i need help for video cards

[bongo1210]

hello everyone i have just bought Medieval 2 after playing rome total war for a couple years. well now i have learned the hard way that my computer cant play it.. lol

i have 512 mb of RAM , a sucky intel graphics card and it is a intel pentium 4 ... 3.20 ghz? well im not sure if it is 3.20 ghz , so can anyone tell me where to find that ghz thing?

and also one more question , when i buy a whole other 1 gig to add to my 512mb what graphics card would you guys recommend? besides a 8800 gtx

[Zkickin]

Yah, I learned the hard way too. It all depends on how much money you are willing to spend.

[bongo1210]

i can probably spend around 230$ for a new video card

[preston]

i doubt that its a 3.20 3 is the highest at the moment i believe. my graphics is a 7600 and it works just as good i have everything on the highest and its amazing no lag or anything. and its a LOT cheaper than an 8800

[bongo1210]

how much is a 7600 from bestbuy you think? and also do you think a 8600 gt is better than a 7600? i know a little about graphics cards but i still need help.. lol thanks for helping me though

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Look here for some advice http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/06/...for_the_money/

[bongo1210]

hey what would you reccomend? a GeForce 8600 GT or a Radeon x1950 XT?

[preston]

nVidia all the way bud.

[bongo1210]

where can i find out what ghz i have? and also is a 8600 stronger than all of the 7000 version of nvidia?

[preston]

yup 8600 is the best of the best unless you go to professional grade which you wouldn't be able to afford i dont' think. you can find out the ghz with the information that came with your pc. or you can just google it and it'll come up in the searches also try the company's website. one last one some computers have the stuff stickered on there usually on the front.

[bongo1210]

oh ok il chck the ghz later or actually cant you just go to my computer or something? and also when i said the 7000 versions of Nvidia i meant like the 7300 to the 7950 , or did you understand what meant? lol sorry if im confusing. but also by any chance do you know what graphics card the picture of the week guy uses? his picture was called " 1 on 1" i think.

[preston]

yeah i understood what you meant. 8600 is best. simply put is 8600 greater than 7000 something?

[bongo1210]

haha thanks man i love you.......oh yeah and by any chance is a 8600 gts stronger than a GO 7600?

[preston]

yep

[DrBeast]

Simplest way of finding out your CPU frequency, without reboot: Start->Control Panel->System. It's under the first tab (General).
As for the graphics card, I wouldn't spend the extra money on a 8600. Simply put, it's like adding high-velocity tires to a crappy, slow car. A 7600GT is the best fit for your processor.

[bongo1210]

ok i went to start>control panel>system and then this is what i saw under the general tab...

Dell Dimension DIM4700
intel pentium 4 , CPU 3.20GHz ,
3.19 GHz , 512 MB of RAM


and also can a 7600 gt run everything on max with shader 2 and AA without experiencing lag with a huge 10,000 man battle? im also getting another 1 gig of RAM to help with the game

[Monsieur Alphonse]

ok i went to start>control panel>system and then this is what i saw under the general tab...

Dell Dimension DIM4700
intel pentium 4 , CPU 3.20GHz ,
3.19 GHz , 512 MB of RAM


and also can a 7600 gt run everything on max with shader 2 and AA without experiencing lag with a huge 10,000 man battle? im also getting another 1 gig of RAM to help with the game

Running everything on the highest settings requires a better processor. M2 is very processor heavy. Calculating 10,000 men is asking a lot of a processor. Updating your computer with a new graphics card will improve a lot because of the Intel graphics is not designed for gaming. But you won't be able to run everything on max. Adding extra ram always helps.

If you want to go for the max buy a new computer. Never ever buy a Dell if you want to play games on it (except those very expensive ones). Go to a good computer store and let it them assemble one.
This is the most cost effective and you will get precisely what you need. For top performance without bleeding you dry get a computer with:
Intel E6600 core 2 duo
2 megs of ram
Nvidia 8800 GTS 320

[johnny5000]

in any talk about video cards you need to figure out first if you need a PCI Express card or AGP.
Most (all?) newer systems these days come with PCI Express but in the era where the 3.2 GHz systems were being made, I think both were pretty common.

So, figure out which one you need first! it will make a big difference.

[Haranin]

Beware your power supply. Dell Dimensions apparantly have low power supplies.

You also might want to increase your ram. Tossing another 512 mb chip will do wonders cheaper then a new video card.

Be aware of the differences between AGP, ePCI and PCI video cards as well.

---

You will never guess who has a dell dimension, and has looked at upgrades recently....

[Haranin]

FYI Dell's support website can tell you what you have if you punch in the ticket number on the back of your computer; and crucial has a good memory analyser. [tiger direct as well]