My single core PIV died recently. It ran at 1.7 Ghz on 1GB RAM with integrated video. I had added a 128MB PCI nVidia FX5200 for a time I had played "2.5D" and a few 3D games, and 9 months ago replaced it with a cheap $80 nVidia GS 8400 on twice as much video RAM. That was lacking, yet better than a dual-core laptop running the same game at the same 1.7Ghz without dedicated video.
My new PC has 6GB RAM and only PCI-express ports, making my GS 8400 non-transferable to the new PC. Its quad core AMD II X4 640 at 3Ghz seems better, running around 25% load at every core in windowed mode with the little demand levels of Runes of Magic. I'd like to eventually test City of Heroes for a month or two after an absense of 3 years. Nothing more, no Crysis, StarCraft, or games that need DirectX 11 plus next years' hardware today.
I'm a very casual gamer and just kinda check fluidity of framerates and so on, and then stop playing in a week or three. City of Heroes was very demanding back on the FX5200 I had for the old PC and perhaps must have evolved to even more demands than my integrated ATI Radeon HD 4200 (1GB shared) can satisfy.
Should I pay another $80 on a current bargain card compatible with my new PC or just believe in power of the cores?
If suggesting a card, keep in mind my frequent tests with Ubuntu linux: should the purchase be nVidia, or a new ATI?
