motherboard and graphic card confused???

[Jamesmaier]

Im not very computer minded, not at all really , just want something cheap that will run the latest games like crysis and even call of duty 6 and gta4, things like that. Got offered a computer with 512mb ATI radeon HD4350 graphics card with 2gb ram, Asrock G31 All in one motherboard and a Intel Dual Core E5200 2.4ghz. any help would be great, only after something that will run the games, doesnt have to be super flash. Thanks

[Vee-ard]

a 512 these days isnt too great, it will BARELY run them, Especially Radeons. Yuck. You can get a decent 1GB Galaxy Geforce 9500GT card for $75 bucks. (Make sure the Graphics card slot is PCI-e though, not AGP as they dont make AGP graphics cards much anymore, and 512MB is about the biggest AGP comes in.) See how many RAM slots it has too. 2 Slots with 2GB is OK, but I would prefer 4 slots for 4GB. You can get 2GB ram sticks, but they arent cheap. Also, Depending on the operating system you need to make sure that it can actually take 4GB though.

So in short, thats not a bad barebone system, just upgrade the graphics card, REALLY easy to do.

Edit: Crysis is probably the most difficult game to date for systems to run, they actually use it as a benchmark for testing the top of the range graphics cards. Dont expect miracles trying to run this game.

[Jamesmaier]

ok then, so you can actually upgrade the graphics card on that motherboard? i didnt know you could do that. Is the motherboard going to effect anything like the graphics card, does it need to be also really good?

[Vee-ard]

Motherboard doesnt mean that much unless you like your features or need like 8 USB ports or heaps of other shit normal people dont worry about. For your purposes (and most peoples purposes) that motherboard is fine as most motherboards are highly upgradable.

The motherboard is just a board that every device associated with the computer plugs into (such as the monitor, keyboard, graphics card, hard drive, ram, CD-ROM drive). As long as the motherboard actually has the plugs you need, the particular motherboard specifications arent important at all.

I dont see anything wrong with that computer you were offered except for the graphics card, and a graphics card is just that, a card that plugs into a port on the motherboard. Once you can look at the inside of a computer and tell what the graphics card is, you'll see its far easier than you think to unplug it, and plug a new one in. IF you dont know much about computers, ask the person offering it to you if the graphics card slot is a "PCI-express" or an "AGP". You dont really want it if it's AGP as that technology is pretty old now, and to upgrade AGP is difficult as they just dont make good cards for AGP anymore(the ones that you do find are expensive too.) It needs to be PCI-e.

see the picture:

[Jamesmaier]

thanks a lot mate, really helpful 2 thumbs up on your explanation

[GetToDaChopa]

Is it just me or is that graphics card in the pic look AGP (i know you are using at as an example anyway )

[Vee-ard]

lol yes, it could well be AGP, but all I did was google image search "inside of a computer" so I could make that little diagram. somewhere in tiny writing on the motherboard right near the graphics card port, it will have either AGP 8x or PCI express 16x written there.

[roon_VR]

What's your budget? You can build your own gaming computer that could play those games for around $1000. Building a computer isn't really hard. There are plenty of guides and tutorials on how to fit each part in a computer. When i say build your own gaming computer, i only mean the box. Monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers etc obviously costs money as well. It's also not hard to build a computer. Give it a go! You'll save a lot of money as well.

[Jamesmaier]

yeah ok, ill be doing that closer to the tax return date next year and just spend around $1500, but this one i have been offered for about 350$ and just wanted to see if its any good.

I got confused with the Asrock motherboard as its got an inboard graphics card but isnt any good, will the computer use the HD4350 or the onboard one?

[Astranomical]

If you get the Radeon, you can completely ignore the onboard video and just use the Radeon.

Personally I'd avoid ASRock boards...they're cheap for a reason. If you've got the money go for something a bit better, such as a Gigabyte or MSI.

[roon_VR]

yeah ok, ill be doing that closer to the tax return date next year and just spend around $1500, but this one i have been offered for about 350$ and just wanted to see if its any good.

I got confused with the Asrock motherboard as its got an inboard graphics card but isnt any good, will the computer use the HD4350 or the onboard one?

If the motherboard has a GPU connected, it will use that. But seriously, as goVZ said, avoid Asrock as it's cheaply built. Jump on Whirlpool Broadband News, sign up, and tell them about your situation. Those computer geeks will give you the best advice you'll need.

[levymetal]

how much were you going to pay? here's a faster computer. price is including case and dvdrw drive, you may not need those things . i forgot the hard drive, that's about another $100 though.

this will run crysis. as to how well, that's a different question, but it should definitely be playable on low/medium settings. you should be able to go pretty well on GTA4

[Jamesmaier]

yeah centre com is only around the corner from my house, but ill be waiting for the rebate before i build a computer. this one is around $350

[levymetal]

fair enough then, it's a pretty big price difference. the HD4350 is pretty yucky though so don't expect it to play crysis. probably won't even run gta4