I don't think I've ever been burned by Amazon ever. I've had to but at least 300 things off there. You might have a better shot asking people at the other side of the pond since most people around here use amazon/newegg/and I forget the Canadian site

Well I can still ask for what will and won't give me the performance I want, that's the bit I don't know. It's easy enough to throw suggestions into google shopping and compare the numbers with

Ncix is also good

Save up for a 6670 or a 7770 if you want bang for the buck. I'm not sure exactly how much the new GPU will benefit you, as your CPU is quite low-end and TF2 is much more affected by CPU than GPU. Amazon UK is fine.

Really? Didn't think it was that low end, but I thought I'd left TF2 forever when I bought this PC so oh well. :/
And it's not a matter of saving up, it's a matter of total cost and a need to be frugal. Put together, I get the feeling I'd be better not bothering and saving my money for something more useful.

it's good

Well I know I average 56 fps right now on the source SDK base 2013, and it's a similar story for regular tf2, though many spots in maps are noticeably higher or lower, even without looking at the fps counter. At the moment I regularly drop below 40 or 30 fps I'm being knocked about or in a particular part of the map, and I want that to end, and I was sure that improving on my integrated intel 256mb graphics would help there.

Edit: I also have other minor reasons, like ubuntu 12.10 not recognising the chip and using a generic driver, which sometimes causes other annoyances, but it's hard to justify blowing

If you're running Linux, Get an nVidia card. I cannot stress that enough. nVs Linux driver quality far surpasses AMDs, with the nV driver actually making my TF2 FASTER under Linux Mint then on Windows. AMD Radeon drivers, however, and known to be slow. If you want graphics speed on Linux, nVidia is your only viable option.

Edit: did some looking, your best bet would be (warning: american sites) the GT 630, its a liiiittle over your budget I think but it would be worth it. If you can manage to jump a bit higher, theres the GT 640 as well.

Edit: On further research, I would NOT suggest the GT 630, it is an incredibly nerfed card, and is in fact a rebranded GT 440.

I've heard their proprietary drivers are the best, but they're a PITA and are evil, but OK. Recommend me an nvidia card, because when I tried to look at the low end nvidia range with a friend we got confused as shit.

Edit: Also he remembered that there used to be this amd are bang for buck whilst nvidia are reliable and give support but have overheat issues. But it's been like 3 years since either of us looked at this stuff. Also, I remember that post about L4D2 running at 200fps solid under linux when it ran at <100 on the same gear under windows. What happened to that blog?

The proprietary drivers are, by leaps and bounds, better in performance. They're not a pain at all though, in both Ubuntu and Linux Mint, simply look for "Device Drivers" in the system menu, and when the card is installed it will have a one click selection for installation.

The sad part about this in general though, is that when it comes to GPUs AMD has better low end and nV has better high end. The nV low end, low price point cards do lag behind the AMD ones, but in Linux you will lag behind more so with AMDs poor Linux support, so the cards I listed above are your best shot.

EDIT: I went and looked up some more reviews on the GT 630....I can NOT suggest that card. It is just a rebranded GT 440, and a very poor performer, even under the Linux drivers. I'm afraid you're likely not going to get anything but shit for your price range. The GT 640 however does show more promise, and is a proper 6 series card using the Kepler core.

There's a few that catch my eye between

Read my above edit. I can not in good conscience recommend the GT 630 or anything below that. They are all incredibly over gimped, even for their price point. I would heavily suggest saving a few bucks and getting a GT 640, still a low end card but one that actually performs and remains cool. The 630, despite being a lower end part, actually eats more power and produces noticeably more heat then the 640, because it is in fact a 4 Series card, the GT 440, just rebranded.

With all that said...if you absolutely, 100% can not under no circumstances pay the extra 20 or so for the 640, the 630 is all you have, and its not a good option.

We keep editing over each other :D

TBH I'd completely forgotten that you don't get twice or half the performance as you double or half your budget away from the mid-range, with cpus or gpus. I remember this now, in fact memory is just about the only thing in the PC market that has this kind of linearity.

I guess I can justify going up to

To be honest, no matter what you do, you'll need to upgrade in a year or twos time. Thats just how technology works. With that in mind, you will get more mileage (kilometerage? that just doesn't sound right, damn brits) out of the 640.

EDIT: Another thing! When looking for a card, ALWAYS pick a card that uses GDDR5 over DDR3, faster ram = more frames, better performance by a noticeable margin.

You'd be surprised, my brother was happy with with his dell e3100 until last year, but then he only needed facebook and MS word and when I went back to my netbook after trying this, I'd already tasted the fruit and the netbook tasted bitter.

I have another PC back home that still feels fine to use after 4 years; mid-range intel core2duo, 4GB, GTS8800, chugs along fine, but then I don't play tf2 on it. Maybe I should've grabbed that back from my parents this year rather than blow

Well I'm a bit of a performance addict, so my opinion on upgrading my be bias! But yeah, I would heavily suggest the GT 640 over the 630, the performance increase for the price is reason enough. With it, the only real limiting factor should be your CPU, but thats a tale for another day. You should get 66 fps just fine. With the 630....its questionable.

I get that the 640 is the one and only card for me, but now it's back to considering everything else and either spending

nVidia is....not known for their price drops, but yeah, in general thats true. Either way, good luck!