[suvirj]

I am planning to buy a pc with an intel motherboard...how good or how bad really is the onboard GPU of these motherboards...it comes in 128 and 256 meg....what is its clock speed and stuff?

cheers

[b1gapl]

Onboards are ok for regular computer use, such as internet and word applications. They're not ok for gaming....well maybe for old games like starcraft because they're not demanding. But if you want to play recent games, then you need a graphics card, because onboard doesn't cut it.

[WorldIndustries]

The clock speeds on onboard graphics are the same as your RAM. The onboard graphics "borrows" the memory from your RAM... So if your onboard video uses 128MB, and you have a 512MB stick in your motherboard, it's going to take away 128MB of that, so Windows will only recognize 384MB of it. And if your RAM is 400MHz, your video memory clock will be 400MHz. However, onboard graphics aren't nearly as good as a video card, because it's basically borrowing everything, not like a video card that has everything it needs to itsself.

[Jorsoft]

Intel onboard graphics are pretty poor for gaming. They were designed for desktop use and light games. I know they can handle Halo, but at the absolute lowest settings only (so it looks like quake 2). The best integrated gpu would be the nvidia geore 6150, a close second is ATI's x200. They are suitable for playing WoW at medium-high settings (not a very intense game). None of them are great and if you're going to play 3d games to any real extent you'll do much better to buy a dedicated graphics card.

[Meithan]

Even a cheap (~$50) video card will perform better than most onboard graphic devices.

[Gonzo1337]

Originally posted by suvirj
I am planning to buy a pc with an intel motherboard...how good or how bad really is the onboard GPU of these motherboards...it comes in 128 and 256 meg....what is its clock speed and stuff?

cheers

If you need a cheap video card that will get you by depending on which kind of slot you have in your MoBo:

PCI-e:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814122205

AGP 4x/8x:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130014

PCI:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814140027

If it is an Intel motherboard, there are probably only 4 regualar PCI slots.