Hi,
I have not played much in the last few years. I am wanting to buy a new computer on Black Friday. I want to know what kind of video card to look for, in a computer. I have read and discovered AGP is a thing of the past.
Will our old games that needed AGP play on the new computer? Is it still onboard graphics on most computers bought at theae sales. I read about "PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe (or PCI-E, as it is commonly called." Is this PCI-E what we play our adventure games with now?
As you can tell I am lost in the Adventure game, computer world. Looking to my gaming friends here for advice.
Thank you, Julie

advgamer
Your right, most computers come with onboard graphics which are no good for playing games. My pc has PCI-E and I installed a GeForce 9400 GT.
With 1 gb ram. I haven't found any game that wouldn't play. I think I paid $49. Hard to find any AGP cards. AGP cards are ok if they are fast enough.
Kind of expensive though.
Richard

And the card interface has nothing to do with how adventure games play - they never "needed" the AGP interface. It's the card itself and its features that determine whether it will play current games. I have an Nvidia GTX 260 video card with a PCI-E interface and it's playing everything from old to new. The operating system will probably have more to do with gaming. A new computer will most likely have a 64-bit Windows 7 operating system. We have a thread here in the Glitches forum that addresses gaming and Windows 7.

kjos is right that most OEM computers are going to have integrated graphics which is generally not good for gaming. If you can post a brand and model number of a computer you're considering, I'm sure Inland and Jenny can give you some good advice on whether you can expect it to be adequate for your needs.

Hi,
Thank you for quick reply. When you say,"has PCI-E" are you talking about a slot? I have installed PCI sound cards into white slots, so I am thinking same thing just a video card in a slot with a VGA sticking out to monitor to.
AGP went into brown slot and had it's own VGA connector on back.
Really out of the loop on this stuff.
Thank you, Julie

That's pretty much it, Julie! This link shows what they all look like... Video Card Slots

They may or may not have a VGA interface - most new ones have the DVI interface and some will have both. But there are adapters if your monitor is VGA.

Okay, thank you both for the information.

More questions computer specs say

Expansion Slots Total (Free): 4 memory - DIMM 240-pin ¦ 1 ( 0 ) x processor ¦ 1 ( 0 ) x PCI Express x16 ¦ 3 ( 3 ) x PCI Express x1

Computer here
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=14978548

The main thing you should look at is the ATI Radeon HD 4200 integrated graphics and the puny little 250 watt power supply. Even if it has a PCI-E slot and you purchased a better video card, the power supply may not be able to handle it.

Jenny and Inland know much more about integrated video and video cards than I do, so they can provide more info for you.

The PCI Express x 16 cards have an extra cable that goes directly to the power supply so it is drawing power from there and the motherboard. I have a NVidia 9800 card and my desktop has a 550 watt power supply. I would say you would also need lots of fans to cope with the added heat from the card.

Draclvr what are you running on your computer XP, Vista or W7?

64-bit Window 7 Home Premium, Gerry.

The HP computer Julie is looking at at Wal Mart only has ATI Radeon HD 4200 integrated graphics and a 250 watt power supply. Whether that graphics chip would play new adventure games, is the question I don't know for sure.

There wouldn't be a lot of point in getting a great deal on a computer if you had to turn right around and spend money on upgrades.

Here is what Jenny100 said about the ATI 4200 graphics on that computer in another thread, Julie. Doesn't sound like a very good choice for gaming - even adventure gaming.

Thanks Draclvr. It's good to know there is a Win7 computer that you can play old games on too!

Gerry, it's been pretty surprising how many of our old games are playing on 64-bit Windows 7. The Windows 7 and Games thread stickied at the top of the Glitches forum pretty much says it all!

Thanks to you all I will keep looking.

Thanks Draclvr. I shall check out that list!

Thanks again Draclvr.