What is the cheapest graphics card that can handle a game like new Civilizations or half life 2.?

Question

actually I would like to have one that is cheap and friendly to many new RTS GAMES.

Answer 1

Depends on which slot you have on your motherboard, if you have an AGP slot then I recommend either the Geforce 6600 with 256MB of memory or the Geforce 6600GT with 128MB of memory (the GT is faster), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814108148

If you have a PCIe slot then I can recommend either a 7300GT, http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1069609641+1067921816&Subcategory=48&description=&srchInDesc=&minPrice=&maxPrice=
or a 7600GS, http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1069609641+1067920619&Subcategory=48&description=&srchInDesc=&minPrice=&maxPrice=
or a 7600GT, http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+1069609641+1067920131&Subcategory=48&description=&srchInDesc=&minPrice=&maxPrice=

The 7300GT will cost you about $80, the 7600GS in the area of $110 and the 7600GT will be $150 and up.

Answer 2

Well I couldn't play HL2 on my 2.0GHz machine with a 64MB video card, but on upgrading to a 128MB video card - it ran perfectly.

However, it did run fine on my friends 2.2GHz machine with a 64MB video card, so try to bear in mind that you do need a good machine in terms of CPU also, to crunch this games' code. BTW, we both had 512MB RAM too, and the more the better.

Hope this helps...