Anybody who can help with Computer problems. I need to upgrade my " Video Card " How do I do that ? Help me?

Question

I had just installed The Sims 3 , and when ever I click " Play " something pops up saying

" Unable to start game
Device 0 can not run this title.
Your video card does not appear to support at least Shader Model 2. Please upgrade your card. "

Now I just spent fifty dollars on this new game and I do not want it to all go to wast just because my " Video Card " needs to be upgraded. Can anybody please help me with this. How do you upgrade your Video card. I would like to upgrade it with out spending any money and I am 13 years old, so you need to make it so I understand how to upgrade it myself. Please, I'm in need of doing this !

Answer 1

First before you just purchase a game do a check if you can run it. Thats why the specs are on the box of games you buy.

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

use that website to see if your computer can run a game before you buy it.



Second, upgrading a video card can be complicated you just have to make sure the card you want to purchase is compatible with the motherboard. If it is an old computer, I suggest waiting until Christmas or your Birthday to ask for another computer.

Answer 2

If your hardware doesn't meet the minimum requirements, you'll definitely be spending money to upgrade. Now how much it will cost depends on what you already have. If you have a laptop, you will be looking at buying a new laptop in order to run the game since laptops usually have integrated video chipsets, not cards. In this case, look for a laptop with discrete video graphics and one that is capable of gaming (generally starts in the $900 price range and goes up from there). I have an Asus model that cost about $1200 and has the NVIDIA 9700M and my daughter is the primary user and Sims 3 works fine for her.



If you have a desktop, you are in a bit more luck. Most desktops default to using an integrated video chipset, but include slots for installing a dedicated video card (older systems would use an AGP port while more recent systems go with PCI-Express). Hopefully this is the situation you are in and the cost would start around $60 for a low end gaming quality video card.

Answer 3

Take the game back. Upgrading your video card means BUY another one. A cheap one that will be able to play Sim 3 is going to cost over 2 hundred dollars.