Ram Vs. Video card

Alright, so what will improve my GW playing experience more, a better video card or more ram? i currently have the terrible intel extreme graphics 2, with 512mb ram which is not bad. i have a LOW amount of lag on the VERY WORST quality you can play on. Gw is BARELY playable on high quality. I can sit at outposts and trade items at the most. Now i know for a fact that ram is much cheaper than video cards so this is the option i'd rather choose...but i also have another dilemma

Like many others, i am unable to load important places in EoTN and nightfall, which is very cripling to the experience. if i try to load up a place such as wehhan terrace. My character is forever stuck their until i can get a friend to get me out. Would adding ram stop this problem watsoever? im highly concerned about both loading areas and speeding things up on high quality/less lag. But i feel like ram = speed and video card = loading. Is this true? I'd highly appreciate any advice, thanks LOT!

As far as I am aware the Intel Extreme Graphics 2 is a laptop unit, which means you cannot upgrade it. So therefore the RAM would be the better option. However upgrading such a low spec computer is pointless unless you needed more RAM to handle with a heavy OS like vista.

Save your money for a new laptop/desktop.

You have it backwards. RAM is random access memory, therefore it will assist loading times, whereas a video card processes the frames on the screen, increasing your framerate.

Would be easier if you just said if it's a laptop/Mac or a PC, what CPU you have now, what video card...

If you have no cards, it means you have integrated graphics, ergo you can only upgrade RAM.

Thanks, but no its a desktop. its a dell dimension 3000. So this means i couldnt get a new video card even if i wanted to? wow, thats terrible...guess il need to just get the ram

i have it backwards? people would always tell me its the ram that will speed things up both on gw and overall on my pc

As it is a desktop upgrade, capability for graphics depends on the motherboard.
Namely the slots available.

PCI
AGP
PCI Express

Find out what slots you have and get a video card that fits your needs (though saving for a new comp may be better) Depends on how worth upgrading your comp is.

If you upgrade, all you have to do is disable to onboard chip in favor of the slotted one. Though if you aren't adept at computers get someone who is to install it and set it up.

I was having some issues with loading areas and found a couple things may have helped in my case

As simple as this sounds..go into your video settings through options in the GW Menu Screen and set everything to medium..even turn shadows off completely..simple things like that.

I often use RamBooster..it's a simple free program that helps free up RAM..just set the slider for Optimal RAM Usage or whatever it says and set it to about 70-80 ...then click optimize.Heres a link through CNET if you'd like to use it..

http://download.cnet.com/RAMBooster/...-10028673.html


I also run a GeForce FX 5200 series video card..I have found this more than adequate to run GW..not sure if you are able to swap Vid cards but certainly worth asking about and it'll be pretty cheap.

http://www.nvidia.com/page/fx_5200.html

The FX5200 was the worst card ive ever owned and mine was the "ultra" version,im not even sure you can get one easily anymore,outside of Ebay.

As i see the 3000's come in AGP flavor your upgrade paths will be a considerable amount more expensive and limited as AGP is a thing of the past.

Keep in mind the Dimension 3000 has a 2.6ghz Celeron processor. wouldnt go spending a mint on an AGP card for it but if you must..

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102730
Thats the top-o-the line AGP card which i wouldnt doubt would see a bottleneck with your system.

Although your case is micro form factor isnt it?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814139044
If it is,theres the best option i can find(on newegg). Not the greatest card but much better than anything Integrated.

Thanks for your replies everyone, ive pretty much come to the conclusion that my pc is pretty dang old and i guess its time for a new one. I use my pc for guild wars and average internet use, so i figured a super high end expensive pc wouldn't be needed. But i guess it wouldnt hurt. I think il settle on the ram for now until around the time gw2 will release, then il buy me a new pc. Probably a gaming one

Well did you have the same problem as me were gw would completely crash at places like wehhan terrace and areas of EotN? Like i said, i have every single graphics setting set to lowest, so that doesnt help. Do you think downloading your program and also buying new ram would possibly allow me to go to these places without crashing?

You could try the -dx8 and -noshaders command line arguments.

Ah yeah ive heard of those ideas, but how exactly do you do them? something about editing gw.exe and inputing it? idk

Check the documentation that came with the computer to see if it has a graphics card slot. From the age of it, it would be an AGP slot.
Edit - it doesn't look like it has an AGP slot - just 3 PCI slots.

