System Spec AMD Athlon II X4 630 Kingston PC3-10700 4GB GA-MA785GMT-UD2H DELL 2209WA (1680x1050@59Hz) ATI Radeon HD 4200 (Gigabyte) (Onboard) 500W eneramx/Or some other non genery company Sonata 3 case Games I want to play on high settings: Counter strike 1.6 (Now i have fps drops when using smoke grenades) Dragonica Dragon Nest Burnout Paradise Blade and soul ( when hes out ) Ty from advance, Natan
i'd recommend getting a stock Overclocked GTX 560TI or an AMD equivalent. best go with a 1 or 2 GB version. from here you need to sort out what card exactly, and that knowledge comes from reading reviews and the lot
but what if alergic decides to play some heavier games?, because when one gets faster hardware, one tends to test the limits of the new hardware, meaning when someone or myself is getting a new graphicsboard more newer games will be installed just to see if it runs and if, if it runs well. that is why i came up with a "failsafe" recommendation so there will be a little stretch for new games yet to be released. Fig!
Wait till ATi new generation comes out in first quarter of next year then you will: a) Have a newer generation card to buy or; b) Nvidia will drop prices of current stuff to compete. In any case next year you will be in a better position to pick a card.
I have some queries on Dell XPS502LX which has i7-2760qm/Intel HD-3000/Nvidia 525m. The Dell website has drivers which are somewhat outdated eg HD-3000 (8.15.2342), Nvidia (268...), Intel RST 10.1 I usually download the latest drivers from source/manufacturer and install. This has usually not caused install issues on my own-built desktop, but perhaps laptops have a different way. Laptop drivers installed: Nvidia 280.26 installs without an issue and so does 285.. (presently using 280.26). Intel HD-3000 (8.15.2509 had an error on install and aborted). Dell certified (8.15.2342) from Dell website install without a hitch. Have not tried 8.15.2559 as a result. RST: using 10.1 and not using 10.8 because of problems with Intel HD-3000. Similar is the lack of updation with JMB 1.17.63 or whatever (Dell gives 1.00.55.0). The key issue is that for laptops, should I stick with Dell website drivers or be adventurous and go with latest drivers. Problems are not an issue since I am hopefully covered (system imaging with acronis before installing latest driver updates). PS: Intel HD3000 driver (>2342 EG 2509,2559) fail to install because they are not certified by system manufacturer. So that problem is solved.