Computer Hope

Hardware => Drivers => Topic started by: Shama1066 on April 20, 2006, 12:13:01 PM

Title: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: Shama1066 on April 20, 2006, 12:13:01 PM
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!!!
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: CountZero on April 20, 2006, 04:59:32 PM
I think you need to get a new card, this one is really dated.
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: Dilbert on April 20, 2006, 08:01:02 PM
/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.
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: Shama1066 on April 21, 2006, 05:59:54 PM
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.
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: Dilbert on April 21, 2006, 06:55:33 PM
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. :)
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: Shama1066 on April 21, 2006, 09:23:43 PM
Which card would you recommend?  Also, is there anywhere i can go or anyway I can learn how to install a new video card?
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: GX1_Man on April 21, 2006, 09:43:48 PM
First you need to see if you need a PCI or AGP card. Please post your computer or motherboard make and model.
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: Shama1066 on April 22, 2006, 06:34:44 AM
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?
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: GX1_Man on April 22, 2006, 07:12:36 AM
Please post your computer or motherboard make and model.
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: Soviet_Genius on April 23, 2006, 07:02:44 AM
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 ;)
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: GX1_Man on April 23, 2006, 08:29:33 AM
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.
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: Shama1066 on April 23, 2006, 04:01:38 PM
I am not sure how I find the motherboard make and model.  Could you tell me where I get that information?
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: GX1_Man on April 24, 2006, 07:13:03 AM
Download Belarc Adviser (free at www.belarc .com), run it and look for info in the right top column. ;)

Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: Shama1066 on April 26, 2006, 05:10:00 PM
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
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: GX1_Man on April 26, 2006, 07:36:50 PM
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.
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: Shama1066 on April 27, 2006, 07:01:33 PM
What would probably be the best card that I could get that would run games like Guild Wars, Supreme Destiny, KalOnline, and others?  I am not very experienced in this subject so could you maybe give me a name of some of the best cards I could get that would support those games and work on my PC?
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: GX1_Man on April 28, 2006, 09:16:40 AM
Go to the game manufacturer's site and see what is required, and check your motherboard for what you can support.  ;)
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: Perfect Agent52 on April 28, 2006, 11:05:23 AM
Xfx Geforce 6800 on newegg.com. Only $150.00 and can run anything in the future you can get too.
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: GX1_Man on April 28, 2006, 10:53:26 PM
That's good IF he has an 8x AGP slot. At this point we don't know. I also would not b et that it would run everything in the future, but it should do nicely for now.  ;)
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: Shama1066 on April 29, 2006, 04:08:27 PM
So then you guys are saying that this card probably won't even fit in my computer?  What cards would fit and would also run the games?
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: GX1_Man on April 30, 2006, 06:53:04 AM
Why don't you post your computer or motherboard make and model so we don't have to guess? It's rather pointless to attempt a fix on something we know nothing about.  ::)
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: Shama1066 on May 02, 2006, 04:55:33 PM
Because I already posted it. It's on the first page.
Title: Re: Please help! Do I need a new card or what?
Post by: GX1_Man on May 02, 2006, 07:25:44 PM
My bad. I posted the answer there too.

Quote
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.