Complete Noob to graffics cards

[mikeeegeee]

I haven't bought a new video card since like 2000 and at that point in time it was a Geforce 4 ti-4200.

What I'm asking you guys to do is:
can you please list graphics cards by ATI and by Nvidia that are BETTER (only better) than the Ti4200 and maybe a price range for each of them? I'm looking to upgrade, have no idea what to get, and I plan on keeping this new card for a while for things such as HL2 and upcoming high end games. I plan on getting Farcry for my birthday in a month, so I want something that'll run that nice. Currently I run HL2 on just about all medium settings. I'd like to run them on high or better, so if someone could make some sort of master list (including both ATI and Nvidia cards and their relative prices) that'd be great, because then I could maybe sell the Ti4200 and pick up something better.

[LoneStrider]

i have a feeling you got to bed and woke up 5 years later. B)

[Knut]

Sounds like work to me.
Look here for a start;
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/articl...cle.php/3468531
At some point your CPU may become a bottleneck.
A 9800 XT should give some life to your PC 'for awhile'.

*edit*
Well just for kicks i did a search on 9800XT prices.
And wow the prices are still high.
I paid less for my 6800 GT than the prices I've found for the 9800 XT.
You may be able to find a 9800 Pro 128 or 256MB at a decent price.