New computer, graphics problems..?

Question

I just bought a new computer and i can't even play ghost recon advanced war fighter on the low graphics settings - it's really choppy. Here are the specs: 4.0ghz, 1gb ram, 256 mb integrated vid card. i have the newest directx and video card driver, so i don't understand what the problem is. i tried two games, the one listed above and quake 4, and neither of them works smoothly on LOW video quality settings, i'm puzzled...

Answer 1

What's the video card? Quake 4 runs smooth on ultra with my 7600 GTS Nvidia card with 512M RAM. my old 6600 with 256 M could barely support it.

Answer 2

Here's your best answer.

1. Upgrade your memory. (Vista needs at least 2g to play games smoothly. P.S. Vista stinks.)
2. Install a new video card. You just bought a new computer so I'm sure it has a PCI-Express slot.
3. Buy a good sound card. Not only will this obviously improve your gaming experience the frames per second will improve.
4. You said it's a 4.0ghz computer I believe this is only a pentium D (I may be wrong) however, if this is the case then you will need to upgrade the processor. Installing a core 2 even the lowest end one will enable you to play games.
5. Your probably going to need a upgrade on your power supply. Most video cards nowadays require you to have at least 350watts.
6. You didnt say what kind of PC it is. So you need to check with the manufacturer to make sure you can do all of this.
7. And finally. If you just bought it you may be able to return it and make up a story of how it's all messed up. Then just buy one that is ready to go.

Sorry that this all looks depressing however, these are the cold hard truths. If you want to PC game you need to research before you buy a PC. With the games that are coming out today they (the PC's) are needing lots of upgrades.

Answer 3

Well you have to determine what's using up your resources.

Take a look at your Task Manager but don't launch any programs other than what starts at boot up. Open your task manager and see what the CPU column reflects. At the bottom you should see the System Idle using from about 70 to 98% and you should also see the Task Manager (at the top using about 5% on up to about 20% sporatically. If you don't see anything eating up your CPU then you're okay in that respect.

The next thing is to open up the Task Manager, with nothing running other that what starts at boot up. Take a look at the Mem Usage column and see what is using the most RAM.

Here's a great little tool to tell you how much RAM you currently have left. So if you have 1G and the meter indicates 575 then you know you still have 575M of RAM that isn't being used. It's called FreeRAM XP Pro and you can get it and download it at http://www.download.com

You will probably find that you need to shut off some programs that are starting at boot up. For example, I found MS Office and Adobe Acrobat included in my start up routine. Why??? These are only a couple of examples. Software companies put little .exe files in their software packages that boot up and all they do is open their program a little faster when you click on the icon to launch it. If you can wait a couple of seconds more, stop these from launching. Here's a really great little program that performs similar to msconfig but is much better. It's called Autoruns and it's now owned by Microsoft and it's FREE.

Get it here. The download link is way down at the bottom of the page.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/utilities/Autoruns.mspx

Another really good program to have is Process Explorer. It is similar to the Task Manager but gives you lots more info and you can see what those ".exe" files are associated with. It is also now owned by Microsoft and again this is FREE also.
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Utilities/ProcessExplorer.mspx

Additionally, Defrag your hard drive at least weekly if not more. Click on Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > System Defrag This may take some time so launch it and walk away for a couple of hours.

These things will all help your PC to run more efficiently. Run your antivirus, Spyware, registry cleaner, and something like CCleaner regularly. A PC is like a sports car... if you don't maintain it.... it ain't gonna run to good.

Hope this helps. Good Luck!!!

Answer 4

You suggested some computing device video games, it would nicely be the challenge with the video games itself, Neways if u imagine it is a issue in you computing device .. And in case you've been in a position to play an same video games high quality till you could now attempt Uninstalling and reinstalling the exhibit adaptors from device manager (to get the device manager press residing house windows key +pause spoil key -> pass to hardware tab and then click on device manager). many of the adaptors will be quickly put in once you restart the computing device. even if till now you do this ensure you've the drivers for the adaptor if required. If this didnt make certain, attempt to improve the video card.... Raj Microsoft

Answer 5

256 is shared or on chip? I would say to get a better video card in that thing. It would run much better on a card with 512 GDDR2 or better.

Answer 6

Update DirectX
Check for Game Updates

If your still having issues, let me know and I will read up more in that issue

Answer 7

what os?
vista needs 2gb min
esp for that game
ya get a pcie card too

Answer 8

get away from intergrated. Get a dedicated PCIexpress or 8x AGP card.