Upgrading Advice.....

[itena]

Hello all,

I have a friend who would like to upgrade his video card and add more RAM to his computer. He currently has 256MB of RAM and has a NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 Model 64 Pro display adaptor (I think this card has only 32MB of video RAM). He is using WinXP Home on a HP Pavilion 7955 computer.

He would like to install an additional 256MB of RAM for a total of 512MB and upgrade his video card to a Nvidia GeForce 4 FX5200/ 128MB DDR / TV-Out.

-What kind of an increase in gameplay performance will he get?

-What are the pros and cons with the above upgrade?

-Is it true that more video memory in a video card will give a person the same frame rate per second but at higher video resolutions? (meaning a better looking picture being displayed on screen?)

-What are some of the key things to look for when buying a video card? Ex. Speed of video RAM, Type of video RAM, Amount of video RAM, etc. what else could be important? Would the manufacturer specify this on there retail box?

Thanks to all that reply.


Ismael

P.S. The following is a closer look at my friend's computer specifications:


Operating System
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 1 (build 2600)

System Model
HP Pavilion 04 P5269A-ABA 7955 70000TG101AMAZO
System Serial Number: MX13669306 NA070

Processor
1.50 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
256 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Main Circuit Board
Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P4B-LA REV 1.xx
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: Award Software, Inc. 3.05 08/28/2001

Memory Modules
256 Megabytes Installed Memory
Slot 'DIMM 1' has 256 MB
Slot 'DIMM 2' is Empty
Slot 'DIMM 3' is Empty

Drives
35.28 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
9.13 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space
HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8160B [CD-ROM drive]
TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-M1502 [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]
ST340810A [Hard drive] (40.02 GB) -- drive 0, s/n 5FB0FT1K, rev 3.35, SMART Status: Healthy
Local Drive Volumes
c: (on drive 0) 35.28 GB 9.13 GB free

[VERT]

Whenever I am thinking of getting an upgrade I goto www.futuremark.com and have a look at what a similar system to mine would score in 3D Mark with the upgrade. Of course I also know what my existing 3D mark score is.

[RamonGTP]

Video memory depends on many factors on wether or not it will increase performance... The FX5200 comes in two flavors.... A 64bit version and 128bit version... The 64 is the more common one and it sucks. The 128bit isn't great, but isn't as bad obviously. If he wants to do any sort of gameing, i'd recommend a Ti4200 or a Radeon 9600Pro. If its for very light gaming, and he plays older games at not a very high detail level, the 5200 may be ok.

[tony_j15]

IMVHO, dont even think about touching the FX5200! Like Ramon said, get a ti4200 or Radeon 9600, they are way better and will last you longer.

-What kind of an increase in gameplay performance will he get?

Very good increase

-What are the pros and cons with the above upgrade?

Cons? Uhhh, it costs money? There are no real cons as long as you dont get that 5200

Is it true that more video memory in a video card will give a person the same frame rate per second but at higher video resolutions? (meaning a better looking picture being displayed on screen?)

More memory means more FPS and better resolutions.

What are some of the key things to look for when buying a video card? Ex. Speed of video RAM, Type of video RAM, Amount of video RAM, etc. what else could be important? Would the manufacturer specify this on there retail box?

Cost, good ram (like 2.8ns rating) speed of ram (depends on card) amount of ram (get 128 mb) . Core speed is also important. This info will be on sellers websites and product boxes