Best budget ATI graphics card

[priboi]

Hi guys, as you can see my system specs are pretty pitiful and i thought its about time i upgraded my GPU . So my question is what is the best ATI GPU on the market for around $200? Or......the best GPU (any brand) for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

[rockingmtranch]

I have an ATI Radeon HD 4800 series card that is two and a half years old and still working excellent. 1 gig memory. I play Fallout 3, Stalker. and Far Cry 2 on all highest settings.

[priboi]

Oh, im running an ATI Radeon HD 5400 with a gig of memory, it will run stalker on highest but the frame rates drop really low . Maybe i should spend my money on RAM and a new CPU? But i have heard that the ATI Radeon HD 4800 is the much better card and that my one is only an entry level card?

[rockingmtranch]

Oh, im running an ATI Radeon HD 5400 with a gig of memory, it will run stalker on highest but the frame rates drop really low . Maybe i should spend my money on RAM and a new CPU? But i have heard that the ATI Radeon HD 4800 is the much better card and that my one is only an entry level card?

I don't know about that. My other specs are: ASUS M3A79-T Deluxe Motherboard, AMD Athlon 7750 Dual-Core Processor, 8 G Ram, Creative SB X-Fi sound, and Vista 64bit Home Premium. All running stock. Air cooled. IMHO, that amount of RAM is overkill. It was just at a price I couldn't turn down at the time.

[priboi]

Ok, well I am running low on RAM, ill get another 2gb and rip out one of the old 1gb ones cause STALKER likes to max-out 2gb really quick. Im on a XP 32bit so I can only utilise 3.6gb of RAM. What else do you suggest i do?

[rockingmtranch]

Ok, well I am running low on RAM, ill get another 2gb and rip out one of the old 1gb ones cause STALKER likes to max-out 2gb really quick. Im on a XP 32bit so I can only utilise 3.6gb of RAM. What else do you suggest i do?

Wait and see what the extra ram does then go from there.

[priboi]

Yep, will do Thanks for the help