Knowledge about various Graphics cards

[red_satellite]

Hi All,
I am new to Graphics card & computer games.Previously I was happy with Games like project IGI I & II along with Max Payne I & II as well. However nowadays I am planning to play games that requires graphics card. I want to know who is the best manufacturer of Graphics Card & how to understand the series of them.As I recently bought a card from NVIDIA Gainward GT 520 2GB DDR3 & still while playing Call Of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, the entire game is moving slow or better to say using FRAPS I found numbers to be as low as 5-7 during the game's progress.Whereas, by relative is using NVIDIA Forsa GT440 & on his computer that game goes perfect.
Here's my system's config:

Intel Core 2 duo E6850 3.0 ghz CPU
Intel DG 31 PR Mother Board
4 GB DDR2 RAM
450 Watt PSU
660 GB (160 GB+ 500GB) HDDs
Dell S2240M 22'' LED Monitor
NVIDIA 2GB DDR3 Geforce Gainward GT 520
Win 7 Ultimate 32 Bit.

Also I would like to add to the fact that I also ended up with a problem with sound after I installed that graphics card on my 4 yr old system.Whenever I play any .mp3 file & surf online, I find the sound to crack or popping sound during the track.
Here's what I tried:
1) Updated NVIDIA drivers
2) Used NVIDIA sound drivers only to play audio after uninstalling Realtek (Previous Default version)
3) Uninstalled NVIDIA Sound Driver & used Realtek Sound drivers only.
4) Connected VGA to Motherboard & tried playing audio
5) Connected VGA to Graphics Card & played audio.

Results were interesting.
All the steps mentioned till point no 3 failed,however when I connected VGA to Motherboard, sound was perfect without any crackling sound but I was unable to play the game.Also I found that the total usable memory was different (RIGHT CLICK MY COMPUTER & GOTO PROPERTIES-SYSTEM-INSTALLED MEMORY) to what it showed after I connected it back to the Graphics Card.

Please help as I am quite new to this..............
Thanking in advance to all who goes through this thread....Need desperate help

$oumik

 

[xbizzaroz]

well you have two companies who make video cards: AMD or Nvidia. Nvidia cards typically perform better than AMD cards in the same price range. in regards to the series ill use your card for an example. the 520, series 500, model 20 is a lower end card that will not perform as well as a 430. budget cards that give good performance in my opinion is the 50's models. a 550 will do good but you could definitely go with a 650, 650 ti, or a 750. these cards will allow you to play many games (not all at ultra graphics of course, but some). but to solve your sound problem have you tried other speakers? (sorry if that sounds dumb) if not it could be the board not accepting the card's audio possibly. hope this helps. if you'd like to know a little about AMD let me know but because you have intel inside your machine i recommend nvidia cards.

 

[xbizzaroz]

heres what a 750 could do for you. http://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gtx-750/performance

 

[red_satellite]

Thanks Bro for your Information. However I forgot to mention that earlier I used to have Dual Core 1st Gen 2.0 CPU.Recently after upgrading my CPU to Core 2Duo 3.0, the sound problem disappeared automatically & this time I am only using Realtek sound Driver for my 5.1 speaker system.

Also I would like to ask you all that when I went to a website (www.systemrequirementslab.com/) to check compatibility on certain games, specially COD4, that website showed that my system is way too far ahead for the COD 4 game & all hardware components were way too higher that is present on my PC that is required under recommended configuration.
Also this sounds quite confusing that NVIDIA GT 440 is a better card compared to GT 520 as GT 520 seems to be from a new series & hence it should have been more upto date & advanced.....



Please help

 

[xbizzaroz]

if you think about it, its easier to keep it short and sweet that way you don't have an nvidia gtx 1205901839 model graphic card haha (super exaggeration). this way people can relate easily when you say "i have a 650" they'll think -oh you have a somewhat budget card but still does the job well-. again, that chart i provided says it all. to solve your problem just upgrade the graphics. the 50's series are good budget cards so look into that.