Help in buying a video card to play online games

kkreampuff · #1 (**permalink**) 12-01-2008, 08:24 PM

Hello I have no experience in laptops at all and i need a video card to play Maple story, Counter-Strike, Silkroad etc... the only problem is i have no idea what video card to buy so i was wondering if anyone could reccomend me what video card to buy so that it would work with my laptop. Heres my laptop info with the scan

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OS Information:
PropertyValue
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional|C:\WINDOWS|\Device\Harddisk0\Partitio n1
Service Pack 2.0
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS

Processor:
PropertyValue
Current Clock Speed 497
Description x86 Family 6 Model 6 Stepping 2
Manufacturer AuthenticAMD
Name mobile AMD Athlon(tm) 4

Memory (RAM):
PropertyValue
Bank Label RAS 7 & 6
Capacity 268435456

Bank Label RAS 7 & 4
Capacity 134217728

Total Memory Deteced in Hardware: ~384 MB
Memory Reported to Operating System: 351MB

Disk Drives:
PropertyValue
Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model IC25N040ATCS04-0
Media Type Fixed hard disk media
Size 40007761920 (~37 GB)
Number of Partitions 1

Motherboard:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer ECSM
Model
Name Base Board
Part Number
Product i_Buddie
Serial Number 00000000
Version 1.0

BIOS:
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Manufacturer American Megatrends Inc.
Name Version 07.00T
Release Date 20010402000000.000000+000
Version AMIINT - 1000

Monitor:
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Keyboard:
PropertyValue
Description Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard

Pointing Device:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer Microsoft
Name Microsoft PS/2 Mouse

Sound Card:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer C-Media
Description C-Media AC97 Audio Device
Device ID PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_7012&SUBSYS_0F271019&REV_A0\3&61A AA01&0&17

Video Card:
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DirectX Installation:
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Modem:
PropertyValue

Network Adapters:
PropertyValue
Description Realtek RTL8169/8110 Family Gigabit Ethernet NIC - Packet Scheduler Miniport
Description Packet Scheduler Miniport
Description Blank on purpose (my friend told me to do it i have no idea why)
Description Packet Scheduler Miniport

External Ports:
PropertyValue
External Reference Designator Def

Expansion Slots:
PropertyValue
Slot Designation PCI1
Slot Designation PCI2
Slot Designation PCI3
Slot Designation PCI4
Slot Designation PCI5
Slot Designation ISA1
Slot Designation ISA2
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If anyone can tell me what videocard to buyy i would greatly appreciate it

jephree · #2 (**permalink**) 12-01-2008, 11:56 PM

What is the exact make and model of the laptop?

Not many laptops are upgradeable in this area.

Your scan above is not detecting any graphics device so perhaps you just need drivers.

Also laptops are not really meant for high end games. It might play Maple Story if the drivers are installed.

DJNafey · #3 (**permalink**) 13-01-2008, 01:56 AM

You have a 32MB on-board graphics chip. This can be seen by the fact that your laptop has 384MB RAM but only 351MB is available to Windows - 1MB disappeared in the BIOS and 32MB was given to the graphics.

It is extremely unlikely (more than 99%) that your laptop has any capabilities to install a dedicated graphics card such as an ATi Radeon Mobility or laptop-based GeForce card, etc.

However, you should find out exactly what graphics chip you have as the amount of memory that is made available to it may well depend on the total amount of RAM that is installed in the system. For instance, you might find that, if you had 512MB or more RAM, then 64MB would be shared to the graphics chip instead of 32MB. This is more common on newer systems so it might not apply to yours .... but it's worth checking. Also, look in the BIOS to see if you can just change it yourself.

In any case, you may need to look at adding more RAM for a better gaming experience. If you're running Windows XP SP2 with shared graphics and it has lots of applications and background utilities installed (i.e. it's not a particularly "clean" setup), then you may well find that it could do with having 512MB RAM even if you didn't want to play games on it.

Hope that doesn't sound too negative - just trying to help. I don't think you've got much of a gaming system there at all at the moment but the chances are that you could make some effective improvements very cheaply without taking it apart to try to fit another graphics card into it

kkreampuff · #4 (**permalink**) 13-01-2008, 07:15 PM

thankss very much guys, i guess theres no hope for mine old laptop. i guess i'll just buy a new one aha

any suggestions what to buy? i dont work im only 15

DJNafey · #5 (**permalink**) 14-01-2008, 03:08 AM

As you're in the States, I can't be specific on pricing but, in the UK, the Dell Vostro represents very good value for money indeed - big specs, low prices. Of particular usefulness is the fact that you can specify them with dedicated 128MB or even 256MB GeForce graphics cards for the kind of price range where you would still be looking at integrated graphics in competitors' laptops.

www.dell.com