You could get some sort of PCI graphics card. Just about any video card from the last few years would work better than the on-board.
For example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814103152
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161010
If you do add a new graphics card, be sure to get into the BIOS/setup and disable the on-board.

Also, adding more RAM to the computer would help speed up everything, including GW. If you have 1 stick of 512meg and an empty slot try this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231078

If you have no empty RAM slots then take them both out and use 1 (or 2) of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231036

These two things will breathe some new life into your machine, but it will soon be time to start planning on a new system.

Hey I know buying a new PC is a really daunting task, especially to someone who doesn't know whats going on but just remember.

Guild Wars runs on pretty low end stuff. Don't think you have to buy $300+ Graphic cards for it.

Buying parts seperately is far better than buying an entire computer in some store. Generally they will put an extra $500+ on the price when you could easily figure out what parts you need yourself. Just look around a bit.

Thank you so much for explaining. currently i have 1 slot in use of 512mb but i just bought another 512mb. im about to install it on my 2nd slot and see how things go. Also, are you saying i could install ANOTHER video card? as in...a combination? i herd my video card was "integrated" meaning i cant remove it, so this confused me....

if its at all possible for me to purchase a video card il definetly do that in the future. That along with my new ram and i should be fine. it would then be pointless for me to buy a new pc? i guess

Thanks again

Thanks for understanding me . it has to do with other things as well. i mean im still on windows xp and i feel obligated to upgrade since windows 7 came out and i held out on vista. basicly if i purchase ram, a video card, and lets say windows 7 i can say my pc can compete with more advanced pc's?

Sorry for all the questions, im just trying to get educated and not make any mistakes

You can't remove the integrated card...you can disable it though so that your computer would use a different card you put in...

Also

You'd be running a really heavy load on your system even with the upgrades...and if I remember right neither of Quakers recommended Video Cards Support DX9 (could be wrong I'd have to double check)...While I love windows 7 myself...XP is goiing to be less of a load on your system...

Feel Free to correct me if I'm wrong here...

Do not buy windows 7 - your computer is outdated, even with upgrading it - XP is still a good stable Operating System and installing Windows 7 on a computer with 5-6 yr old hardware is a bad idea.

You won't see noticeable improvement in Guild Wars unless you install a video card. Your computer currently has an integrated video card, which means it is a chip that is soldered directly to your motherboard (more or less) and cannot be changed. What you can do is buy a separate, "dedicated" video card which will plug into the corresponding slot on the motherboard and give you far better 3D/gaming performance.

Nothing you can do to your current computer will enable it to compete with more advanced (new) computers. However, installing another 512mb of RAM and a different video card will let you play GW.


You need to make sure you get the right kind of RAM....

# Technology DDR SDRAM
# Memory Speed 333.0 MHz
# Memory Specification Compliance PC3200
# Form Factor DIMM 184-pin

Also the right kind of video card.... I'd suggest this, it's about as cheap as you will get and will at least let you play GW without throwing too much cash into what is already an outdated pc.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814187041

Ahh i see thanks a lot. actually i just bought and installed 512mb of ram Gw most definitly runs faster. overall pc speed seems a bit better as well...though i cant say the same when watching videos on youtube in HD. it still lags, although that could just be a youtube problem. sorry if that's a lil too off topic!

I never thought my pc was THAT bad. Would windows 7 be that much of a bad idea? i figure i can get this "dedicated" video card+ windows 7 to make my pc a pretty much brand new machine. This would be much cheaper than buying a new pc


EDIT: I have not yet checked to see if my new ram would fix the graphics crashes at places like wehhan terrace.. to be honest im afraid of getting my character stuck again. i guess il try it when i can get ahold of my friend who can get me out

It's a graphics problem the ram wouldn't fix it...theres a guide somewhere to fix it even thoguh a new video card is best
Edit: this should be it: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/g...t10408301.html

Yes Windows 7 would be a BAED Bad Idea...unless you plan on upgrading EVERYTHING don't upgrade to windows 7...its just a bad idea...

You won't be able to get into places in NF and EoTN that you couldn't get to before. That is because your particular integrated video card cannot render certain shaders etc... that are part of the graphics of those areas. The ONLY thing that will change that is a new video card.