Video card good enough?

[MarleneD]

My son is trying to run Brothers in Arms, *censored*'s Highway game on our computer but, it's characters are bit jittery, not smooth on our computer.  We have a Plug&Play Monitor NVIDIA GeForce 6800 currently running.  Should we get a better card?  What kind?
We have enough RAM (2GB) and we have a 3.19 GHz intel pentium (4) processor.
Thank you

[Ironman]

Should be all right, here are the requirements for that game:

[Calum]

I'd say you need a CPU upgrade as you don't meet the minimum requirements on that side.
Also, a new video card may be helpful.

[MarleneD]

I'm confused.  I thought I had enough CPU with 3.192 GHz? 
We have a Dell 4700 dimension.
Thanks.

[MarleneD]

I just found out about a website that checks for game compatibility.  It's
www.systemrequirementslab.com   It was very helpful in determining that I do have the minimum requirements for the game but, I did need to update the NVIDIA card, which I did (they had direct link).

[Calum]

It's a different type of CPU.
The requirements state a Pentium D as a minimum - a dual core CPU, like two processors.  Yours is a plain Pentium 4, not a dual core.
I'm not saying the game will not run, just that as your video card is about at the minimum, it will likely be quite choppy.

[MarleneD]

Is it possible to add or replace my current CPU to a dual core?  Sound like it might be complicated.  Would it be worth it? My son will most likely get a laptop for graduation next June.  Perhaps I will wait and make sure it's a dual core. 
Thanks everyone.

[4fingerlid]

I also have a Dimension 4700 which does have Hyperthreading technology. Mine came with a 2.8 gH 520j P4 with H/T tech. The max for that socket 775 board is a 3.8 gH 570j which I upgraded to. You can go to the P4 6xx series processor with a bios flash. I also have 1 gig ram cards in each of my 4 slots. I hve a ati Radeon HD4850 video card. Your board does support pci express x16. Your processor should be fine. I would upgrade your video card & ram though. I can play Crysis , COD2, UT-3, Gears of war, Halo, and Dead Space , all on high settings 1440x900 resolution. The P4 with H/T acts like a dual core processor.

Hope this helps?

[4fingerlid]

Forgot to mention......You will have to upgrade your power supply to run the video card I'm using. The dimension 4700 power supply comes with a 305 watt psu. I upgraded to a Antec 500 watt psu. You will need a minimum 450 watt psu to run the 4850 video card. With all of these modifications your half way money wise to buying a decent brand new system. Your call?

[4fingerlid]

Bottom line is your gonna have to spend $300 to $325 to get that puter up to snuff to be able to play games like Hells highway.

[MarleneD]

Whew!  That's a bit too much upgrading for our machine.  Thanks 4fingerlid for all that info.  I think we'll just wait to get a laptop.  Any suggestions as to which laptops can handle such games?  Or at least, what I should look for in a laptop.
Thanks.

[computeruler]

ya you would need a whole new graphics card and cpu which would most likley require a new psu and probably a new motherboard imo i dont think its worth it

[4fingerlid]

Gaming laptops
http://http://www.bizwaremagic.com/cheap_gaming_laptops.htm

[MarleneD]

Thanks 4fingerlid for the great website!  This gives me plenty of time to research laptops before graduation.