Graphics card update?

Question

I've suffered with an Intel 82915g graphics chipset long enough. Every single game I try to play just leaves me frustrated. I'm tired of using apps like 3danalyze and turning the graphics settings on some of the latest games down to the absolute minimum.

I need a new card. I want to play games like Oblivion, The Witcher and Crysis on MAX settings without a hint of graphical issues.

Give me some cards guys, I am a complete idiot when it comes to this kind of thing and am terrified I'll accidentally buy something that's even worse then what I already have. I'm not a tech guy at all, I told you what I'm looking for, can you help?

True, anything would really be an improvement over what I have now I guess. I also had no idea that games like Crysis would be so demanding even on the newest and best of cards.

CPU-Z says that my Motherboard is a Goldfish3 model (I never knew that). It's a pretty decent PC other than the card. Pentium 4 3.0ghz processor, 1056 mb RAM. It's a newer PC, it's just not made for gaming.

Even if I can't run everything on max settings that is fine, But I would like to be able to enjoy the games more than I am now.

Thanks for all the help so far :D

Answer 1

First, you have an onboard video card, so you can't possibly buy something worse. (I suppose you could if you bought something from 3 years ago, but nothing new now would be worse.)

You have a problem. You need a new video card, but we don't know what video upgrades will work in your machine. Download CPUz and tell us what motherboard you have. Once we know what Video bus is on your PC, we can suggest a card. (download link is in the upper left hand corner.) Don't start a new thread, I won't see it. Come back to this one and edit it.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

EDIT: You didn't give me any usable information, so I have to guess. (motherboard model number, AGP vs PCIe, etc) If my memory serves, the 875 was the last intel chipset to support AGP. The 915 and newer all supported PCIe. The question is does your motherboard actually have the PCIe slot? If I had a model number I could look it up, but I don't.

If you ever figure out if you have a PCIe slot and you do, get the 3850 for a cheap upgrade. (~$180) If you have the dough, get the 8800GT. (~$280) If the 3850 is to expensive, get the 2600XT or the x1950pro. Both of those cards should be around $100.

Answer 2

That's an onboard graphic driver, it's not meant to play modern 3D games

You said Crysis? That game, even with a GeForce 8800GT or 8800GTX, it doesn't do too well with all its setting max out.

Maybe a GeForce 8800 Ultra will do the job, but that's the most expensive graphic card on the planet Earth.

Just though you should know. Anyway, GeForce 8800GT is quite a good card for its price. Maybe you cant play everything at max and high resolution but you can actually play those games out there, with very good quality settings.

Just keep in mind together with that, you need a good CPU as well.

Answer 3

a) integrated graphics on motherboards are not meant for 3D gaming.
b) prices on vid cards you'd want to look at range from $100 to $600. the lower end you'll still have to dumb down oblivion but it will look still look great .. a good deal better than onboard vid anyway if that's what you're used to.

look at sites like anandtech.com and sharkeyextreme.com and tomshardware.com. sharky and anand have periodic video card roundups (also look at the budget/dream buyer's guides on these sites as they'll give you some reference as to what card has what power, along with game and other app 3d performance benchmarks). and tom's sometimes will have a large vid card roundup, but they do this 1/2 times per year and sporadically so might come up dry there.

in general, best bang/buck is 4ish generations behind the cutting-edge cards. more than enough power to run any game for 1-2 years into the future (assuming decent RAM/CPU aren't lacking), not gonna break the bank. $150-$200 range is a good ballpark, since you mentioned oblivion (this is maybe the single most gpu intensive hog recently released, however .. if you get a card that can run obliv ok, it can run anything for the next few years w/out breaking a sweat .. the vast majority of games need nothing like the kind of power obliv need to even run in 'medium').

last .. don't go to places like best buy, compusa, circuit city, etc. find a mom/pop shop in your area, and tell them you want an OEM (original equipment, manufacturer) vid card of . this will cost you maybe $30 more over ordering on the 'net with the added advantage of being able to return it to a local shop instead of fighting someone by phone. downside is that you don't get the included obsolete games included in a boxed bundle which you don't care about anyway. for a computer part you'll use for the next couple of years, the added price is trivial

Answer 4

lol. Honey, a grpahics card is a actual compnent of a working laptop or workstation, which for sure skill in case you open the area panel of the workstation you will discover the cardboard. So no you cant acquire the cardboard from the internet yet u could desire to purchase one from the internet. Ebay is often good cuz they sell direct from the wholesaleers. It relies upon because of the fact grpahics enjoying cards run a three distinctive interfaces, PCI, AGP and PCI-e. PCI-e being the main modern-day, im guessing you probable dont have it if u opt to enhance. in case you computrer is two-3 yeras previous then seek for an AGP slot card if its 4-5-6-7 years previous seek for a pci card. all could be stumbled on on ebay :)

Answer 5

Hi

The two best video Graphics Cards Out there are Nvidia and ATI www.Nvidia.com and ATI.com usually your near by computer shop have these two models available I don't what city your from but try pcclub.com and get some expert advise from the tech at that shop. Hope I helped you out

Answer 6

Crysis is a true testing ground. Even dual SLi'd 8800's can run Crysis medium at most.