getting a graphics card for a prebuilt is not cheap. when you upgrade, you'll need a new power supply. and it depends on what slot your motherboard uses. what is the model of your computer?
THIS power supply, and THIS graphics card will do. everything totals to about $220, but the power supply has a $10 rebate.
just had a quick read. lagging of game graphics means make sure you have the latest graphic drivers installed i know from personal experiance that ingame movies can lag and some games won't even start unless these drivers are updated. perchance, the actual gameplay graphics could also be affected. i hope this helps EDIT: the options within the game are also VERY important! there can be one option which can cause this problem whether it is on or off. i suggest whatever is off, turn it on. and whatever is on, turn it off. basically do the exact opposite of the graphics options configuration. and if it helps, you can change the options bit by bit to your liking and pin point the option of error from experience i had big problem with a graphic option which was set to low in one game (need for speed) and had a major problem for something else because i turned one of the options up even though there was no performance hit (tomb raider). for nfs it was reflection update rate for tomb raider it was anti-aliaing. you may want to test these options before inverting your graphic options by the way, nice specs!!!!! i'm really impressed!!! i thought you could only get pixel shader 3!!!
Is there anyway to upgrade the video card's ram without having to buy a new video card? Or is a video card stuck with its ram no matter what? (sorry for the dumb questions, I just don't know much at all about hardware)
they're not dumb questions. they're perfectly legal to ask if you don't know much. the graphics you have in your computer is integrated graphics. that means it's on the motherboard and cannot be replaced. it is locked to a set amount of ram, and takes a certain amount from the ram you have installed. you can install a separate graphics card into the spare slots on the motherboard, and disable the integrated graphics to free up the ram. separate graphics cards use their own ram, and offloads all video playing onto it, allowing the cpu to work more freely. graphics cards have a set amount of ram; you cannot change them as they are soldered onto the board. more ram allows you to push the resolution to a higher spec, while maintaining good framerates. even if you only use a low resolution, you can crank up all of the eyecandy settings to the max, and still have smooth gameplay because you have lots of ram to spare.
it's on video card on desktops. on a laptop i think its on motherboard meaning complete replacement required. EDIT: i guess me and above writer wrote simultaneously cos i never received his until i posted
ok but its hardly my fault if the email notification sends me to the first page even though the last reply is on the second!!!
