Digital Photography Video

1

Which should I upgrade first: my RAM or my video card?

I have an HP Media Center 7160n, one year old, 1 GB RAM, 2.8 GHz Pentium D w/Intel 128MB onboard video.

Just installed Flight Simulator X and I've got a noticeable drop in frame rate; I have to dial the settings way down to get a decent frame rate, so I guess it's time to do an upgrade. I was thinking about upgrading my memory to 2GB and getting a better video card (PCI Express), but I don't have the financial resources right now to do both at the same time. So if were to do one of the two, which should I do first? And if I should get a better card, what should I look for?

I'm a soft-core gamer (I also play SimCity 4 and The Sims 2) and a digital photography/video hobbyist (I use Photoshop and Premiere Elements a lot).

Thanks in advance for your help!

Your RAM is fine, the minimum required by the game is 256 MB, so you're fine there. I'd say go with a better video card, Intels arn't that great for gaming especially if the game is all 3D based and especially if its on-board video. Since you have a Pentium D your motherboard will probably have a PCI Express slot. Look at your user manual to make sure, that way you don't buy the wrong card with the wrong interface. I personally like ATI card. The X series are good, X300 or higher.

Digital Photography 1 on 1: Episode 43: On Camera Flash Basics: Adorama Photography TV


digital photography video5
digital photography video5
digital photography video5