Question about Graphics Cards

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Olimarman

New Member
What exactly is the point of buying a particular graphics card? Do they make gaming run smoother or is it just better graphics? I plan on getting a computer to play WoW on, but if I don't really care for top notch graphics, just decent ones, does the card really matter?

I'm aware that these are dumb questions, but I never really got into computers and since I'll soon be getting a laptop of my own I'd like to know. The computer I'm thinking about, the dell 1525 can only use the default, and I'd just like to know if it really matters provided you don't want the best graphics available. Just playable, half decent graphics.
 
Yes, graphics do matter. Computer's with integrated graphics will be VERY limited for gameplay. The graphics will be extremely choppy and almost impossible to play on in some cases. I highly recommend you get something with some sort of dedicated card if you plan on doing any sort of gaming.
 
You can only cahnge the graphics card on a gaming (or some other really high-end) laptop, and mobile descrete GPUs are quite damn expensive. And no, you can't change the GPU of the inspiron you just linked.
 
For a laptop-yes. Unless you are really really good with laptops and get the right parts to change it yourself. That's why I went with desktop over a new laptop (I have a Toshiba Tecra L2) also.

Graphics card make your games run smoother and give you a lot better graphics. WoW can be played on almost anything now-a-days. If you get a newer laptop, you'll be fine playing WoW. If you want to play like COD4 or Crysis, lol you might not get very far.
 
So do you think I could successfully run WoW with decent graphics with the 128mb nvidia card, 3 gigs ram, 2.0 ghz on the dell 13?
 
You should definitely be able to run it with very little problem. WoW isnt as graphics-intensive as, say, Everquest II (which normally takes a fully upgraded system running at the max to run with graphics turned fully up), but it does take some work for the computer to render all those huge spaces, and without the dedicated card it'll be beating the crap out of your motherboard.
 
Olimarman said:
So do you think I could successfully run WoW with decent graphics with the 128mb nvidia card, 3 gigs ram, 2.0 ghz on the dell 13?
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Yes, you'd be able to run it. A guy I work with runs it on his Dell laptop w/ integrated intel graphics, and he gets 15-20 fps. Most of his settings are low, but it's not horrible performance for what he's got. You'll be fine..
 
bullzi said:
Yes, you'd be able to run it. A guy I work with runs it on his Dell laptop w/ integrated intel graphics, and he gets 15-20 fps. Most of his settings are low, but it's not horrible performance for what he's got. You'll be fine..
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He runs it with integrated intel graphics? Why do I keep hearing its bad to run WoW on?
 
Olimarman said:
He runs it with integrated intel graphics? Why do I keep hearing its bad to run WoW on?
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He runs it, but that doesn't mean he enjoys it. Playing a game at 10FPS isnt fun for anybody.. with any sort of dedicated card with dedicated memory, it'll play fine.
 
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