Video card question - Dev Hardware

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September 6th, 2009, 10:57 PM

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Video card question

Hello,

I just bought a laptop for school (dual core 2.1GHz, 4gb RAM, 300gb hard drive, $800...) and just for fun I wanted to see if I could run World of Warcraft. So i went to the system requirements lab website and it analyzed my computer to see if it met the requirements. It said that my computer could run the game fine except for my video card wasn't good enough. I don't know much about video cards so I don't know how to tell a good video card from bad.

It said I needed:

64 MB of video RAM - I have 1.7 GB
3D acceleration - I have that
HW Transform & Lighting - I have that
Vertex Shader Ver. 2.0 - I have 4.0
Pixel Shader Ver. 2.0 - I have 4.0

So I meet all of those requirements easily but it still says my video card isn't good enough.

It says I need at least a 64MB 3D Graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting (such as an Nvidia GeForce 6600 class or better).

I have Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family (Mobile Intel(R) 4 Series Express Chipset Family)

I am confused. Can someone explain to me what I need to know? Thanks.

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September 7th, 2009, 06:38 AM

Dngrsone

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You have 1.7GB of shared RAM allocated to graphics?

Did you adjust a setting in your BIOS to get that, or is that a number you pulled out of the users manual?

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September 7th, 2009, 01:28 PM

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Thats what it said on the website that I bought it on. I didn't change anything.

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September 7th, 2009, 01:46 PM

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well when you look at the check list, thats like saying your car has 4 wheels, a steering wheel, and a seat...but that doesnt make it a racing car

Intel's GMA integrated graphics are just not for gaming. But, having said that..you should be able to run WOW at medium-low graphics settings with a resolution at or below ~1280x800, and still average a good 20-30 fps. There might be some driver settings or game tweaks that can help you maintain the best performance possible, but you are still going to be limited. Upgrading your processor, ram, hard drive, etc wont improve performance on any significant level simply because the intel graphics are just weak.

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September 7th, 2009, 01:52 PM

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Thankyou. So how can I tell if a video card is good or not? Do the statistics on it not matter?

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