How do I go about deciding what brand graphics card to shop for.

I have never really been into PC gaming so I have never learned much about graphics tech. The onboard vga has always been good for me. But now I bought a HD LCD and would like to do some gaming. So where do I start?

I know there are some very expensive models out there and some cheep ones too. I don't mind spending money on a quality product (within reason).

1st of all, you need to know what upgrade slot you have available. If the following link is the correct one for your system, you have a PCI-e x16 slot:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/e...

Then you need to decide how much you're willing to spend. It would help to know what games you wanna be able to play.

This article should be helpful, but prices have changed somewhat since it was written:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/03...

Here's a decent card that won't burn a hole in your wallet:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...

This interactive chart will allow you to do comparisons:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graph...

Whats your budget. Seen the 8600GT in action its not that bad (lots of people trash it) it can play crysis on low without any lag and meduim with a bit though. But then thats if your planning on playing newer games. Which games are you planning on playing

8600 and 8800 are good.

Whats the diffenence between 8600GT and 8600GTS?
Also There are several different brands of the 8600's like BFG and PNY. What's that about. Or more to the point what "Brand" is better if any. Or are they all the same?