Bad framerate and connection issue

hi guys

besides some other connection problems i wanted to ask about, i got the problem that i can only play the game on a very low level of graphics:

low resolution (1440x900 or sth like that)
shadows on low, detail grahpics on medium or low depending on the map
effect on medium or high ( same as above) and antialiasing and antisotrpic almost on lowest. (AA is on lowest btw)

can it be because i only have the freakin gt 220?
cause everything in my pc seems to be awesome:
quad core (should be great righ?)
6 gigs of ram (come on thats much)
and then the fkin gt 220, is that the only reason why?

also, how much would i need to pay for a graphics card to get good graphics, like 8x AA and what graphic card do you say is better: ati or nvidia?

thx

and now for my other question:
when i hit "play now" it just fuckin desnt find any games, i can only play on games usnig the server browser with high pings and that pisses me off, so do you now a issue to THAT?

thx in advance (sorry if these have been asked before, didnt find anything )

//Tony