Foo - Video card question

I have a Nvidia 5200 on my comp and the game I want requires a min. of a 5700. Can I still play it or would it not work at all? If not, could I lower the display settings perhpas?

You might be able to run the game in 16 bit and a lower resolution if your video card has the software to change these settings. But... the game must also support this. Generally, they are giving you the minumums that they feel are necessary for you to run the game smoothly, without a major hit in framerate etc.... Try it...you have nothing to lose. Worse case...you need to get a bigger, more powerfull video card. There are other options like overclocking your video card, but I don't recommend that unless you are familiar with such things.

You might be able to run the game in 16 bit and a lower resolution if your video card has the software to change these settings. But... the game must also support this. Generally, they are giving you the minumums that they feel are necessary for you to run the game smoothly, without a major hit in framerate etc.... Try it...you have nothing to lose. Worse case...you need to get a bigger, more powerfull video card. There are other options like overclocking your video card, but I don't recommend that unless you are familiar with such things.

Well, it depends what your setup is like. If you have a larger form factor in the case and there's okay cooling. I would try OC. There are programs that make it VERY easy for you to overclock your card. Just make sure to go in small steps.

Try the game, it can't be very expensive. What video slot do you have?
If it's ATA this is the card to get
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150210

But you should realise that the card is going to be a lot stronger than the rest
of your computer. But it will let you play that game at then some.

If you have a FX5200, you really wont be able to overclock more than 10-20mhz. I had one for years and tried everything I could to OC it with no luck. Mine had Hynix ram. If yours has Samsung ram you may be able to squeeze a bit more out of it, (the ram is the bottleneck in these cards) but the 5200 is known to be one of the biggest lemon video cards regardless. They are horrifically unstable and just barely DX9 compatible. If you want a nice, cheap, but much more capable card (but still AGP) go with an old ATI Radeon 9800Pro. I'm still running my 9800 and it can run games up to Oblivion era decently. You can prolly get one for less than $100 these days too.

Doesn't hurt to try to overclock though! Make sure you run 3dmark or some sort of stress test after you overclock to make sure its stable at the new speed.

-Jerry

I second the recommendation on the ATI 9800...great card.

I downloaded the demo and it worked fine.

5200 is the same generation as the 5700, so all the same capabilities are probably there, just less RAM, maybe a smaller pipeline, and a slower GPU. It may run choppy, though.