Graphics card help

**Kataphraktos** · April 22, 2008, 02:29 AM

I am getting Medieval 2: Total War soon and I am wondering what things I should upgrade so that it runs smoothly, even large-scale battles. I have:

Processor: Pentium 4 3.2GHz
HDD: 160GB
RAM: 1GB (DDR i think)
Video card: Radeon X300 (I found this by going to My computer -> properties -> Device manager)

I think my processor and HDD are ok. Should I further upgrade my RAM, or is 1GB enough to handle large battles? (i do know the MINIMUM is 512MB)

As you'll soon see (unless youve already seen

) I am computer illiterate, and even more so when it comes to graphics cards...the min requirements say 128MB, but i dont know how many MBs mine has (you guys might know), and so naturally I dont know if its meets the requirements, let alone be good enough to run battles smmothly.

Also ive been going through these forums for some time, and ive noticed some players have Geforce or other cards...i really do not know about the different brands, and the comparable models from each. Could any of you guys (especially experienced players) , advise me with purchasing a new video/graphics card? (in the case that the one I currently have isnt up to scratch)

Thanks in advance

**DarK_RTW** · April 22, 2008, 07:41 AM

There are two slot type graphics card (well, mainstream...) AGP and PCI-E (PCI-E has nothing to do with older PCI).
Judging by your Pentium you probably have a AGP system but you'll have to verify that some other way (if you know what motherboard you have, googling the specs is easy, if you don't use freeware software like Everest home edition [google, if you don't know how to find it!]).

You don't need more RAM, 2GB is nicer than 1, but the X300 you have is absolute bottom of the line.

For ATI Radeon decent cards start at X800 (older), X1600 (newer), and Geforce 7600/8600 etc. It'll come down to what you can afford and what's available to you (if you don't mind buying online and give us your locale/price range I'll post an example).

**Kataphraktos** · April 22, 2008, 10:12 AM

Thanks for all your help...I knew it was my graphics card that was a bit iffy. I'm not really an online buyer so I'm going to go down to the computer store this week and have a look at what's available from he cards you've mentioned. As for the price range, I don't really want to spend more than AU$100-150 for a card.

update: I just found out that I have a PCI-Express (PCI-E right?). Also I have more precise information about my current graphics: "ATI Radeon X300 SE PCI-Express Graphics with 128MB video memory"

**DarK_RTW** · April 22, 2008, 10:25 AM

I'm here in Aus as well.

Just had someone tell me the other day they saw an X300 for $250 in Harvey Norman (these things are worth $0), so I'd avoid places like that.

You can easily get an 8600GT 256MB for $125~ from a decent retailer (MSY, ITEstate, Fluitek etc if you're in NSW you have 1/3 of these stores).
I'd avoid 512MB versions of <$200 cards as they all use cheaper slower memory and are pretty much useless

**Kataphraktos** · April 24, 2008, 02:54 AM

I went with the Asus 8600GTS

$179 from CPL, West Melbourne store. You should see that beast next to my dusty old X300!

Speaking of my X300...should i chuck it out? or is anyone really itching to buy one?