Graphics Card Questions...Please and thank you...

[wizzle]

Hello.
I recently bought this laptop: Future Shop: Computers: Laptops: MSI 16" AMD Turion X2 Dual Core RM70 2.0GHz Laptop (EX630) - Web Only and started playing games such as COD4 and CounterStrike Source and I get lag playing these games. In the description it states the video card can be upgraded to 700mb. Would it be wise to upgrade this 256mb card? Would the hypothetical 512mb card run well with this machine given its specs? I heard something about a GPU and I don't know if getting a higher gfx card if it would even make that big of a difference?

Thank you very much,
Will

 

[Ste]

The amount of Video card memory plays less of a role than you think.

Without looking at the specifications, my guess is that the video card is low end.

Just play with the graphic settings within the game..

You can also turn off power saving (Or turn up performance in power options) and decreasing amount of running processes.

 

[Jorsoft]

NVIDIA GeForce 9300M GS? Yeah, I think that's the lowest-end dedicated card on the market. It can play a lot of new games but you need to expect to play them on lower settings; the thing's not at all a workhorse. You should have an option in the BIOS to increase the video memory it uses but that would do little to improve the performance.

Laptop video cards aren't "off the shelf" components, either. For the most part you're stuck with what you've got and even in the few laptops you can upgrade they're usually pretty expensive.

You're going to need to tone down the detail levels in the games you're playing. If you're not satisfied with the performance of your laptop you should look into exchanging it for something with a better video card if you're still within the return/exchange period.

 

[Harper]

The 9300 is a Class 3 Low-Midrange Graphics Cards
Lower end of Graphics Cards for users who want to play games. New games should run on these cards, but only with decreased details and mediocre resolution.

If you want to play game, then I would check out this list
http://www.techist.com/forums/f84/laptop-graphics-cards-ranking-list-165525/
and don't go anything less that Class 2 Card / Chip.

It's not like you can change the video card around on a laptop.