Please help! Do I need a new card or what?

[Shama1066]

Lately I have been trying to download some of the new games off the internet and it seems that my card doesn't support them or maybe I just need a download.  I have a NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000 (DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC if it's important).  If I do need a download could someone please direct me to what specifically I need to download and if I need a new card could someone recommend one?  Thanks for the help.  It is greatly appreciated!!!

[CountZero]

I think you need to get a new card, this one is really dated.

[Dilbert]

/me is entering cyborg mode

Greetings-primitive-I-am-Dilbert-3000-please-give-name-of-biggest-game-you-play-so-I-can-recommend-a-card...

/me is exiting cyborg mode

I'll need the name of the biggest game you play. I'll recommend a card based on this information, and provide price ranges.

[Shama1066]

Well, let's see...I would like to be able to download some games such as KalOnline and Rubies of Eventide and also I was looking into buying Guild Wars or World of WarCraft or such.  If you need anymore information that I can get you I would be glad to supply it and once again, thanks.

[Dilbert]

Well, I don't know the exact price, but a video card that can play those isn't going to be expensive; at least, not relatively...

See, my video card was $170 USD. That's a lot of cash for a video card. A video card that can play those well might cost in the neighborhood of 100 USD, maybe a little higher. So save your pennies. But a card like that will play those games with ease. Cards like that usually have either 128 or 256 MB of VideoRAM, and the games you specify require/recommend 64. But i never listen to the recommended; that's enough to play it... OK... but not the way I like it. So, about 100 USD if you're going for superior performance, a bit less if you just want to play it.

[Shama1066]

Which card would you recommend?  Also, is there anywhere i can go or anyway I can learn how to install a new video card?

[GX1_Man]

First you need to see if you need a PCI or AGP card. Please post your computer or motherboard make and model.

[Shama1066]

I'm sorry but I don't know how to check if I need a PCI or AGP card.  Could you please tell me how i find that information?

[GX1_Man]

Please post your computer or motherboard make and model.

[Soviet_Genius]

Either way, you should get an Nvidia GeForce, ATI Radeon, or ATI Rage. These are baisically the best cards for gaming as far as I know since they give good performance and pretty much any game in existance will work on these cards. If you are going to play older games and not planning to buy many new ones, get a 64 MB. If you play games a lot and want new games get a 128 or a 256 MB. I have a Nvidia Geforce with 128 MB, and probably the games that have the best graphics that I have are Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and NFS Underground 1+2

[GX1_Man]

That's pretty much all that is available in the 128 meg group anyway, but if the machine only has a PCI slot available (and some do) the differences in these interfaces can be substantial.

[Shama1066]

I am not sure how I find the motherboard make and model.  Could you tell me where I get that information?

[GX1_Man]

Download Belarc Adviser (free at www.belarc .com), run it and look for info in the right top column.

[Shama1066]

Here is the info from the Belarc advisor.  I posted a little more than necessary in case anyone wanted any more info.

Display
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 4000 (Microsoft Corporation) [Display adapter]
Samsung SyncMaster [Monitor] (17.1"vis, s/n HVEY502561, May 2005)

Memory Modules
384 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'A0' has 128 MB
Slot 'A1' has 256 MB

Main Circuit Board
Board: KM266-8235
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz
BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 06/03/2003

System Model
eMachines, Inc. L7VMM2
Enclosure Type: Desktop

[GX1_Man]

That seems to be an ECS motherboard that has a 4x AGP slot, so you could use an AGP (or a PCI) card. You could use an 8X card, but certainly not a state of the art one.