Computer requirements for PC games?

I figure there must be some people here who are familiar with the rigidity of requirements for PC games...

My parents bought me the LotR game for the PC for Xmas. My home computer meets most of the requirements listed for the game: processor speed, RAM... but the thing that falls short is the video RAM. My Matrox card has 16M, while the game's box says it needs 32M video RAM.

So, I was wondering... is this sort of requirement the kind that is rigid, such that the game won't install and/or run, or can I still run the game, just not as well? Opinions? I'm wondering whether I should have my parents return the game or not.

Thanks!

 

I'm not too up to date on my computer jargon and the like (and I work for a software company! Go fig) but I had a game that required more video capability than I had and I installed and ran it anyway. My computer was fine, but the game lagged and had errors and fuzz in the graphics.

Am I mistaken, or are video ram card upgrades cheap?

 

Depends on what you think is cheap ?

But the requirements listed on the package are for the bare minimum. Which usually means poor of any performance.

 

Can I upgrade the video ram without changing my video card? That would be nice...

It sounds like I should probably send the game back, though, unless I can upgrade the vid RAM.

 

Depends on your vid card. Many of them do allow for upgrades.

Hey, where's Michael when you need him

 

Very few are upgradeable, but video cards that would do the job are very inexepensive right now (sub $100) you can get some very good ones at Best Buy.

Most of the time (and mind you i'm not a gamer but I talk to them a lot) if the only thing you're lacking is video memory (like if you have a fast processor and a lot of regular memory) the game should play, but the action and specifically the drawing of the screen will just be slow versus a newer card where the action would be more fluid and natural.

EDIT: After a quick look at the Best Buy site - one recommendation for < $100 would be the ATI RADEON 7500 GPU with 64MB DDR memory for 79.99.

 

Michael: Thanks for the info on new cards at Best Buy! Unfortunately, I can't upgrade/change my video card - I have the one I have for its specific video capture features. (For some stupid reason, the company made newer versions of the cards with lesser quality capture features. Go figure.) Since I originally bought and designed the computer for the video capture purposes...

Hmm. Well, I could ask on the Matrox board whether this happens to be one of the few cards that could get a vid RAM upgrade. Otherwise, I might try the game on my computer and then send it to my sister if I can't use it.

Thanks for all the advice!

 

Which matrox card do you have, I can find out about the upgrade. I am extremely familiar with Matrox's products, I used them for years.

I can probably tell you more that you ever want or need to know about pc video capture, it was a primary hobby of mine for years and I still keep up on all the latest stuff for it.