Hey guys I am looking to buy a graphics card (200-300)$ which can at least last me for the next four year and be able to play all the current games at high settings now(I hope that later games will be playable at medium settings at least).

Also currently I have a laptop. So should I upgrade(buy new) my laptop with a better graphics card or build a desktop system(very tedious to manage for a college student ).

So yeah I would love to hear your opinions on the best way to experience new games at good settings such that maximum visual pleasure is achieved. Laptop upgrade or Desktop? And which graphics card fits my budget?

Waiting for your replies

I don't think there's any laptops that will truly play well at max settings on recent games for a reasonable price. For the price you'd pay to get a new laptop capable of that, you'd build an absolutely awesome desktop pc. Upgrading your laptop's GPU is also a bad idea imo. It's difficult, expensive, and you'd just be prolonging an old system's life. Best to go with all new hardware IMO.

My personal suggestion for GPUs that'll play at mostly maxed out settings for now would be the GTX 560 Ti, GTX 560 Ti 448 core, Radeon HD 6950, Radeon HD 6970, GTX 570, GTX 480 (if you can find it for $200-$250), etc. The rest of your system should be along the lines of a 2500K, Z68 motherboard, 8GB RAM, etc in order to get the most performance. If you're looking to play games at completely maxed out settings, your best bet is a GTX 580 or a 590 if you have the money. Those would probably last longer than the aforementioned cards, simply because they'd become outdated more slowly.

All of this is assuming you only want a single card solution (590 is dual GPU, single card). You'd probably get better price to performance ratio out of going dual card or better.

Well, you could get more power out of a desktop build for cheaper, but since you're at college you may want to have something portable that you can take with you anywhere. I'm gonna second Ivy on the Radeon 6950 and GTX570, though you may get slightly more power out of a 460 or 470 SLI configuration for a bit over 300, those pretty much the best single cards you're gonna get for your budget.

Not mine. You can get a very nice laptop for around $1100. A G73S will play just about any game out right now maxed (if you have it plugged in) without overheating. It's a big laptop, but it's powerful. I play BF3 maxed with a steady 20 fps, but there are better models that will get you more in the $1200 - $1300+ range. You could build a better desktop for the price though and unless portable gaming is your thing, go with the desktop.

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Alrighty then

Nothing's going to last you four years, so I'd just get a GTX 560 Ti and upgrade next year if you can to the next generation of video cards. Can't wait until the new consoles are out, there will be a push for heavily increased PC graphics around that time.

20 FPS is far too low to do any serious gaming. That might work for games that don't rely on reaction speed or anything like that (such as an RPG etc) but a fast paced FPS is going to demand at LEAST 30 FPS, preferably 45+, 60 steady ideally.

yes, I'm aware of what ideal game frame rates are. I play it fine at 20 fps, I'm not the best player, but I do pretty well for myself. There are better versions of the g73s, not called that though, with better hardware that would almost definitely get twice the framerate.

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Alrighty then

GTX560's hands down!
Get a DUAL SLI Configured...
you'll be able to play any game no problems..
Expect the Processers and Ram part.

Thanks guys for clearing things up. I will probably start building a desktop next year. I will try to build a micro-tower so that it does not take too much space and easy to store. Would probably wait for Ivy Bridge processors and cheaper SSD/HDD hybrid. Any thing else you guys recommend for Desktop? I will buy a keyboard and already have a gaming mouse VoodooDNA. Good speakers too if you have any suggestions.

And oh btw my budget for a new rig is 1000$ for the whole system excluding the monitor.

How can you even enjoy looking at the game if its at 20fps?
Playing any game below 30fps makes me cry.

Depends on the game.

Red Faction Armageddon looks fine at 20fps. Whilst skyrim doesn't. Some games just look better then others at low FPS.