i think the last time I actually built a pc was in 04 when I got HL2 and my steam account. 3GHz P4, 2gb ram, and a ATi AIW 9600XT. was decently fast for the time.
my current 2.4ghz quad core 16gb ram pc only has a HD3650, but it seems mostly powerful enough. hl2 and gmod run in full 1080 and 100+ fps steady MW2, MW3, Skyrim, Mass Effect a 1+2 and black ops all run at steady 40-60 at 1280x720 max settings no AA
I want to run these games at full 1080 (native to my monitor) and no AA (not a huge fan and i find it requires more expensive cards) and be future proofed for mass effect 3 and some other games coming soon.
what would be a wise investment for under 150$? thats the most i can see myself spending on a card.
im sure nothing else in my PC is a bottleneck, even the PSU is rated much higher than what its used for
720p stretched to a 1080 monitor looks like shit. -__-