What Sort of Graphics Card Would I Need?

I'm hunting down a laptop and want to know what sort of graphics card would be good for the following:

Playing the Sims 2 (3) and Spore.


If it has anything to do with what kind of card would be reccomended for my laptop, I will also use it for:

School Work (Word proccessing, Power Points etc. etc.)
Video Watching (DVD's, Youtube)
Music Listening
Photo Editing
Internet Surfing

And the laptop would be using Vista Home Premium.

 

I'd say that for gamers and the like, the NVIDIA cards are the best. I can recommend three of them:

NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GT SLI. This is the absolute top-of-the-line graphics card out there now. This guy is also meant to be used in SLI laptops (with two graphics cards installed). I reckon you wouldn't need this to play games like Spore and the Sims.

NVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX. Another top-notch card. However, a laptop with this card might have a price might be out of your reach.

NVIDIA GeForce 8800M GTX. I think this card makes the most sense in your case, as it is one heck of a powerhouse, but won't break the bank on your part.

 

You'll be fine with an 8400 imo. I don't know the ATI side of things well enough to advise on its best card in your range.

 

WHOA!

Talk about overkill! Those cards are way, WAY more than you need.

For Spore and the Sims, you should be fine with an Nvidia 8400 or above/an ATI 2400 or above.

The only integrated card that I would consider for your needs would be an ATI 3200.

Also, it is important to remember, the better the card, the higher quality the games will run. I seriously doubt though that you will have trouble maxing out the games with an NVidia 8600GS/ATI 2600.

Good luck

 

Thanks everyone. This is actually making it loads easier. =)

 

Hilarious. Also very true, I read that first post and went "***"

Go for ATI 3450/3650 or Nvidia 9300/9500. Stay away from Nvidia 8400 and 8600, a lot of them have issues.