Video Card questions

[User Name?]

Okay, so here is the deal

I have convinced my grandfather that he shall sponsor me this christmas with 4000 SEK(about 500 USD) when buying a computer. The only thing is, i have been looking for computers on the web, and i basicly understand everything except for video cards.

So, the first question is, does the memory of the video card make much difference to the graphics?

Secondly, is 256MB much memory for a video card?

Oh, and before you answer the questions, im not trying to buy a super computer, since i will spend about 600-700 USD or so on it. The only games that im looking forward to playing on it might be Crysis and Starcraft 2, so if you can recommend a video card that can run these games smoothly that would be good aswell.

[OPETH]

I'm with him, I'm getting my grandads PC that has a 2.4 Ghz Pentuim 4 Processor, 1 GB of ram, but no graphics card.
What Graphics card cna handle Crysis?

[Sheff159]

Ok, Username. If you're going to want to a system that can play Crysis, you're going to have to spend more then 600-700USD on it, especially if you're buying it from a company like dell or HP. Even if you're building it yourself, 600-700usd wont cut it to play crysis. Hell you could spend that much on a videocard alone and not be able to play the game on high. You need to increase you're budget.

Now 256mb of ram on a video card isnt bad. If you want to play crysis at all I would say you need a Geforce8600GT, and that minimum.

OPETH, you have no change of playing crysis on that computer, reguardless of what videocard you put in it. Its too out dated. Sorry.

now for both of you, when looking to get a video card, you need to keep in mind what output you're powersupply has, and what the card requires. OPETH I used to have a computer with identical specs as the one you're getting. With the power supply that it had the best card I could put in it was a geforce 6200...that has 0 chance to play crysis at all.

[Yoshi-5up]

The $700 USD might cover the video card and Processor.

Hell, I spent $2100 USD on my build (Intel C2D 6600 @ 2.4 GHz, 2 GB Corsair RAM, Nvidia 8800 GTX w/ 768 MB RAM, I'm planning on getting a AGIEA PhysX because I had it on my last PC and liked it), and the Crysis demo still ran at about 25 FPS on Very High settings.

You MIGHT be able to run it on that build (and that's a MASSIVE might) if you turn everything down to Low. But I recommend you try to get a better budget or start saving now.

[Sheff159]

Originally Posted by Yoshi-5up

The $700 USD might cover the video card and Processor.

Hell, I spent $2100 USD on my build (Intel C2D 6600 @ 2.4 GHz, 2 GB Corsair RAM, Nvidia 8800 GTX w/ 768 MB RAM, I'm planning on getting a AGIEA PhysX because I had it on my last PC and liked it), and the Crysis demo still ran at about 25 FPS on Very High settings.

You MIGHT be able to run it on that build (and that's a MASSIVE might) if you turn everything down to Low. But I recommend you try to get a better budget or start saving now.

I bet that physics card really freed up a lot or resources on your CPU and GPU. Becuse I have never heard of anyone trying crysis on very high with anything short of an SLI set up.

[Yoshi-5up]

Originally Posted by sheff159

I bet that physics card really freed up a lot or resources on your CPU and GPU. Becuse I have never heard of anyone trying crysis on very high with anything short of an SLI set up.

I don't have the AGIEA yet. And my last PC had a shitty ATI X300 (yes, 300, it had 128 MB). It would crash before it'd run Crysis.

For the most part, my PC (which does have Vista) runs it at a solid 30 fps, but when you get into high-action scenes [and this is judging from the demo, I'm getting the full game for X-Mas], it slows down to 23-26 fps.

[OPETH]

Minimum Requirements

CPU: Athlon 64 3000+/Intel 2.8ghz
Graphics: Nvidia 6600/X800GTO (SM 2.0)
RAM: 768Mb/1Gb on Windows Vista
HDD: 6GB
Internet: 256k+
Optical Drive: DVD
Software: DX9.0c with Windows XP

They are system minuim requirements to run crysis, If I had correct graphics card I meet all those standards except the processor is 2.4ghz and not 2.8 ghz.
Why would there be problems.

[Sheff159]

Originally Posted by OPETH

Minimum Requirements

CPU: Athlon 64 3000+/Intel 2.8ghz
Graphics: Nvidia 6600/X800GTO (SM 2.0)
RAM: 768Mb/1Gb on Windows Vista
HDD: 6GB
Internet: 256k+
Optical Drive: DVD
Software: DX9.0c with Windows XP

They are system minuim requirements to run crysis, If I had correct graphics card I meet all those standards except the processor is 2.4ghz and not 2.8 ghz.
Why would there be problems.

even if you do get a 6600, you will barely be able to play the game on the lowest settings, with all the extra stuff off, and at the lowest resolution possible. Believe me, you will not enjoy it. like I said, I had a computer that had the same specs as you did, excpt I had a 1.8GHz processor. I upgraded it for BF2. Thats when I got the 6200, and I upgraded to the best processor that my motherboard supported, and that was a 2.4GHz. So im willing to bet that you wont even be able to upgrade your processor to the minimum required 2.8. Believe me, unless you get a new system, you cannot play crysis.

Here are my specs, and I dont plan on trying to play it on my system.

Core Duo (thats a dual core processor) 2.16GHz (its way more powerful then a P4 2.8)
2gb of ram
256mb geforce 7400

I dont want to even try, just because of my video card. And since its a laptop there is no chance of upgrading.

[OPETH]

Originally Posted by sheff159

even if you do get a 6600, you will barely be able to play the game on the lowest settings, with all the extra stuff off, and at the lowest resolution possible. Believe me, you will not enjoy it. like I said, I had a computer that had the same specs as you did, excpt I had a 1.8GHz processor. I upgraded it for BF2. Thats when I got the 6200, and I upgraded to the best processor that my motherboard supported, and that was a 2.4GHz. So im willing to bet that you wont even be able to upgrade your processor to the minimum required 2.8. Believe me, unless you get a new system, you cannot play crysis.

how can i find out if my mother board can take an upgrade ?

[Sheff159]

Originally Posted by OPETH

how can i find out if my mother board can take an upgrade ?

You need to find out what kind of mother board you have, like the model number. Then go to the manufactures site, and see what processor speeds and types it supports. But im telling you, even if you can upgrade it to 2.8, the game will barely, and I mean barely run, it will not be enjoyable. And again, im willing to bet that your powersupply cannot support a 7600, thats another thing you would have to upgrade. So right now, off the top of my head, you're looking at atleast $300 in upgrades just to barely play the game at its lowest specs.