Do I really need to upgrade, and how do I know?

Question

Ok, so heres what I know already

-My laptop is about 4 years old
-It runs fine on its own
-it has about 256 RAM, the minimum
-it has a great graphics card, a Geforece card by Nvidia, exact version unkown

Hers what I want to know.

1.Wheres the best place(And cheapest) To buy
1024 worth of RAM?
2. How do I know that my graphics card is out of date?
3. Why are a lot of games not reconizing my video card?
4. Where can I scan my video card, and get recomondations to upgrade my Video RAM?

Thanks a ton! I really hope to upgrade this laptop!

Oh, and by Upgrade, I dont mean new computer, I mean new RAM, GRaphics card...ETC.

Oh, and better yet, Im near broke, so I diont want anything really expensive, just cheap RAM, but not really cheap ram that doesnt work.

Answer 1

1. Try newegg
2. Check in dxdiag (run dxdiag).
3. Outdated driver? Outdated DirectX version? Small shared memory (<32mb)
4. Check your RAM with CPUZ. Once you have 1Gb RAM check if your integrated graphics could share more memory, say 128mb.

Answer 2

Here is a place to get RAM for SUPER cheap!! This is where I buy all mine for computer repairs:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1428330&CatId=150

Thats the one I usually buy. Here are some more:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=150

Hope this helps

Answer 3

You only need to upgrade to a new laptop if you'll be doing something that requires an upgrade - such as playing the latest games.

Try one of these: http://www.alienware.com/

Sell your old one here: http://www.ebay.com/

Answer 4

check all of your stats by going to http://www.belarc.com and using the free performance check program.

secondly, it all depends on the type of laptop you have, and the mother board, etc.

ask your friendly neignborhood nerd to help.


good luck