Graphic Cards!

[Uatu]

So, what graphic cards are you using, and on what kind of computer?

Me:

GeForce4 MX 420 64 MB on a Dell Pentium® 4 with 2.26 GHz and 256 MB RAM

I am considering buying a new Dell, but the video card it comes with can only be either a ATI Radeon HD 3450 256MB or a ATI Radeon HD 3650 256MB - perhaps I should buy a better card separately and stick it in myself...

[manikus]

The 256 MB of RAM is for your system or for the card? If it's for your system, the best thing you can do for yourself is get above the 1GB mark.

I know when I went from 512 MB to 1.5 GB, it was like getting a new computer.

And here's my confessioin, I don't have a viideo card. It's all handled by the onboard card. I don't play a lot of high-end games (first person shooters) so I may not be the best one to say, but I've never noticed any problems with a single game I've tried to run. I would guess that the most high end game is probably the Transformers video game and my system handles everything just fine.

[Uatu]

Really? Hmm - I guess with all your work in rendering and such, I would have assumed you had at least some kind of card (there are cards made for that kind of work, too). Onboard cards are getting better these days, though.

I don't play much high-end games, either (just look at my RAM), but with my specs, I do find problems running Temple of Elemental Evil sometimes (basically, when fighting a crowd of flaming critters, for example, everything slows down to a crawl and I can barely do anything).

You've a nice set of RAM, though

[manikus]

I had similar problems the first time I tried to play Dungeon Siege...then I bought more RAM (which is a lot cheaper than a video card) and it worked great.

[Uatu]

Ha ha... Well, with the amount of RAM I have, RAM is pretty expensive, too... So I am looking into buying a new PC (hopefully less than $1,000 total).

[manikus]

Really? In the States I can get Gig of RAM for my system for about $20 and a Gig for my older system for about $50.

If you are looking to get a new computer, I recommend going to a store and checking systems out and then buying the same thing online once you know what you want. Sellers like Tigre Direct and NewEgg are reliable and high quality and can deliver at about half the price of a traditional bricka nd mortar store.

Of course, I don't know what the extra costs are like for shipping into Japan, and you would have to add the OS after you got it...

Oh well, maybe I'm not such a big help.