I dont understand this (system/video card)

A

Ashton

2[H]4U
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Nov 13, 2004
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Ok, I just got two new games, one of them very new (comparatively - bioshock infinity) and my desktop (listed in my sig) can't play them worth crap. I'm talking single-digit FPS on lowest quality, impossible to control, not audio sync, etc.

But my "new" laptop (specs here, mid edition not high) is blowing through these things like nobody's business! (on mid or even high quality!)

Can someone tell me how this works? My desktop is an i7 with 4 physical cores and 16gb of ram with a video card that's got 1024mb of Vram (http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=01G-P3-1313-KR --- yes I know it's an old card, but that's irrelevant to my question)

My laptop is an i5 with 2 physical cores, 4gb of ram and a video card with only 256mb of Vram...

I have a feeling this is a severely n00b question, but looking at those, the desktop should blow away the laptop many times over, but the laptop's pwning the desktop right and left! what gives???
 
Your desktop video card is terrible! That's the problem!

The 330m has 3x the shaders and is all around far more capable.

Higher video ram amount doesn't imply higher performance. You need a faster card, plain and simple. Spend even $100 and prepare to be blown away.
 
A GT 330M GDDR3 is roughly 3 times faster than a Geforce 210 DDR3 or more.

Are you playing both at the same resolution?

Drivers?

CPU performance difference will not be a significant factor due to the work load (3D gaming) and other bottlenecks (video card).

What kind of i7 is in the desktop? The onboard GPU would actually be signficantly faster than the Geforce 210 you are using and/or the laptop's GT330m as well. A Sandybridge (i7-2xxx) with a HD3000 will outperform the Geforce 210 (by a lot, even a HD2000 will I think). A Ivybridge (i7-3xxx) with a HD 4000 or newer/higher will outperform the GT330m.
 
That gt 210 was a basic video card when it was released 5 generations ago. It was made for basic video output, not gaming. The rest of your system is great and can handle any game on the market but the graphics card is just very old and even at the time it was made, not made for any kind of gaming. You can buy any current generation video card and it will destroy the old one at least 2x over.
 
A $100 GTX 750 will be... hell, it's actually difficult to compare the two. Here's a comparison of the 210 vs the 750 Ti, which is a bit faster than the 750; from that I'd say the 750 will be easily 20 times as fast as the 210. I could be off by 5 times either way and it wouldn't even matter.
 
lloose said:
That gt 210 was a basic video card when it was released 5 generations ago. It was made for basic video output, not gaming. The rest of your system is great and can handle any game on the market but the graphics card is just very old and even at the time it was made, not made for any kind of gaming. You can buy any current generation video card and it will destroy the old one at least 2x over.
Click to expand...

pretty much this.
 
Unicorn farts make the new mbp play games better.

But seriously, as others said, your video card is crap, not meant for gaming. Don't fall for the amount of vram being the spec of choice for marketing. Cpu and system ram don't mean much if the gpu is anemic.
 
Ashton said:
Can someone tell me how this works? My desktop is an i7 with 4 physical cores and 16gb of ram with a video card that's got 1024mb of Vram (http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=01G-P3-1313-KR --- yes I know it's an old card, but that's irrelevant to my question)
Click to expand...
It's not irrelevant at all. It's the cause. You'll need to turn down the resolution to 720p and drop some of the game settings to get a decent framerate.
 
Replace that video card!
The good news is that even the cheapest of video cards should be a huge upgrade for you :)

I'd personally go for at least a gtx 750 though.
 
Wow, and here I was hoping there was an easy formula to determine what card(s) would give better performance (like the system CPU+Ram where bigger is simply better)

Will be replacing the card in a couple weeks, a buddy of mine is upgrading his rig and going to give me his old card (Still not top-of-the-line, but he cant throw a game at it that the card cant handle)
 
Ashton said:
Wow, and here I was hoping there was an easy formula to determine what card(s) would give better performance (like the system CPU+Ram where bigger is simply better)

Will be replacing the card in a couple weeks, a buddy of mine is upgrading his rig and going to give me his old card (Still not top-of-the-line, but he cant throw a game at it that the card cant handle)
Click to expand...

If you want the easy way out - just look at GPU benchmarks.
 
Ashton said:
Wow, and here I was hoping there was an easy formula to determine what card(s) would give better performance (like the system CPU+Ram where bigger is simply better)

Will be replacing the card in a couple weeks, a buddy of mine is upgrading his rig and going to give me his old card (Still not top-of-the-line, but he cant throw a game at it that the card cant handle)
Click to expand...

As mentioned, your GPU is trash. Depending on what your resolution, AA and frame rates you prefer will determine how much you need to spend. Personally I would go for the GTX770 with two fans and a slight OC. Choose MSI, EVGA or some other reputable brand.
 
Ashton said:
Wow, and here I was hoping there was an easy formula to determine what card(s)
Click to expand...

Any video card > gt210.
I'm not kidding. I can't think of another card that you could put in that pci-express slot that wouldn't be an upgrade. I'm sure there are a few, but you will really have to shop around to find a card that has worse 3d performance than the gt210.
 
Or just post in the gpu forum with you budget, your system specs, and someone is bound to post back with the best bang for buck without a doubt.
 
Man, no offense but you've been here for 10 years. Smartphone GPUs are many times faster than this card. I am not exaggerating. This was a complete junk when it was released.
 
Am I wrong to think that OP could get slightly improved performance by switching to the Intel® HD Graphics 2000 that is onboard the i7 than using the GeForce 210?

Probably not much better, but it wouldn't cost anything.
 
dgz said:
Man, no offense but you've been here for 10 years. Smartphone GPUs are many times faster than this card. I am not exaggerating. This was a complete junk when it was released.
Click to expand...

graphics cards are my weak point... I can tell you all about OSs, CPUs, Phones, Tablets, etc.... video cards just kinda fell by the wayside for me because they don't have a lot of use in IT which is the field I'm trained in...

DarkSaturn said:
Am I wrong to think that OP could get slightly improved performance by switching to the Intel® HD Graphics 2000 that is onboard the i7 than using the GeForce 210?

Probably not much better, but it wouldn't cost anything.
Click to expand...

Nope, equal or worse, I tried that on a whim. System is ok, but games fail hard, one crashed, one refused to start, and even Minecraft became laggy and glitchy... (though I suppose that might have had to do with the server - didn't think to test it in single-player)
 
ah i see it now. My caffeine buzz wears off around lunch time, and so does my attention to detail :p
 
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