Video Card for PC

[SERG]

I bought my brother a PC video game for Christmas. He installed it. Started playing it. Computer keeps freezing up. He called Tech Support. Basically he's running the game on a low memory video card. Can someone give me recommendations and/or where to purchase? Are they fairly easy to install?

Tech Support recommended nVidia or another one but I forgot  

Thanks.

[mirth]

ATI would be the other brand. What game? HalfLife2?

Basically, an ATI 9800-series or newer w/minimum 128MB RAM would be good.

nVidia used to be king of the GPU market, however they lost  the throne to ATI a couple years ago.

How old is your brother's computer? Unless its very very recent you'll have to be sure to buy an AGP card, and unless its newer than 2-ish years old you may have to find a used card that is compatible.

[Jon Brakel]

ATI would be the other brand. What game? HalfLife2?

Basically, an ATI 9800-series or newer w/minimum 128MB RAM would be good.

nVidia used to be king of the GPU market, however they lost  the throne to ATI a couple years ago.

How old is your brother's computer? Unless its very very recent you'll have to be sure to buy an AGP card, and unless its newer than 2-ish years old you may have to find a used card that is compatible.

What he said, plus...

Check out Fry's Electronics in Downers Grove if that is a reasonable trip for you.

Video cards are fairly easy to install. A bit more difficult than installing memory. Easier than installing an internal drive.

[SERG]

Thanks guys.

I'm not sure how old his computer is. I know it's at least 2 years old. I'll have him look at his paperwork. If I'm not mistaken, and this could date the CPU, I think he has a card that is 5 MB right now. Tech support showed him how to look it up.

The game is a fishing game. Sorry, it's not a "cool" one    

[mirth]

Its usually weird doubles of 4... 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, etc.

His computer is either sharing part of the main system RAM with the graphics chip (usually found in budget PCs & 'white box' machines) or it has an extremely low powered video card.

If he/you could provide a brand & model number it could help in determining if you can even put an upgrade into it.

[SERG]

If he/you could provide a brand & model number it could help in determining if you can even put an upgrade into it.

If I have this information, would you be able to help me determine this? Or do I need to call Dell?

I know it's a Dell. I know he's running Windows ME. I think he's the only person I know running this OS.

[airspuds]

ME &^^*%   my mother in law had it for a while
and using the pc would drive me to fits of anger
not a good thing when visiting the in laws

they finally are with it and got a new pc with wireless broadbrand

how can one live without high speed access

[Jon Brakel]

If he/you could provide a brand & model number it could help in determining if you can even put an upgrade into it.

If I have this information, would you be able to help me determine this? Or do I need to call Dell?

I know it's a Dell. I know he's running Windows ME. I think he's the only person I know running this OS.

If you can get the Dell tag number or the serial number you can look up all the specs at Dell.com

I wouldn't suggest posting the tag number or serial number on the message board but you could PM it to Mirth and/or me and we could tell you what you have.