Graphics card issue?

[superdave1984]

OK. Bought a used Dell Optiplex GX 260 for $90. 2.4 Ghz P4, 512 RAM. Pretty decent PC. Swapped the hard drive from my old Dell, it booted right up. Had some driver issues, but nothing major. Anyway, when I go to play some games, the graphics are really bad. The picture is like a million small boxes with a diagonal line in each with half the box black, the other half what is supposed to be there. Is this because of the onboard graphics card? My old Dell played these same games no sweat. Dunno the specs of the card in this one except it says Intel 82845G/GL graphics controller with 48MB memory. Dunno the specs of the other PC either. I am not a hard core gamer so I am not spending a pile of cash on a new card, more likely to buy a $100 one from Wal Mart. They have a Diamond Multimedia Stealth ATI Radeon 9250 for $75.

 

[AT2005]

Dude ya need a fresh install for everything to work properly. Just make sure to backup all your files. As programs don't work because of registry issues, which is a 'captain-obvious' thing to do.

 

[superdave1984]

Well, I don't think I need a fresh install of Windows because it boots fine and everything works perfectly except a couple games. I have reinstalled the games and video drivers and still get the problem. If it was a HAL issue it wouldn't have booted. I am thinking it is because the card is only a 48MB card.

 

[Ethereal_Dragon]

What were the video specs on the old DELL?

 

[superdave1984]

What were the video specs on the old DELL?

Good question. I will run Aida on both of them when I get home this evening and see if I can get more info. I just don't want to spend money if I don't have to.

 

[superdave1984]

The old Dell is a P4, 1.8 Ghz, 512 RAM, Nvidia GeForce4 MX420 64 MB. I am thinking the last one is the critical piece of the puzzle. I read the system req's on the game and they say at least a 64 MB card. DUH. The motherboards are almost identical with the exception of proc speed and the old PC doesn't have onboard graphics, newer one does and the newer one has a much better NIC. Looks like I have to spring for a new video card to play.

 

[networkgeek]

.....

 

[advancedgeek]

Go get a new graphic card.... you won't be able to play good games on integrated graphics from intel. Get a 8600 or something decent which will support windows vista and dx10.

 

[kaniobal]

lol. reinstall sys. everything's gonna be alright.