Should I get a graphics card?

Celestial Towel

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Oct 20, 2014
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I'm getting a new computer soon, with a tiny budget (around 200-400 dollars) and I've already almost decided on this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Dell-Inspiron-i3531-1200BK-15-6-Inch-Laptop/dp/B00KMRGF28/ref=psdc1_t1_B00LAGGR3W_B00KMRGF28

However, the Integrated Graphics worry me.
I'm a very light gamer, due to my current setup, which is horrible. (it's a ten year old compaq nc8430; with a ATI Mobility Radeon X1600, which has 256 MB of RAM, and a Core 2 Duo T7400)
The only two games I've actually been able to run are Hearthstone and League of Legends, with League getting ~25 FPS with everything on Very Low. I attribute this to the heat caused by the laptop, which by Speccy, says it's at 100 degrees Celsius. It feels extremely hot to the touch too.

From the data I've been able to gather so far, the Integrated Intel HD Graphics only have 64 MB of RAM, and about 300-800 MHz clock speed. My current graphics card has 256 MB, and ~450 MHz clock speed. From what I've heard, clock speed doesn't really matter, so I'm worried because of the RAM.

Note: I'll probably upgrade the RAM to this: http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-HyperX-Impact-1600MHz-HX316LS9IB/dp/B00KQCOTCM/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1414034012&sr=1-4&keywords=hyperx+ddr3+notebook

and the HDD to this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007R67FNA/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B007R67FNA&linkCode=as2&tag=twitchtv0d0-20&linkId=6XBJWVG5MSVGPLKU%3EKingston

Also from what I've heard, the SSD doesn't affect gameplay, except by loading times. Does the Intel HD Graphics share its memory with the main RAM? And if it doesn't, is it possible to change some settings to share its RAM?

Thanks...

P.S.: Does anyone know what's happening when League is loading? (is it loading game files, or connecting to the server)
 
Solution


The link the laptop actually allows you to select between 3 different configurations. The N2830 version is the weakest and should be avoided at all cost. You should select the Core i3 / Non touch version which costs $439. It comes with the integrated Intel HD 4400 which is actually pretty decent considering it is integrated. Intel stepped up their integrated GPU performance starting back in 2011 with the 2nd generation Core series CPU (Sandy Bridge).

Regarding upgrading the RAM I would just...

terry4536

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It is fine to start out with the integrated graphics. It gives you a chance to decide what level of graphics card you require. It doesn't make a lot of sense to purchase an inexpensive graphics card only to find out that it isn't the right card for you.

You can always order the graphics card tomorrow.
 

SchizTech

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Jan 16, 2011
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The OP linked a laptop. There is no way to put a graphics card on a cheap laptop like the one linked. As far as RAM, 64MB is the minimum RAM, the graphics chip will use a larger share of RAM on demand.
 

ducanoff

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Jan 12, 2012
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It's a Bay Trail laptop.

To OP:
What do you mean "Should I get a graphics card?"
You can't. It's a laptop.
 

IInuyasha74

Honorable
To make it simple, the laptop you linked above actually has worse performance in both CPU and GPU performance than your old desktop. Its that bad of a system. If you want to buy a laptop now, you will want to find something with either an AMD A8 or A10 APU, or an Intel i3 CPU. Pretty much all of those will have much better GPU and CPU performance than your old system, while that laptop with the Celeron is about the lowest performance you can buy. There are cell phones that are faster.
 

Celestial Towel

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Oct 20, 2014
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My bad; I didn't mean to say "get a graphics card", more like "should I get more RAM for my integrated graphics"

Is there a part of the BIOS that lets you change how much dedicated RAM for the graphics chip?

Also, my current setup <b>is a laptop<b>
 

Celestial Towel

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Oct 20, 2014
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It's a laptop, not a desktop, so I think that upgrading the RAM and HDD will at least let it run faster than my current setup.
 

IInuyasha74

Honorable


You an do what you want to it, but don't be surprised when it can't play games that your desktop can and runs slower with basic tasks.
 


The link the laptop actually allows you to select between 3 different configurations. The N2830 version is the weakest and should be avoided at all cost. You should select the Core i3 / Non touch version which costs $439. It comes with the integrated Intel HD 4400 which is actually pretty decent considering it is integrated. Intel stepped up their integrated GPU performance starting back in 2011 with the 2nd generation Core series CPU (Sandy Bridge).

Regarding upgrading the RAM I would just install a 4GB stick of RAM for a total of 8GB of RAM. You really will not need anymore than that. The Intel HD 4400 will use some of the RAM, probably at most 1GB. Regarding the SSD, you can always upgrade that later.

Click the following for some videos which uses the Intel HD 4400 to play various games.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=intel+hd+4400+games
 
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