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[Riddler]

My first post, though I've been lurking for some four or five months now. Of all sections, I choose Life Advice to make my debut..

So, here's the deal. I bought an emachines computer some time ago (though I now hear that emachines is sort of a taboo company, never to be touched by anyone actually wanting to have a decent computer.) The thing runs pretty well, actually, and never really has slow down or lag with most older games. The thing has a dual core processor, 2.1 or something like that, about 4GBs of RAM and an integrated graphics card that -should- actually be capable of running most modern games on at least medium to high settings.

Now, and bear in mind that I'm a bit of a newbie at this, I assume that the problem in all of this is the integrated card. I could be wrong, of course, but that is pretty much my only guess. Some games run perfectly well and good on my system, in spite of it, while others (I've noticed all in the case of games using Unreal) lag and get choppy or struggle to display the graphics. It gets really strange when I try to run Oblivion (which, despite the issues with the game itself is pretty lowish demand) and suffer stuttering and such but yet suffer no issue with Company of Heroes on high.

Sooo.. I guess the question is if I should look into getting a video card, and what card is a good one to get. Cost isn't too big of an issue, as I understand many cards can be a bit expensive, but hopefully there is something below (gah) $200.

Thanks in advance, good people of the forum. You'll probably see me around other parts of the forum offering more constructive posts.

[hemmingjay]

many games have trouble with an integrated card like yours. to play modern games you need a dedicated card for the most part. Given your CPU, which is what will prevent you from playing new games in 18-24 months, I wouldn't spend more than $85 on a card. The ATI HD 5xxx series are more than enough for your rig and cost about $80. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150467
I'm sure others will have some good advice too!

good luck and welcome to the board.

[Lord Shonus]

Before you buy a card, check the brand and rating of your power supply.

[nenjin]

I bought an emachines

I'm really, really sorry. You bought a brand notorious for low budget hardware configurations. When I last had an emachine, they had a custom sized case that didn't accept most standard boards of the time, only the ones you can buy directly from emachines.

That will be your biggest problem, combined with whatever limitations they built in your case. I don't know that everything they put in there is proprietary, but the first thing you need to check is if you even HAVE a PCI-E slot. If you've got an intergrated chip, your chance are 50/50.

IF you have a PCI-E slot, you need to check that it's a standard size and not some ghetto one-off size that forces you into a narrow range of parts.

THEN check your PSU to see how much juice you have floating. If you buy a big boy video card, there's a good chance it will exceed what the PSU provides, because they slapped a shitty low wattage PSU in there because it shipped with an integrated graphics card. And by big boy, relative to an emachines, I mean like a $80 card or more.

IF you need a PSU, repeat the above steps for checking sizes ect.....

This is why I abandoned emachines years ago. I went to do one simple upgrade and found out the whole box was a steaming mass of a fail.