Graphics Card or RAM?

[Winter12345]

<p>I'm curious, is it the Graphics Card that gets you to run on higher graphics levels or is it RAM? I heard that more ram=less lag, so if you had like 3gig but only a typical 6150 Nvidia Chip, could you run on Very High Quality-Extreme?</p><p> Hopefully it is just RAM, Right now i have 1gig and Nvidia 6150 card and im running on Balanced with some lag.</p><p>Thanks again.</p>

[Winter12345]

<p>Anyone? Plz I'm really curious to know because I'm thinking of adding RAM to my computer to get it to at least 2-2.5 gig. What settings can I run at that much?</p><p> Also I Don't know if this may happen, but has anyone experianced any problems running eq2 after adding ram? I dont want my computer to turn bad.</p>

[Cassea]

That is a horrible video card!Run... don't walk from that card <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" />With XP 1gig is fine for EQ2. With Vista I would rather have 2gig at least.While it's true that EQ2 does not use the full abilities of the newer video cards you do need a decent card.Pick yourself up an ATI 3850/3870 or Nvidia 9600GT or 8800GT and you will see a huge jump in performance.You did not say what your CPU is. EQ2 is very CPU dependant and the game will only run as fast as your weakest link.If you are running EQ2 on a 6150 I can say, without question, that your video card is your weakest link <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" />-JBP.S. You need "enough" RAM to run a game. If a game needs 1gig and you have 10 zillion gig it will not run any faster. Yes the extra ram will be used as a hard drive cache and you will see some performance improvement there but not as much as you think. P.P.S. Video Cards have pipelines... IE how many things they can do at one time. If I rem correctly the 6150 only has 2 pipes (or maybe 4 pipes if it's the same as the 6200) - modern cards now have 12, 16, 24, 32 or even 64 pipes! They also have other advanced features such as shaders (special effects) and such and this area is where EQ2 can be improved but your 6150 just does not have the raw power to run EQ2 at full speed. P.P.P.S. If your CPU is too slow then adding a video card will only speed up the game a little. Let us know what CPU you have first before you buy a new video card.

[Winter12345]

<p>When you say what CPU, do you mean like XP or Vista? Sorry im not really a computer person. But i have XP, 1 gig, AMD athlon chip (forgot what version) and the 6150 card that is a 512 ram one.</p><p> Why is it horrible? I can run ok on balanced with it, I mean right now i dont think i can get the latest graphics card. Well i can always get a better computer, but i wanna stay with XP and not vista imo. SO my next question is, what should i upgrade my 1gig, XP 6150 Nvidia card to? (Again i can run on balanced right now with some lag and on High Performance with no lag)</p>

[Cassea]

<cite>Lorekaisen@Nagafen wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>When you say what CPU, do you mean like XP or Vista? Sorry im not really a computer person. But i have XP, 1 gig, AMD athlon chip (forgot what version) and the 6150 card that is a 512 ram one.</p><p> Why is it horrible? I can run ok on balanced with it, I mean right now i dont think i can get the latest graphics card. Well i can always get a better computer, but i wanna stay with XP and not vista imo. SO my next question is, what should i upgrade my 1gig, XP 6150 Nvidia card to? (Again i can run on balanced right now with some lag and on High Performance with no lag)</p></blockquote>The 6150 is a free video card built into your motherboard. It was never meant to play 3D games. You need a PCIx16 video card slot in order to upgrade. If you have a store bought computer give me the exact modem number and I'll look it up for you. With XP you are fine with 1gig but that video card has to go. Yes it's that slow... so slow, in fact, that even el cheapo $50 cards are at least 3-4 times as fast.-JBP.S. Look at the chart here:<a href="http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/graphics-cards/3dmark06-v1-0-2-hdr-sm3-0-score,538.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...-score,538.html</a>The slowest card on the chart is at least 3 times faster than what you have.

[Winter12345]

<p>Hmm so basically what you are saying is upgrade my graphics card and not my RAM. Well I'm thinking of upgrading it to a 7800GTX, is that good? What graphics level can i run with that? I may even try to chip it to 4gig if possible. My CPU type is AMD Athlon, not Pentium (i experianced A LOT of more problems with pentium).</p><p>P.S- forgot to add, how do you look up the other modem #, i forgot how some time ago for another reason.</p>

[Cassea]

Do not upgrade past 2gig with XP.The 7800 is a decent card but you can do better if you have a PCIx16 slot and a decent power supply.If you have a PCIx16 (Express 16) and at least 400watts then get one of the following:ATI 3850Nvidia 9600GTATI 3870Nvidia 8800GTIf you are looking sub $100 then let me know.What speed is your AMD? -JB

[Winter12345]

I'm not sure but i think it is 2.0 Ghz, ill try to upgrade it to 8800 GTX as well

[TSR-DanielH]

It's always hard to say what will give the best performance increases when it's so dependent on what else you have running and your specific computer setup.  You would definitely benefit from a new graphics card and some more RAM.  Assuming you are running 2x512mb sticks of ram currently and have PCI-xpress, I would say an extra 2 sticks of 512mb RAM and an 8800GT would seem like a good upgrade for a reasonable price.  I'd like to give you more specific advice but its hard to recommend an upgrade path when I don't know much about your current computer.  Details like the size of your power source, your type of motherboard, and your current power source will really determine what upgrades are reasonable within  your budget(which I also don't know).I wish I could tell you more.