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"Graphics card question?"

My girlfriend bought a pc for word processing and surfing, so the specs are a poor:


1000 processor
128RAM
Windows XP
and the graphics card is a Intel display adapter

I'm looking to buy a new graphics card, to play todays new games like battlefield 1942, and classics like medal of honour.

I'm also hooked up to broadband, so am looking at online gaming aswell.

1st Question: is the processor and ram up to running todays games? if not (and i suspect the ram is not) what do you recommend?

2nd: What card do you recommend? I only has a PCI slot, and i'm limited to cash (£100 max) I know i'm askin alot.

I have seen this card:

64MB PCI NVidia GeForce2 MX400 128-bit SDRAM

for £50 new

Is this a good deal for me?

Thanks for all your help guys.

Cheers

Mark

Thanks everyone for your help.

I've gone for the 64MB Gforce2 mx400 as pci is my only option, and an extra 256RAM as it's really cheap at min.

"32mb video card" is staggeringly meaningless. I have a 64mb GF2 mx200. It has twice as much video memory as my 32mb GF2 mx400, but is noticeabley slower. There is a huge variation in speeds of modern graphics cards, and very little is to do with the memory. I have a 64mb GF3 Ti500 in this box now - 64mb, same as my old mx200, but the performance difference is massive...Focus on the chipset more than the amount of ram on it.

Anyway, as for the questions...Yes, definately get more RAM - recommended may be 128mb, but it depends on what's in the background, what OS you're using, and how efficiently the game uses the memory available. I'd recommend an extra 128mb at least, 256mb if possible. As for graphics card, if PCI's your only option, that GF2's about the best you're going to find. It'll last a while, still does well for a rather ageing card, but it's true that you'll have to run games on lower detail; partly because it's PCI and not AGP, and thus immediately slower than an equivalent AGP card, and also because the GF2mx chipset is now very much at the budget end of the range - hence £50. It'll do what you want, play games, but getting the best graphics possible always costs..Looking at a new mobo at least.

it's more to do with the graphix card than your processor etc...
i had a gf2 mx before....and then switched to a gf4...
and some more recent games ran pretty pretty jerkily when i tried to put up the detail etc

beanz wrote:
> it should be fine....for now...
> it'll run games fine (on lower detail of course)

Why lower detail?

recommended specs of most new games are:

700 MHz
128 RAM
32MB card

Example, mafia:

Recommended Hardware Requirements: 700+MHz PENTIUM III or AMD Athlon processor, 128+ MB of RAM, 32x CD / DVD ROM drive, 1.8 GB of free hard drive space, 32+ MB video card with DirectX 8.1 compatible drivers, DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card, keyboard, mouse

I'll have BETTER than reccomended!!!

it should be fine....for now...
it'll run games fine (on lower detail of course)

Ingenium Bartender wrote:
> No harm in overdoing the RAM. I'd say clock yourself another 256mb
> since it's so damn cheap.
>
> Other than that, a decent GeForce III, or a carefully chosen GeForce
> IV will easilly suit you for graphics for at least a year.


Afraid those cards push cash up too much.

I've worked out i can upgrade to 384 RAM and 64MB gforce 2 card, with my 1000 processor, all for £75 delivered.

I hope that will last a while, what you guys thing of it?

No harm in overdoing the RAM. I'd say clock yourself another 256mb since it's so damn cheap.

Other than that, a decent GeForce III, or a carefully chosen GeForce IV will easilly suit you for graphics for at least a year.

what type of ram is it? sd, ddr, rd??
i think at the moment 128mb ram might be fine....but upgrading it won't harm you either!

Little Hobbo wrote:
> That's an ideal card for you. It will last you for the next year or
> so in modern games easily.
> But if you want something a little more future-proof, you may just be
> able to find a geForce 3 Ti around for £100 or maybe a little
> more. That'll last you a lot longer.

Thanks

What about RAM, do i need maybe another 128 ram? Will it speed up the games significantly?

That's an ideal card for you. It will last you for the next year or so in modern games easily.
But if you want something a little more future-proof, you may just be able to find a geForce 3 Ti around for £100 or maybe a little more. That'll last you a lot longer.