What graphics card do I need?

[Monsieur]

will this do?

I've already got an Nvidia Geforce 7050
Will the other card improve game graphics and, most importantly, fit my computer?

 

[GSmonkey]

What motherboard / CPU / RAM / PSU have you got?

 

[Monsieur]

* Intel Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz,
* 1.7GB RAM
* Vista home premium
* 134GB free space

How do I find out what motherboard?

 

[GSmonkey]

It should tell you on the POST screen, i.e. the very first screen that comes on.

Was it a package PC e.g. Dell etc.?

By the way, the Q6600 virtually the best CPU for overclocking if you know what you're doing. You could almost run at twice the speed if its the right version of the chip.

You do need to know the PSU rating, as some video cards are quite power hungry and if you've a little PSU, the PC will just fall over when you start to play games.

 

[Monsieur]

Thanks for the help

Just done a scan on 'canyourunit?' and all seems okay so why do games still run slow

 

[Fanum]

Thanks for the help

Just done a scan on 'canyourunit?' and all seems okay so why do games still run slow

Make sure you have latest drivers for it, and also maybe look at adjusting virtual memory

also adjust the sliders down in frame rate and possible drop a screen res in the slower games, that will make a huge difference

 

[Monsieur]

Make sure you have latest drivers for it, and also maybe look at adjusting virtual memory

also adjust the sliders down in frame rate and possible drop a screen res in the slower games, that will make a huge difference

You're talking another language - how do I do that Bill?

 

[GSmonkey]

Looking at the output, it says 6600GT or better. Looking at some benchmarks, the 7050 scores around 20, whereas the 6600GT is 90-140. So you're way slower than the minimum spec for the game.

You need a new video card to run whatever game you're proposing to run with any decent frame rate.

You'll need to run some 3d benchmarking to see where your system lies in terms of performance for games.

 

[Fanum]

You're talking another language - how do I do that Bill?

For the drivers, go HERE...it's fairly obvious from that point but there are good FAQ's and essentially, you just check you're up to date, download the latest driver pack if you're not and run the .exe file.

The sliders I'm talking about will be in the game itself, in the options section, usually under performance of graphics or some ething similar....rather than trying to run the game at a really big size, set it down to 800x600 for example, and see what it's like.

You can also turn down a lot of things like detail in shadow effects and so on in some games..... they may not look quite as pretty , but should run a lot smoother

Trial and error really.....if you then find you cant play your fave game smoothly or you have to compromise on visual quality too much, upgrade the card.

Don't go for the latest bleeding edge card though....something 2 or three models down the line up from most manufacturers will still be pretty damn quick and probably only 6 months old in design, and you'll pay half or less of what the bleeding edge 'must have' card will cost you.

 

[swissrob]

For the drivers, go HERE...it's fairly obvious from that point but there are good FAQ's and essentially, you just check you're up to date, download the latest driver pack if you're not and run the .exe file.

The sliders I'm talking about will be in the game itself, in the options section, usually under performance of graphics or some ething similar....rather than trying to run the game at a really big size, set it down to 800x600 for example, and see what it's like.

You can also turn down a lot of things like detail in shadow effects and so on in some games..... they may not look quite as pretty , but should run a lot smoother

Trial and error really.....if you then find you cant play your fave game smoothly or you have to compromise on visual quality too much, upgrade the card.

Don't go for the latest bleeding edge card though....something 2 or three models down the line up from most manufacturers will still be pretty damn quick and probably only 6 months old in design, and you'll pay half or less of what the bleeding edge 'must have' card will cost you.

firstly what games are you trying to play and also your ram quantity is an odd number... how do you have 1.7gb of ram? I suspect you have a motherboard with a built in graphics card?

most games now need about 4gb system ram to run properly along with a graphics card of 1gb.

you power supply must also be taken into account, is it capable of supplying enough power and does it even have the right connectors? some cards require 2 6 pin connectors, some require 1 8 pin etc etc.

what can happen is you buy a graphics card then find you need to upgrade the mother board (as you have a 6600 i doubt this in your case) then a new power supply, then more memory etc etc.

come back with a games list and a budget then we go from there