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I Need a Better Laptop Graphics Card!

Post » Thu May 09, 2013 12:49 pm

So, after upgrading my laptop to 8 gigs of RAM from 4, I took a look at my task manager and came to the conclusion that that wasn't the issue with my games, as they use less than 30% of the RAM when running now. Thus, the only thing that could possibly be lagging my game up is my HORRID Intel [R] HD Graphics card. I have heard from my friends that laptop graphics cards can get quite pricey, but I don't really know where to start to look for one with the most bang for my buck, as I'm no graphics card guru.

I will have a summer job this year, and I will be earning around 108 dollars a week. Ideally, I would like a card for under 300 dollars, but I can expend more cash if necessary. I don't need the most recent or high performance models, I just want something that would enable me to run my games online such as Arma 2, Arma 3, Ghost Recon Online. I would also like something that would allow me to record LPs with Dxtory around 30 FPS.

And as for why I need a graphics card for my laptop and not a desktop, my parents don't want me to own a desktop, and it is far easier to transport a laptop to college than a desktop.

Here's my DXDiag in case you need it:

Spoiler

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Kanaoka
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 1:09 pm

You're pretty much out of luck here. Unless you've got a (very specific) type of laptop (which you don't), there is no easy way to upgrade it without sending it off to a (likely shady) third party to do all the desoldering voodoo.

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NeverStopThe
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 8:37 am

Don't think you can with that laptop.

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Jonathan Montero
 
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Post » Wed May 08, 2013 10:10 pm

Yeah, like others have said your laptop has built-into-mobo video chip and cannot be replaced so easily if at all.
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Rusty Billiot
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 3:51 am

You can on a few, but you need to have a gaming laptop that is upgradable in that regards. Most laptops the videocard is directly soldered onto the motherboard which pretty much makes it impossible to upgrade it without upgrading that. And if you're going to do that much work, might as well just buy a gaming laptop.

I ran into this a couple times which with some games (like Skyrim, but for the controls and first person, it's better on console anyways imo except the graphics are not as good) is why nowadays my gaming on PC is limited because I don't have the funds to get a new laptop since the one I have is not meant for graphics but just sheer servicablitiy. Runs Solidworks simulations great and with no real noticable slower times than the computer I have at work, I just can't run any type of decent graphics because it just stresses the system too much and the same thing happens for games.

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Jennie Skeletons
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 4:55 am

Well, on the other hand, what would it cost me to get a decent laptop for gaming?

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Sammygirl
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 2:12 am

What? o.O

Depends on what performance you're looking for. If I had to make a guess, I'd say ~$800 minimum for a quality one.

Personally though in my opinion, gaming + laptop just doesn't mix. Unless you do some SERIOUS amounts of traveling/staying in hotels/etc. it's probably not worth it. Hell for the price of a good "gaming" laptop you could get a gaming desktop and a basic laptop.

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Tiffany Carter
 
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Post » Wed May 08, 2013 11:54 pm

Anything that can handle the games I listed above. Let's plays aren't really a necessity, however.

And yeah, it's weird. My parents have a lot of bullsh*t rules for no legitimate reasons. For instance, I am not allowed to play video games during the week, even though I always get my work done first. They think video games make my grades worse, even though I am a straight A student. I'm going to be honest, I sneak a bit of video games in every once and a while, but if I get caught, I get my computer taken away, for a month, even if I had work to finish.

However, that's a discussion for another time.

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chinadoll
 
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Post » Wed May 08, 2013 9:56 pm

Buy a cube pc tell them it is a gamecube.

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Ashley Tamen
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 11:12 am

I'm not an expert on laptops by any stretch of the imagination, but you could probably find something in the $500-$600 range that would run those on low-medium settings at 30 or so FPS. Though I'm not sure about Arma 3. It's still in pre-release, hasn't been optimized fully yet I imagine, and even afterwards will probably still be pretty demanding.

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Tiffany Castillo
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 12:04 pm

That might work for a time, but they'd find out eventually. They're the Gestapo of entertainment.

Did I mention they lock up my computer and video game controllers at 9:30 every night?

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Andy durkan
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 4:46 am

I'll consider getting one. I may have to do a lot of saving over the course of summer break, but in the long run I think it'll be worth it.

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sunny lovett
 
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Post » Thu May 09, 2013 1:22 am

Just be careful in that range because while something might run in those settings, if you're doing multiplayer that just adds additional stress to the entire system and you'll hit lots of lag spikes. If you're only doing single player, or turn based strategy (something that doesn't require good up-to-the-millisecond processing) then you'll be fine.

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Mackenzie
 
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