Technical question ...... new Video card on PCs

[Crystaltips]

DS has just got a PC game and the video card that we have on the PC is not supported.

Do I say "tough" or do I try and update the PC with a new video card?

Is it easy to do ?
Will I cock-up the rest of my settings ?
Will any video card work ?
Can I nick the software from my Laptop ?

Thanks in anticipation.

xx

you will need a video card that is recommended by the game. But dh says you need to go better than that and get the best one you can afford.

thanks furball .... but how do I do that ??

Is it a matter of installing software ... or do I have to physically put someting in the PC ????
Thanks again

sorry, just seen this and dh has gone to work! Maybe someone els can answer? Help!

Video card would be a card and installation job plus software.

What's the game? If you check the website and forums you may find that you can get by with your card or just update it's driver to make it work. Have you tried the game? Does it work or does it fall over?

The game is the lord of the rings .... and it installs but crashes when I try and run it.

All the other games we have run OK with the PC ... it's just this one that says that it does not support our video card ...

Rather scared about downloading an update ... what happens ifI get it wrong and then have nothing at all ????
or is that a silly question ?

Thanks

No, it's not a silly question at all. Video cards can be quite tricky. They can be separate things or on your motherboard, so it's quite hard to advise. You may find that the game works if you update your drivers, you may find that updating your drivers buggers some of your older games. Also if you stuff up you may find you lose your display altogether.

I would go to the lord of the rings website if there is one (for the game) or to some games forums and ask for advice there. It may be a common problem with your particular video card and easily fixed.

I work in IT, and I found PC games a nightmare unless you kept your pc as up to date as possible, which is really hard as it all moves so quickly. We just use consoles now. Sorry to not be more helpful.

If it helps, you can find out a lot about what you currently have installed, hardware wise, by running a program called dxdiag.

If using WinXp, click Start... then Run, then type in: dxdiag

Upgrading a video card can be tricky. You need to know what sort of 'slots' you have available on your motherboard for a start. If that has confused you already... then you need to find a small local computer shop and get them to take a look at your computer.

If you know what slots you have... then take a look at this Tutorial as a starting point to getting to know more about the upgrade process.