good video card for the price?

Says you. I got my MSI 4870 for 2100 Taiwanese dollars.

 

Good luck with whatever you buy!

Now now, we're talking MSRP. No cheating.

 

Enjoy the purchase, I'm sure you'll be happy with the 4830 especially over integrated graphics.

 

I don't think you'd need it. If you live in a hot area, maybe. But the stock fan is fine.

 

Heres a great place to go shopping for one. Some good deals here.

 

If you look at the spec, the 4850 has faster speeds but also a higher watt demand. You also need to conect extra power for the 4850. See specs below.

GPU/VPU: RADEON HD 4830

RAMDAC: 400 MHz

Additional Features: HDCP Enabled
DirectX 10
CrossFireX Ready
Game Physics Capable
Shader Model 4.0, ATI Avivo HD Technology

Video Memory: 512MB

Memory Type: GDDR3

Memory Interface: 256-bit

Core Clock: 575 MHz

Memory Clock: 1800 MHz

Interface Type: PCI Express 2.0

Interface Speed: x16

Connector(s): TV/S-Video
Dual DVI (Dual Link)


GPU/VPU: RADEON HD 4850

RAMDAC: Dual 400 MHz

Additional Features: HDCP Enabled
OpenGL 2.1
PCI Express 2.0
DirectX 10.1
CrossFireX Ready
Game Physics Capable
Shader Model 4.0, ATI Avivo HD Technology

Video Memory: 512MB

Memory Type: GDDR3

Memory Interface: 256-bit

Stream Processors: 800

Core Clock: 625 MHz

Memory Clock: 993 MHz

Memory Bandwidth: 147.0GB/sec.

Interface Type: PCI Express 2.0

Interface Speed: x16

Connector(s): Video Out
Dual DVI (Dual Link)

Multiple Monitors Support: Yes

Max. Monitors Supported: 2

Operating Systems: Windows® XP
Windows Vista
32 and 64 bit Compatible

RAM: 1024MB

Power Requirement: One 6-pin PCIe Power Connector, 450-Watt power supply

 

Both cards are very nice, and you would not go wrong with ether one, I would get the 4850 if your system can handle it.

 

Using the car analogy again, the amount of horsepower under the hood. The 4830 is a budget card, so in order to achieve the lower price point, ATi removed things such as stream processors and reduced the memory bandwidth to make the card cheaper to produce.

You can overclock the 4830 to near-4850 levels, however you're still missing some crucial hardware that makes the 4850 a superior card. Put it this way: if the 4830 and 4850 were roads, the 4830 would be a 2-lane road and the 4850 would be a 6-lane road.

Again, I don't think you have the CPU power necessary to make the 4850 a viable option. Ferrari in rush hour.

 

300W is fairly low, yes. It sounds like your PC manufacturer selected something that was just enough, without any headroom for future expansion.

At this point you should ask yourself how much you want to play the PC version of Oblivion, as you could get a gaming console like the Xbox 360 for $300 and just play Oblivion on there. The cost of the Xbox 360 is definitely less than the price of the components you'd need to buy, not to mention the time spent assembling the system. (Or the labor costs incurred if you have a local shop build the PC for you.)

 

To replace the current power supply, you would have to physically remove every power cable in your PC, remove the power supply itself, then replace it with the new unit you purchased, then re-attach all of the power cables. It's a time consuming process, and you do NOT want to cheap out on a PSU. You'll want to go with a good brand like Corsair, BFG, PC Power & Supply, or Antec.

It's easier to simply get a refund on your purchase of the PC version and get a 360 + Oblivion.

 

Time consuming, both in terms of replacing the power supply and in terms of clearing cable clutter.

Who recommended it to you?

 

Should be fine for what you want to do, then. I certainly can't think of any better alternatives.

Give it a shot and let us know how it goes.

 

It should automatically deduct the price of the game from your basket with a separate notation.

 

It should load up fine. No guarantees about performance, but it should be playable.