Video card upgrade or no?

[kcd_swede]

I have receeived a free video card that would be somewhat of an upgrade compared to my current one. Would a better video card elilminate crashes in Large/Huge maps at late game, or would that require a better processor than what I have now?

I can add tech specs later if needed, but for now my general question is:
Are these late game crashes most likely related to Video Card inadequacies or simply to processor overload?

 

[ori]

they are most likely not due to processor overload.
common reasons:
1) memory allocation failure (game needs more than RAM+page file OR more than 2GB OR more than 3GB with the /3GB switch set in windows) - sometimes more RAM helps (it usually helps with speed)
2) video memory allocation failure (game needs more graphics memory than is available - new card might help)
other errors include: overheating of the computer (here a new card can help if the fan is better )
apart from that: are there any error messages when your game crashes?

 

[kcd_swede]

they are most likely not due to processor overload.
common reasons:
1) memory allocation failure (game needs more than RAM+page file OR more than 2GB OR more than 3GB with the /3GB switch set in windows) - sometimes more RAM helps (it usually helps with speed)
2) video memory allocation failure (game needs more graphics memory than is available - new card might help)
other errors include: overheating of the computer (here a new card can help if the fan is better )
apart from that: are there any error messages when your game crashes?

No error messages... screen goes black and it reboots itself.

I'm upgrading RAM for another application, so I'll see what happens with that. (Right now I've got 512M and will upgrade to 2.5G, though I could expand to 4G if I wasn't so cheap).
Thanks for the reply, btw.

 

[ori]

even if it reboots directly there should be an error message in the windows event manager

 

[kcd_swede]

even if it reboots directly there should be an error message in the windows event manager

I do not get an error message on start-up, and do not know how to access windows event manager log. Didn't even know there was such a thing... (I'm using XP).

 

[ori]

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

 

[kcd_swede]

Tack så mycket!