A question about graphic cards...

Hello all!

I am posting right now a (pretty dumb?) message just because I don't know much things about graphic cards, and I can't find which card is worth what... It is just because I looked on some graphic card websites for their products, and tried to compare with some computer's technical specs, and some game requirements, and then I don't think I understand everything..... There are so many letters and numbers and names in graphic cards; I really don't know what to think!

So I was hoping you could help me find how that works, and what is good or not good enough, what is equivalent or not to another thing...

For example, I began making some searches for the upcoming SWTOR game, which recommends the following graphic cards in its technical requirements :
256 MB of on-board RAM and Shader 3.0 or better, such as...
- ATI X1800 or more;
- nVidia 7800 or more;
- Intel 4100 Integrated Graphics or more.

So I looked on some computer technical specs and I found a lot of things like that :
- Intel HD Graphics
- AMD Radeon HD 6450 1GB DDR3
- ATI Radeon HD 6670

And when I went on graphic cards' websites to see more information about the cards, I have been able to find :
- ATI Mobility Radeon x1800 (I guess that's the ATI X1800 I listed above!?)
- GeForce 7800 GTX 512; GeForce 7800 GTX; GeForce 7800 GT; and GeForce 7800 GS (What's all of that? What's equivalent to the nVidia 7800 ?)
- And for the Intel 4100, I have searched a little bit, but it seems I just can't find it... What's the "Integrated Graphics" and all that stuff??

...Can these cards be found in pre-built computers? Because it seems I never see them listed in the tech specs lists of computers. Are there equivalents? What is a thing like "Intel HD Graphic" supposed to be?

I know it may seem to be pretty complicated (I don't know that stuff and I find it is complicated!), but I hope someone will be able to help me... Because I would like to buy a destop someday in the near future, but I love gaming, and I would like to have a good computer, with a good graphic card; something that would run game with ease, and that would not be outdated in just a few months or years - I would like something that can last a good time.

So that's all I guess... I hope you guys will be able to help me figure out how all of that is supposed to work. Just tell me if I'm not clear... sorry!? :S

Thank a lot folks!

EDIT: Just a small thing to add : what is the difference between "requires at least 256 MB of on-board RAM"; and Dedicated or Shared or Video Memory or anything other thing like this!? How do I know what possesses what??

 

Dedicated ram is ram that is on the GPU board, dedicated to video only. It's often faster and runs hotter than normal ram.

HD6770M is included prepacked on all brands of notebooks. You can find it on Dell, HP, Lenovo, Apple, Sony etc.

It's a good card. Should be able to play most games on medium setting at 720p or greater.

 

Most of those cards you're looking at are pretty old tech. Usually the minimum requirements will list fairly old cards that can run the game at a low level, rather than newer cards that can run it more effectively. I would look at newer stuff.

The easiest place to start is to look at a comparison chart, with this one being by far the most commonly cited chart. If you click on a card, it'll often tell you what it can run well and what it can't - not a comprehensive list of games, to be sure, but quite a few. It's nice to know the technical details, but for most people a list like this is all you need. I would also recommend shopping for laptops and checking the card against the chart, rather than finding a card you like and shopping for laptops that use it - you'll have far more options if you're shopping within a class of cards than if you're shopping for one specific card, and you might end up getting something better for less.

Basically, the further up the list you go, the more powerful (and expensive) the card gets, so it'll run newer games at higher settings for longer. For most people, the goal is to strike a balance between performance and price. However, one thing to note is that laptop cards are rarely replaceable, so a higher-end GPU in a laptop is a better investment than it would be in a desktop, since you can extend a desktop's usefulness with a card upgrade but you'd typically have to replace the entire laptop to upgrade your GPU.

 

Pretty much any laptop from the past 2 years should be able to run SW:TOR, that's what Bioware and EA aimed it at, the masses. Now I didn't really read the whole wall of text, but if your looking for a laptop that can run it, pretty much anything with a dedicated GPU will handle it.

 

quite simply:

Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List - Notebookcheck.net Tech

this shows a list of modern mobile graphics cards listed from high to low...

"Crossfire" (CF) and "SLI" indicate that 2 of those cards have been linked together

 

Games on Laptop Graphics Cards
Don't forget this, its really useful in finding what games can be played by what.

 

Ok, thanks to you all! First, I didn't even know that the cards indicated on the SWTOR requirements were pretty old. And what about those I saw listed as technical specs on computers' websites? Are they relatively good, or are they pretty much basic? I started to look on the charts, too, but there are a huge lot of different cards. It will take a little time for me to find myself among all of this information, but thank you very much!