Should I upgrade my graphics card or get more RAM?

[lndm]

I think you ought to find out which is slowing you down. Have you considered your CPU? Integrated cards do have a bad rep though.

Can you go into your BIOS settings and modify your multiplier so that your processor(alone) will run slower? (If the game slows, then it's the processor)

Can you slow down your memory buss to see whether memory speed is slowing you down? (adds weight to the argument that it isn't the graphics).

If you remove some of your RAM and the game doesn't slow down any more then you don't need more RAM.

If you increase the speed of the graphics buss and overclock your card you can see whether the PCI-e add on would help. (Hopefully you have a frame-per-second indicator in the game)

There are some other things you can do which I can't think of right now.

Good luck.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I have a processor slower, and I've used it with the games without any problem. (Although it does slow media encoding.)

I don't know how to change the memory and mom won't let me do anything with the machine! lol

I have ATI Tray Tools, and in the corner of games there's often a number, and it's usually pretty low (in the red). I'm not quite sure what it is though. I'll see if I can find what it's for.

I've heard not to try to overclock integrated cards.

 

[lndm]

Integrated cards are not often that well heatsinked. Even still, I don't expect most cards to go far, hence the stated need for a frame count. This test could also work by underclocking the card. An underutilised card would still provide full performance (whatever the rest of the machine makes that to be) when it is underclocked.....down to that point where it can't keep up anymore, of course.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I tried using a few programs to get the framerate but I'm not having much luck. Any suggestions?

I have ATI Tray Tools and in the top right hand corner of game windows there's a number, would that be it or something else? If so, it's usually pretty low.

 

[lndm]

I've always found the frame rate counter within the game itself. Some games used to display a turtle in a corner when they became dissatisfied with the hardware.

Not all games use the hardware parts to the same limits but finding a single game that gives frame rates should be enough to put you in the ball park, so to speak. Failing that you could download a benchmark.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I found out the number in the corner is the frame rate. It can be anywhere from 2 to 40 (it can go up to a few hundred if it's a menu or something), usually around 20.

I've also found out the frame rate drops when another program uses the CPU.