Could use some help/advice if possible...

Computer Specs:

-=-=-=-=-=-=- System Information -=-=-=-=-=-=-

Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition Service Pack 2 64bit (build 6002)
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.40GHz
Number of Processors Logical Core Count 4 Physical Core Count 4
Physical Memory 4094.391MB
Virtual Memory 2047.875MB
Page File 8388.074MB
Storage C:\ Hard Disk Drive Total Disk Space 584.955GB Free Disk Space 156.118GB
Storage D:\ Hard Disk Drive Total Disk Space 11.215GB Free Disk Space 1.505GB
DirectX Version DirectX 11
Graphic Device(s) NVIDIA GeForce 9300 GE
+Device \\.\DISPLAY1
+Chip GeForce 9300 GE
+Maker NVIDIA
+Video Memory 239.438 MB
+Shared Video Memory 1791.637 MB
+DAC Type Integrated RAMDAC
+Display Mode 1920 x 1200 (32 bit) (59Hz)
+Driver nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,n vwgf2um,nvwgf2um
+Driver Version 8.17.0012.5896
+Driver Date 7/9/2010 6:38:00 PM
+Driver Language English
+Vertex Shader 3.0
+Pixel Shader 3.0
+Vertex Texture Supported

FFXIV Recommended/Required Specs:

Operating System Windows® XP SP3 *2
Windows® Vista(32-bit / 64-bit)SP2 *3
Windows® 7(32-bit / 64-bit )*3
CPU Intel® Core 2TM Duo (2.0 GHz)
AMD AthlonTM X2 (2.0 GHz)
RAM Windows® XP: 1.5 GB or higher
Windows® Vista / Windows® 7: 2 GB or higher
HDD/SSD Space Installing: 15 GB or more
Downloading: Space on the hard drive where My Documents is located should be 6GB or more *4
Graphics Card 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 9600 series or higher
512MB ATI RadeonTM HD 2900 Series or higher
Sound Card DirectSound® compatible sound card (DirectX® 9.0 or higher)
Internet Connection Broadband Internet connection or higher
Screen Resolution 1280 x 720 or higher; 32-bit
DirectX DirectX® 9.0c
Others Mouse, Keyboard, Gamepad *5

K, so I recently bought StarCraft 2 and I am also doing Final Fantasy XIV Open Beta...my problem is FPS lag

In StarCraft 2, if my settings are anything above the extreme minimum, i get less than 10 FPS, and in FFXIV, even with everything at the lowest possible and my computer's own graphic setting set to highest performance (lowest quality), I get FPS lag so bad it is literally unplayable

I got a video card stability test and my results were......

My Video System: (GeForce 9300 GE) Score was 57
GeForce 8400 GS Score should be 47
GeForce 7600 GT Score should be 195
ATI Radeon HD 2600 Score should be 119
ATI Radeon HD 2400 Score should be 43

Can anyone tell me what my most likely problem would be?

I'm not showing any distortion...just very low FPS, I am thinking it is most likely a half-fried Video Card.....or possibly an overheating video card, but I'm not sure and don't really have the money to spend on something unless I know I need it....

Any help or ideas on how to diagnose the problem more thoroughly would be appreciated very much

Thanks in advance....hopefully

my first guess would be the onboard nVidia chipset with it's shared memory

get a dedicated graphics card in that rig!

superbleeder has the right idea, basically you are no where near the minimum GPU requirements with that 9300GE. If you expect to get smooth performance in either game, it is time to upgrade that video card. If your video card was damaged, you would be seeing artifacts and crashing, not just slow performance. Over heating is not likely either as these days most gpus are capable of reaching well into the range of 90c without issue, hell my old GTX 275 could reach 105c and not cause any trouble beyond the whiny little fan spinning its head off.

Bottom line, your pc meets the requirements for both games except for your video card. You need to upgrade your video card. Assuming your PC has an available PCI Express X16 slot, be prepared to spend at least $150 on a decent video card that can play both games on high settings, and if you want to be playing at your monitors native 1920x1200 resolution, be prepared to spend up to $250-$300.

Since the 9300GE is likely a OEM on motherboard video, follow Stang's advice and get ya a 465/470 GTX for an Intel chipset. That's what I'd do since I have the moolah to do it!!

Cheers, JX99