Can my old on-board video handle these formerly cutting edge games?

Cafe Society
1

I was in Best Buy today picking up a PS2 game (Dragon Quest VIII if you must know – it’s only $19.99 now!) and I was strolling through the PC game aisle on my way to the checkout. I noticed that they have a lot of the Big Name games from a few years ago – Morrowind, Everwinter Nights – for really good prices, and most of them bundled with expansion packs.

Now I’m not really a PC gamer, but I was intrigued because I have heard good things about these games and would be willing to pay 20 bucks or so for them if I knew I could run them on my machine. So with the following specs:

1.8 GHz Pentium 4 running Windows XP Pro
640 MB RAM
Intel Extreme Graphics with (up to) 64MB video memory

would I be able to play these games or would they sputter and choke without a dedicated video card? The only other games (not counting kids games) I have for my PC are Baldurs Gate and Dungeon Siege, and they seem to run fine, but they are a bit older than Morrowind, etc. So what do you think? Will I be disappointed trying these on my PC?

2

My gut tells me almost certainly not Morrowind, and probably not Neverwinter Nights. If you go back there, just look at the min. system requirements printed on the outside of the box.

3

My system is a 1.7 GHz, 512 meg ram with an older 64 meg ATI video card, and it runs both Morrowind and Neverwinter Nights quite well. The video card was a later addon and I know I ran Morrowind before I got it and I think Neverwinter as well.

I can’t run Oblivion or Neverwinter Nights 2 on it but the earlier games work fine. I don’t think you’ll have any problems.

4

Have you ever tried the Windows XP Game advisor? It will scan your computer and there is a menu on the side and it’ll tell you if the game will play on your system.

http://gameadvisor.futuremark.com/gameadvisor/service/index.jsp

5

The thing is, his video card is integrated to the mobo, and those kinds of cards are always inferioir to an AGP or even PC-slot card.

6

I have a ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card. Would a better video card improve performance that much?

7

Understood, which is why I added that my card was a later addon. My system came with some sort of on-board graphics and I know I played Morrowind on it before I got the Radeon. I’m pretty sure I played Neverwinter on the original system too.

8

Thanks for the link – that was very helpful. According to that site, I’m OK with Neverwinter Nights (just barely) but Morrowind is out of the question. The graphical representation of my system compared to the minimum specs for the games is pretty funny. For NN, the arrow showing “My System” and the arrow showing “Min. Requirements” are a hair apart, and the “Recommended requirements” arrow is miles away.

Just for fun, I plugged in some of the newest games. I’m surprised the site didn’t outright laugh at me for that.:slight_smile:

9

For what games? I just replaced my 9800 Pro. I was able to play Oblivion with it, but it had some slowdowns and I couldn’t turn the graphics settings up too much. I could max out the original Neverwinter Nights with that card, though. My new card plays NWN2 with graphic settings almost entirely maxed out.

10

Nothing specifically. Some games the graphics don’t seem to be so sharp to me and I was just wondering.

11

I have played games in the past that barely made the system requirements and I was able to play.

DeadlyAccurate, why did you replace your video card if you don’t mind me asking.

12

Ah. Thank you; I was wondering if my machine will run NWN2. The answer is likely, no.

13

Bottle of Smoke, the secret here is that a “cutting edge” graphics card from the same era will have depreciated in value substantially more than even the game itself.

Onboard video generally sucks no matter what era it’s from simply because it’s often shared video RAM. However, you can get the above mentioned Radeon 9800 Pro (that will play the games listed in the OP completely maxxed out) for around 40-50 bucks these days. If you go back a little further than that, and you aren’t dying for maxxed out graphic settings on those games, you can a useable graphics card for $20-30.

14

Simple answer: Neverwinter Nights 2

Longer answer: I upgraded my whole machine to an Intel Core 2 Duo, and the new motherboard required a PCI Express card. I got a Radeon X1900GT 256 MB.

And yes, it really does boil down to: I spent $650 for the sole reason of being able to play a $50 game.

15

Don’t feel bad, I got a whole new computer to play Sims 2. But I wouldn’t admit that out loud to anyone, least of all my husband. So I guess my video card wouldn’t be up for Neverwinter Nights2?

16

This was the specific roadblock for my system playing anything. I have only 512 ram, and I have played World of Warcraft since it was new, about 2 years, but had to get a graphics card - ATI Radeon 9600 or something.

Joe

17

Thanks for the replies everyone. It looks like I’ll stick with playing games on the ol’ PS2 or Gamecube, at least until I buy a new computer off in the distant future.

I checked out some of the video cards suggested, but my machine is ultra bare-bones and doesn’t have an AGP slot, so my options are pretty limited. There seem to be few PCI cards out there if I were to hunt for them but it’s not really a big enough deal for me to want to bother.

But thanks anyway.:slight_smile:

18

My old computer was a pathetic hand-me-down Windows 98 machine, and actually had a harder time with Baldur’s Gate than Morrowind.