I just purchased Battlefield 2 for my son. He's using my old computer (512MB PC2100 DDR-SDRAM / VideoRAM 32MB Shared w. system) to play his PC Games. I already know that I'll need to add more RAM. But what else do I need to add? I ran the EasyInfo from the game and the differences I'm getting other than system memory is that I'm short on DISPLAY MEMORY (64MB - Requires 128MB). How do I resolve that? What is a GRAPHICS CARD & SOUND CARD? Help the MOM, PLEASE!!
graphics card is what displays onto the monitor with pictures, text or whatever. the soundcard is what sends the sound from the computer to the speakers. from your info the videocard is built into the motherboard & is sharing 32meg of the 512meg of motherboard ram. have various options about the video. 1: see in the bios if can increase the shared amount of main 512meg to 128meg, is weak possibility. 2: look at the user guide of the computer or the manual of the motherboard to see if you have an agp slot(accelerated graphics port}. 3: post either the make & model # of the motherboard or computer to see what the motherboard has.
first off, i want to say you seem to be a great mom! it's nice to see more of'em definitely follow ddp's suggestions, if you can. once we know a little more about your motherboard, real help can be given. faster ram would improve the game performance substantially, if the board supports it.
Thanks to both of you for advice and (Auslander) for such a nice compliment (awwww). Well, I checked the BIOS and could not change it. According to Sony support on the web, the computer does have an AGP slot. The PC is a Sony VAIO PC-RX850. (Video card specs: SIS 651 Integrated graphics w/ Real 256 2D/3D graphics accelerator 32MB shared 64 max) Sony support also states that, "If the computer came with an onboard video adapter, it cannot be disabled in the BIOS. the add-on PCI video card can only be used as a secondary and not the primary one. So what now? Is this how to resolve the VRAM problem, by installing a new video card?
I am pretty sure there is a way to disable it through window, but ddp would know that one for a fact. Yes, depending on the graphics card, this will take care of the VRAM. But I would suggest to figure out what agp slot you have, there is 2x, 4x, 8x etc.. This will determine what graphics card you could buy for it. (I'm assuming you would like to buy one since it seems to be the only way to play those games) If you have a problem finding out what kind of agp slot you have, post that you have a problem finding it, and I could give you a link to a program that will describe the hardware on your computer.
so, AAT, this is your computer? http://www.computingreview.com/cat/hardware/desktop-computers/sony/PRD_277922_5639crx.aspx#reviews if that's it, i'm willing to bet that it's got an 8x agp slot. so, basically, you could run any agp-compliant video card.
according to the specs thru this link, you have a 4x agp so if you get a 8x agp card that does 4x than it will work on the computer using it's own ram not the motherboard ram. depending on the card you get, it will have between 128 to 256meg of ram of it's own ram not shared ram. http://esupport.sony.com/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=PCVRX850
Thanks for all the great and extremely helpful info. Now before I head to the store, know any reliable brands?
this is some but not all of the cards that can play battlefield 2. do not get a card that is pci/e as it will not fit your motherboard only agp 4x or 8x. http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/214319
Does the brand name really matter? I notice there are other brands with the same description for the (chipset?) that are less expensive than the ATI or NVIDIA. Are they just as good? Why/Why not? AND....... Does it matter if you buy a 128MB or 256MB video card? I wanna be a good mom not a broke one.
the 128 256 mb cards, yea i believe i heard someone say theres a difference between the two, i have 256, and games run fine for me on my mid end system, can usually turn games like eq2 (very hardware demanding game) on pretty high level even tho my vid. card is high-low end. but as for the chipsets, not sure, i got nvidia and all i know is it runs all the games ive thrown at it smoothly on high detail, maybe a stutter here and there, but nothing big. so i say this to say, yea, i think the 256 will give ur son a boost in performance sorry for the long post for only a short reason, and uve gotta be one koo ass mom, wish my mom did this kind of research for me for my pc games. p.s. unless ur getting like the best of the best video card, if u buy online, the price differnece between 128mb and 256,b cards are alot of times only a few dollars difference
ati, nvidia, via & sis make their own cards plus make the chipsets for other videocard manufacturers. usually the more ram the better. look at the different cards to see what you like & price than post those cards here so can get the specs on them so we can reply back with which card(s) might be btter for you to buy. is that computer a name brand like hp or a clone?
How about Sapphire, Visiontek, and PNY? Good or not? Sapphire Radeon 9600 128MB Radeon 9600 128MB DDR AGP 4x/8x VisionTek Xtasy 9550 AGP w/ Radeon 9550 3D Chip How about these?
Well what is your approxiamte budget for the video card? I suggest something future friendly that will support all future games just fine, not a card that will work with BF 2 and then fail on all upcoming ones(DOOM4? Anyway I've actually got another idea. I'm upgrading my comp ad used to have an ATI Radeon 9800(AGP) 256 MB. None of my friends want to buy it so I'd be happy to sell it to you for a reasonable price($40-60?)
@ AAT, wow, you are one cool mum (I'm a Brit, we don't say mom over here!) I prefer Nvidia cards as I believe that the driver support is far superior than ATi. I would have thought a 6600GT would do the job. I have a 128mb Gainward 6800LE, Rivatuned to 16 pixel pipelines, even without the tuning it is a great card. Here is a link to the card I have; http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=75002 I hope that this will point you in the right direction! Or at least give you an idea as to what to get. I have Battlefield 2 demo on my PC & it runs @ 50+ frames per second at high settings on the card. Looks nice, runs real smooth. Pulsar. PS, Nice one AAT. There should be more parents like you, the world needs them, badly!
She's a bad mamma jamma!!!!!!! AAT, your one cool mom!! Seriously, I prefer Nvidia cards over ATI because of the drivers as well. That being said, look into the 660GT or 6800 vanilla AGP 4x/8X or you can consider Skidme's offer on that 256mb 9800 pro, it's a very good card......later
Okay everone, thanks for such great feedback! I've taken notes from every one of you and I'll be heading out to explore. I'll let you all know how it goes. SKIDME thanks so much for the offer, but I'll pass this time. WISH ME LUCK!!!!!!!!
