serve you quite well. For older MMO's like World of Warcraft or anything in the Everquest series, a mid-range card would do pretty well. Final Fantasy 14, on the other hand, is a VERY pretty game with all the latest bells and whistles. You'll want to push the limits and get a mid-to-high end card to really get the most out of it.
The other thing to consider is your computer's power supply. Most "stock" computers come with a 250 to 400 watt power supply these days, with the lower supplies being VERY common on the cheap end. Most mid to high end cards suggest power supplies of about 400 to 500 watts total, and if you're working with multiple graphics cards then you should be starting about 800 watts or more. The reason for this is to give your system enough juice to run the card without having to strain the power supply. Having done this once because I thought I had a bigger power supply than I did, it causes all kinds of frustrating little problems as various things need power and don't get it.
So if you're upgrading your graphics card for something other than basic Facebook flash games? Expect to budget an extra $40-60 for a new power supply as well. And whatever the install costs for it are if you're not doing it yourself.
The specific brand of card you get for the most part these days doesn't matter, although I prefer NVidia cards for their better driver support for new games. However, for the vast majority of people you can get similar performance for each brand of card in about the same cost point.
The things to consider when choosing a graphics card are what you're playing and how big your computer's power supply is. Since you can pull a card and put it in a new computer very easily, this is one of those upgrades that you should go as good as you have budget for every time you look at it. Often you can get a really good card and have it last for a couple of years.
What you're playing will tell you what tier of card you want to look at. If you're playing basic stuff on Facebook or feeding your solitaire addiction, then a lower-end card will serve you quite well. For older MMO's like World of Warcraft or anything in the Everquest series, a mid-range card would do pretty well. Final Fantasy 14, on the other hand, is a VERY pretty game with all the latest bells and whistles. You'll want to push the limits and get a mid-to-high end card to really get the most out of it.
The other thing to consider is your computer's power supply. Most "stock" computers come with a 250 to 400 watt power supply these days, with the lower supplies being VERY common on the cheap end. Most mid to high end cards suggest power supplies of about 400 to 500 watts total, and if you're working with multiple graphics cards then you should be starting about 800 watts or more. The reason for this is to give your system enough juice to run the card without having to strain the power supply. Having done this once because I thought I had a bigger power supply than I did, it causes all kinds of frustrating little problems as various things need power and don't get it.
So if you're upgrading your graphics card for something other than basic Facebook flash games? Expect to budget an extra $40-60 for a new power supply as well. And whatever the install costs for it are if you're not doing it yourself.
The specific brand of card you get for the most part these days doesn't matter, although I prefer NVidia cards for their better driver support for new games. However, for the vast majority of people you can get similar performance for each brand of card in about the same cost point.
