Maxing out Sims 3 Graphics

[Roboevil]

No idea if this is in the right place, don't care.

Here's my specs atm right.

dual processor ~2.8GHz
2048MB Ram
Vista
yh dunno what else is helpful

My graphics card is:

ATI Radeon Hd 2600 xt
Internal DAC (400 MHz)
memory 1024MB (I have no idea what that is, dunno if I'm even reading it right).

Right, if I got a new graphics card, a really good one, would it make the Sims 3 go really awesome? I wouldn't need any extra ram or a new processor or anything?
Also, I don't want to be spending £250 on a graphics card, I was expecting ~£100. If it's not worth upgrading, is it worth me just getting a new PC?

THANKS!!!

Oh also, how do I find out what cards are compatible? Or how do I know if my PC is upgradeable, my last one wasn't.

[Recursion]

I have an Nvidia 8800GT and The Sims 3 definatly uses it, I can hear the fan getting quite a bit louder.

I think it would make quite a big difference, 9800GTs infact are quite cheap nowadays.

You would need to run GPU-Z to see if your current card is PCI-E or AGP, then you would need to find out how much power your PSU can handle (look on the sticker on the power supply inside).

[Roboevil]

Well I ended up getting the GeForce 9500, it's a 350w required GFX card, and my power unit is only 250w, it was only £50. I didn't want to spend £100 on a 400w card that made my PC shut off lol.

The graphics haven't dramatically improved, my old Radeon was pretty good... but the frame rate has improved a lot and it runs a lot smoother. Thanks a lot, rep.

[Metric1]

iNtEl MeDiA AcCeLeRaToR FtW


LOL, I need to upgrade before I get The Sims 3