BIOS settings? video card upgrade possible?

[LlamaCat]

Can someone please explain how to do this exactly: "Increase AGP memory size in your BIOS settings to 128 or 256 if necessary"

Also, is it possible to upgrade the video card to 64 MB on a Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop? I have 32 MB card and the game ran fine, except slow, on the old patch. With the new patch, I get the black trees problem that someone else mentioned. I will post my dxdiag file later when I am able....

thanks, I would really appreciate anyone's thoughts

 

[LlamaCat]

Here is my dxdiag information .....

 

[AgentJones]

Basically what "Increase AGP memory size in your BIOS settings to 128 or 256 if necessary" means is that you need a graphics card with 128MB of memory on it. However, because it's a Dell notebook, you're limited to the few cards Dell design for the 5000 series notebooks. Unfortunately, Dell doesn't offer any cards in the 5000 series with any more than 64MB.

List of available GPU upgrades for Dell n/b's

So basically you're left with increasing the AGP apeture. What this means is that Civ 4 will use your system's main memory when the graphics card runs out of its own memory. Now there's some good news and some bad news about that. The good news is that this can allow you to get Civ 4 running. THe bad news is that you don't have enough RAM to make it work. You'll need to upgrade. You can either visit dell support and send your n/b in to be upgraded or you can do it yourself. If you want the former, make sure you upgrade to AT LEAST 1.5GB of RAM. If you want to do the latter, I'd suggest you register at Hardforum.com and ask for help there, as you'll find far more qualified people there to help you open up your laptop.

Cost of do-it-yourself RAM

 

[LlamaCat]

Thanks, this helps a lot! I am not worried about getting 128 video card -- the game recommends 64 and if I can get it to run fairly well now on 32, I would think 64 is enough. I was just wondering if it was physically possible to upgrade the card in this laptop at all or am I stuck with the 32 MD.
And I can definitely get more RAM of course.

Incredible how my 2-year-old laptop that I thought was the bomb is now a piece of crap for some silly game.

 

[AgentJones]

Meh. 2 Years is pretty good for a notebook. It had a good run so far and it still has some life left.

As for setting AGP apeture, here's a pretty good explanation.

http://www.adriansrojakpot.com/Speed_Demonz/BIOS_Guide/BIOS_Guide_02c.htm

The manual that came with your PC should tell you how to access your BIOS.

 

[LlamaCat]

Thanks again. Looks like I'm limited to 1 GB RAM for this model, and I can't find the ATI Radeon 7500 M7 video card anywhere on the web for sale (seems to be the only option for this model). I wonder if I at least upgrade to 1 GB and mess with AGP settings it will help.

 

[AgentJones]

The only place you'll find an ATI mobile 7500 is either Dell (if it's still in stock) or eBay.