memory versus video card

[pointerboat]

Good explanation Congo .  I finally figured out how to check my FPS - from 6 to 10 (!) with 256megs DDR and an onboard video chip (no vid card) .... and, I think I've FINALLY learned that increasing the amount of ram will smoothen out my video display and allow me to increase the complexity of the graphics .  I think I'm right . It's been a long road figuring this out and especially hard when you're as dumb as a stump to begin with !

[congo]

Pointerboat,

As you probably already know, Onboard Graphics chips, (onboard video cards, built into the mainboard), use a percentage of system RAM from the main memory of your PC. This amount of "shared" memory is usually set in the Computer's BIOS settings.

The more memory shared to the onboard video chip, the better the capacity the onboard GPU has for processing the graphic data;

However, the GPU, (or onboard graphics chip), is still limited by design in it's potential power. Typically, onboard GPU's are low in graphics processing power, no matter how much ram you throw at them.

Also, the memory you allocate from your main system RAM is not really "shared RAM", but more like "robbed RAM". Your system can no longer access the shared ram for the CPU to use at will.

In a low RAM system, the sharing of system ram to onboard video will bottleneck the CPU, negating the effects of increased GPU power.

A major benefit of addon video cards has been the very fast RAM built into the video card itself.

Modern mainboards using 400mhz system RAM shared to an onboard video system should be capable of high performance; alas, there is hardly a product on the market, with an onboard graphics unit, that would meet the required specs for a simmer or serious gamer.

Best advice to you Pointerboat, is to make sure you have excess ram, so you can throw plenty to the onboard graphics chip via BIOS settings, and still have plenty left for the CPU. Minimum 512mb's for your rig.

If your mainboard has an AGP slot, you could upgrade the graphics via a good addon video card.

[pointerboat]

Alas , Congo ; no AGP slot.  Looks like it will have to be
the GeForce FX5200 or a new motherboard .  It seems that  a fair number of the lads have this vid card and I think that one with 128 megs built in to the card along with an additional stick of 512 megs should increase the performance .  Without actually having anything to compare my own visuals with ; I'm looking at the screenshots  here and realizing that my graphics are below standard .  I suspect that it takes a lot of bucks to achieve "kick-ass"  and most of us are trying to achieve the best experience we can while staying within the budget .  Even with onboard graphics and stuttering , FS9 is still just about the neatest thing I've seen in dog's years .  Cheers chum !    Terry    

[congo]

It's possible to build a decent gaming rig on a budget. But this usually means custom building it yourself, which requires at least a little knowledge to put it all together, and a good deal more knowledge in selecting and buying the appropriate hardware.

Personally, I wouldn't do it any other way, but it's not for everyone of course. It's kind of a "catch 22" situation.

If you buy "off the shelf", by the time you get the thing up and running with all the extras you have to add to make it work, you have the knowledge required to build it all in the first place!

[Vonald]

I'm in the position of only having a PCI slot which I hope to use to upgrade the onboard graphics. I also only have a 120w powersupply - will this be enough for a FX5200 card?
I'm aware some require 250w, but there are some out there that don't state this as a minimum requirement.

Any help very welcome  :)

[congo]

My advice to anyone who has onboard graphics and wants to upgrade their graphics via a PCI slot..........

DON'T !