making video games run faster

Always check the minimum requirements of the games against your hardware first, if you meet it then you should be ok. Always good to have more than the minimum though.

David

 

Yes, both.

More RAM helps out in a major way by allowing your computer to run the entire game in RAM instead of a swap file (back and forth to your hard drive).

A better video card has its own RAM for graphics generation, as well as a faster GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) that takes care of rendering the images so your CPU can handle the mechanics of the game.

But, then, your system could be holding you back. The number one PC maker (*cough, cough* DELL *cough, cough*) is notorious for making PCs with very little or no expansion capabilities... not to mention the graphics cards that they pawn off as name brand are actually company seconds with about half of the pipelines inactive. Gateway, HP, and Compaq are aboutt he same.

In Christ,
Trotter