MoD, Brien, someone, HALP!

[ADDirishboy]

Alright, so I need some advice. I was trying to play Portal today on my MacBook (I know, I know, blow me.) Well, unfortunately, my graphics card blows blg fat donkey d!ck and isn't capable of handling Portal. MacBook = teh sux.

Well I don't have the funds for my desktop build quite yet, and honestly I like my Mac laptop since it never really has any real issues. So my question is this. Steam suggests pretty much an ATI x1600 or higher, or a NVIDIA GeForce 8 or higher. So what all are my options here? I would like to spend under $100 if possible. Don't need anything super fancy, just enough to play Portal.

If you guys could make any suggestions, or link me to something you find or know of, it would be greatly appreciated.

Also, if I sound retarded, it's because I mostly am when it comes to this s***. I'm trying to learn, but lets be honest, I'm a Mac user right now so that pretty much instantly qualifies me as computer illiterate. So go easy.

[RCA]

Every card maker will create a budget card for those who want the most bang for your buck. For the last generation is was ATi HD 5xxx series it was the 5670. For the current generation it is 6750.

If you are looking for a barebones gpu to run Portal (the first one I am assuming) you could go for a last generation ATI HD 5670.
Or you can go with the current generation bang for your buck card, AMD HD 6750

Why I choose ATI instead of Nvidia? I like ATI's versatility, most ATI cards over ~$80 can run 3 monitors at once. Nvidia cards do usually have better tessellation performance but if you're not a hardcore gamer it isn't that big of a deal.

When choosing a card some things you should take into consideration (not including price):

- Connectivity

What kind of ports it uses to connect to monitors. I am assuming because this is for a Mac you probably want some display port options, or you don't care as much because you have tons of different adapters etc.

- Power

Some gpus don't require any extra power outside of the pci-e slot it is going to be plugged into. This makes installation less annoying and if messed up could damage the card/pc/comp. Most importantly cards that don't require outside power will allow you to use low end power supplies to run the cards. It sucks spending $150 dollars on a card then realizing you need a new powersupply (PS) to boot. PS are a pain because it requires a whole rewiring of your pc to install it.

- Brand

Some brands offer benefits that others don't. XFX branded cards usually come with amazing warranties. Some being life time warranties that transfer if the card is sold second hand. The cards will usually be a little more expensive but it is worth it.

Maybe some other NICOnauts can chime in to correct me if I'm wrong.

[marlin29311]

Are you talking about buying a video card for a Desktop, or are you somehow trying to upgrade your MacBook? I'm confused here.

[ADDirishboy]

Thanks for the info man, but I just looked well into it and it looks like the gpu and mobo are all integrated into one piece and stupidly expensive. Screw it, the MacBook will be sold and I'll build a desktop. Should get around $600 for it. Desktop I'm looking to build is right around $900.

[RCA]

Wow, you were talking about a laptop this whole time?

I guess I should of read "MacBook = teh sux". Fail on my part. Yeah you can't cost effectively do much with integrated graphics; all my solutions were for desktops.

[ADDirishboy]

I didn't know it was integrated like that. I never really looked into it since I never thought about even trying to upgrade. Freaking Apple products.

[AppleBonker]

That's actually most laptops, Gheyler. It's hard to upgrade components on them mostly because they have to shoe-horn them into the case.

[RCA]

That's actually most laptops, Gheyler. It's hard to upgrade components on them mostly because they have to shoe-horn them into the case.

Exactly. If your particular laptop model offered multiple graphics "options" you could swap what you had for the upgrade but most of the time that is not the case. I had a Dell laptop that offered 3 different types of graphics options and the high end model had a non-mobo solution, in that case I could of bought the extra hardware and installed it to have better graphics. In your case I don't think this is possible.

[C-Kwik]

I believe the Macbook Pro is upgradable (to what extent, I have no clue). But the regular Macbooks are not. Even then, you would likely have to find a mini-pci-e for any laptops that can actually accept a discrete card. And even then, it may have issues with BIOS lockouts, power, and heat. My laptop has a discrete ATI card and the onboard Intel. It switches automatically depending on if it is plugged in or not. When the ATI is running, I get a lot of hot air from the fan. A Mini-PCI-E slot not designed for video cards could cause overheating issues as the slots are generally intended for lower power peripherals like wireless cards.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Portal 2 doesn't really require much graphics horsepower at all. Source is quite dated and, while it can look quite nice, was originally designed to run on cards as pathetic as the Radeon 9600 (almost ten years old now). I was playing Portal 2 at full shininess on my GTX260, which is a last-generation budget card. Anything that you can still buy with actual money will run Portal 2 just fine.

I guess the point here is twofold:
--You don't need to spend much at all to be able to play Portal 2.
--DON'T make the mistake of using Portal 2 as the target for a new PC's performance. That's like building a car to do a 19 second quarter mile. You're going to wish it could do better the minute you're finished with it.

- Power

Some gpus don't require any extra power outside of the pci-e slot it is going to be plugged into. This makes installation less annoying and if messed up could damage the card/pc/comp. Most importantly cards that don't require outside power will allow you to use low end power supplies to run the cards. It sucks spending $150 dollars on a card then realizing you need a new powersupply (PS) to boot. PS are a pain because it requires a whole rewiring of your pc to install it.

This is generally only true of very low-end entry level cards. These cards are based on the lower-end tech but underclocked, undervolted, and make less heat which means they require less power to cool. All of that adds up to a card that can be powered off the PCIe bus itself. However, any card worth actually spending money on new-in-box will require AT LEAST one auxiliary power input. My GTX260 and my Radeon 6870 both require TWO aux power inputs.