Graphics Cards?

Right, I would say I'm above average on the usage of a computer, but Graphics Cards?...Nope. I want to buy Flight Simulator X, and I saw a video highlight of it on Youtube and looked Brilliant! But I downloaded the demo and its really blocky and not as good as it looked on the video, now I know its possible to have the game look like it did on the video but someones going to have to advise me on this because I'm useless! I just basically want to know, a) What kind of graphics card am I going to need to run a game like that smoothly and with really good looking graphics, b) How can I find out what graphics card I'm running now. Thanks!

Graphics Cards?
sorry martin ,laptops are virtually impossible to upgrade,there are certain laptops that contain mxm compatible mainboards,mxm is basically a type of laptop motherboard that has a interchangable graphics chip,so you could change a geforce go 7300 for a geforce go 7600,but this technology is very expensive so most laptop manufacturers tended mot to do it as it would shoot their manufacturing price up and thus increase the price they would sell them to the general public...heres some info on mxm technology...http://www.nvidia.com/page/mxm.html


the only possible enhancments you can do to improve your graphics is first download the latest drivers for your graphics card.depending on your graphics chip it will be either nvidia(http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/dr... A.T.I(http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html)


then you need to update your direct x runtime files,these are drivers that improve your overall graphics experience,you can download these from http://www.gamesforwindows.com/en-US/Abo...


i get alot of people asking me on advice when buying a p.c,and the times ive told them not to buy a laptop,but they think they know best and go ahead and buy a laptop,then come moaning to me it cant play any games


laptops were never designed to play games,they just cant hold the technology needed to play games the way they were meant to be played


however some manufacturers like mesh computers do dedicated gaming laptops with high end graphic chips,one of the best laptops ive ever seen is the MESH G1- Ultima(http://www.meshcomputers.com/Default.asp... is a gaming laptop,pure and simple,its designed for gaming on the move and the specifications show why..take a look.....................


Intel® Core™2 Duo 64-Bit T7200


Intel Merom Mobile 2 x 2.0Ghz 4MB Cache


2048MB DDRII 667Mhz Memory


160GB 5400rpm SATA Hard drive


512MB DDRIII Nvidia Geforce 7700 Video RAM


15.4" WSXGA+ "X-Glass" WideScreen


Super Format DVD Writer -LightScribe


Intel 3945ABG Wireless LAN Card


Bluetooth, Card Reader %26amp; Camera (1.3MPix)


Free Gaming Backpack


Free high resolution USB Mouse


Weight ~2.75Kg ,Battery Life ~ 4 hrs


2 Years Worldwide Warranty


this is alot of laptop for alot of money,but its worth every penny,the geforce 7700 graphics is a unique graphics chip not seen on desktop p.c,s and with the intel core 2 duo and a full 2gb of ddr2 memory this will play all games including microsoft filght simulator X ,but at £1399 this is a long term investment,so you need to be sure its the one for you


good luck mate!
Reply:I think the game requires DirectX 10, and those cards are barley available yet. The GeForce 8300 is coming soon, and is supposed to be affordable (%26lt;$100) and completely DirectX 10 compliant. I have an older card, and I was surprised how much worse FS looked without the current DirectX support too.
Reply:You can not upgrade laptops.
Reply:Hate to be a killjoy but your laptop is not up to the spec of running FS-X in all it's glory. You can either tone down some of the bells and whistles (so manyoptions and variations to choose from) so that it will run at a decent frame rate (anything over 30 fps will do) OR go for FS-2002 or 2004. Either will give a decent performance on your laptop, run pretty much all of the add-ons that are available and cost a hell of a lot less.
Reply:to find out what you have in the computer you need to go to control panel, and open the system icon, then go to hardware manager, and look at the specifications listed under the displayadapter heading, that will either tell you what you have , or be a clue to find out what you have , what make , and model of computer you have is also handy is it a dell ?? hp ?? compaq?? all ways to find out what you got in there , i am asumming you are running on the motherboard video card, and dont have a seperate GPU installed, we can figure out whats best for what you got once we know what you have in the first place, .. i would bump up the ram over 1 gig if possible, go to crucial.com, and run thier ram test , it wil show all the ram on the computer, and tell you what ram, and how much you can install , write down all that information. so you know what your buying at the store.. anyone one of a number of higher end video cards may or may not fit into your system, and may require you to replace the motherboard, and processor, power supply, ram, and use the old hard drive to rebuild a better computer. this can usally be done for around 500 bucks , and you will wind up with a bterr system to run higher end games. personally i am willing to bet that your machine isnt goin to be able to do much without some upgrades..
Reply:It doesn't require x10 but it can use it, you need a better card (Nvidia 7900) to fully enjoy the game. For a laptop you can only reduce the graphics in the options.


Belarc advisor is what you need to give you system specs.


Laptops, in general, do not have upgradable graphics (google XG station)