Upgrading Graphics Card

I am running all graphics on max using an EVGA GeForce 6600 256MB 8X AGP card. I used it to upgrade my 3yr old Dell 1.8GHz 1Gb RAM PC. It is driving my Dell 1905FP flat panel at 1280x1024. I bought if from Newegg.com for under $150 (I think). It should be cheaper now. If your machine is newer than mine, you probably need a PCI-Express card vice an AGP. You can get a GeForce 6800 for about $200. I suggest you check out the the reviews on PCworld.com. Go REVIEWS-->Graphics Cards. They have three charts were cars are grouped as Entry Level, Mid-grade, and Big Bucks. (I forget the exact names.) Good hunting!!

I have an EVGA with the GeForce 6800 GS and it works great for this game. They make a factory overclocked version, which is the one I have, that is even a bit faster than the standard, and you don't have to worry about overclocking it yourself. Mine also has the copper heatsink, and it never overheats. So mine is the '6800 GS CO SE Edition' card.

GC2 does not seem to like it when users overclock through the driver software, but the factory overclocked version works just fine.

Plus, in this months PCWorld they rated the 6800 GS as the best mid-range chip. The standard EVGA card came in a close second on speed, but was rated the best overall.

Can you elaborate on "working great" ? when you have 5-6 fleets on your screen all ships with jewelry its still ok ? if your playing a gigantic galx with 9 opponents ? im asking thes becouse im upgrading my pc soon and im looking for something that will let me play on gigantic galaxies with 9 opponents haha i cant wait to see the performance jump from fx5200 to 6800 or 7600

I get smooth to fairly smooth battles, depending on the number and complexity of ships. I use the Klingon ships a lot. Sometimes I will have 6-8 of the large cruisers in my fleet, along with a dozen or so smaller troop carriers in with them. The enemy fleets will get up to 13-15 ships as well. It will slow down a bit in the first rounds of those battles, but not too badly.

Overall, the gameplay is smooth with a good framerate. I get 70-75 in the shipyard, 30-59 or so (depending if I am using the mouse to move around or just sitting watching the ships float there) in the zoomed in map views, generally 25-40 in the combat viewer. Those are tested results, not guesses.

I normally play on the huge map with 6-8 opponents.

I just did a new test in the combat viewer.
6 of the large Klingon Negh'Var warships vs 19 Iconian ships.

The results varied because I was experimenting with the Throttle Framerate and AA setings.
Unchecking Throttle Framerate yeilded maybe 1-2 more fps overall.
The funny thing was with the AA setting.
I had it set for 2x, and was ending up with 18.5fps (1280x1024 res)
When I set it to 4x it actually went up to 25fps.

Guess I'll keep the 4x AA, since it both looks better and is a good deal faster.