Music Banter - View Single Post - The Official Computer Tech Support Thread
View Single Post
Old 05-07-2011, 09:44 AM   #967 (permalink)
TheBig3
killedmyraindog
 
TheBig3's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Posts: 11,172
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Freebase Dali View Post
The graphics card is an onboard video chip only capable of up to 128mb of RAM. Suffice it to say, you're limited with what you can play by default, and that's assuming the chip has that much RAM on it to begin with. Although you could most certainly add a better graphics card to suit your needs, if necessary.

I'd also add at least another gig of RAM. (very very inexpensive)
While 32bit systems (which I'm assuming the XP pro is) can only address 4 gigs of RAM (with XP only recognizing around 3.25 of it), you'll still benefit greatly from the extra gig. Just make sure you buy the same type of RAM as the RAM that's already installed. You can get these details by downloading and running CPU-Z. (free)

Core2duo is good enough for most games. My old system I just upgraded from had a Core2duo, and I played Crysis on it at full settings without bottlenecking at the CPU. (Keep in mind, I had a better graphics card... which itself is considered old by today's standards... Nvidia 9600GT 512mb RAM)

Ultimately, for the price of 100 dollars, I'd say go for it. The fact remains that you can upgrade, but you may be limited by your motherboard (which I have no idea of the brand and model, as that info is not included) regarding what kind of RAM you can upgrade to, what kind of processor it supports, chipset, etc.

Truth is, if you're planning on having a computer that will remain expandable for a lot of years, you're likely going to need to go with something beyond the XP era. But for the price, it's not like you're investing that much anyway, and you can always carry parts over from that system to newer setups if necessary.

What kind of games are you planning on playing?
I'm a big Blizzard guy. For now it would be SC2 and possibly WoW again, but absolutely Diablo 3 when it drops.
__________________
I've moved to a new address
TheBig3 is offline   Reply With Quote