@Bajamba
Please dont post when you have no idea of what your saying...
Let me get this straight so that people wont be tricked by this "cards with highest memory are best " thing.
64 MB of VRAM isnt "terrible", its true that it might not be that great in the future, but for right now its still enough. Im tired of seeing these topics of people saying "you need atleast 128, or get 256". Having more Vram when needed is good, but rating cards based on there memory size is just plain stupid. A 64 MB radeon 9500 pro can run Half life 2 like a hot knife being driven through butter.
First of all try reinstalling your Video card drivers. Because a 64 MB (even onboard) can run AOM with ease, because my 8MB rage 128 pro did it. High Vram sizes are a marketing gimick to trick noobs into buying there cards, there are FX 5200s with 256 MB of ram and most 9800 pros have 128 MB, but which is faster? The 9800 PRo RAPES THE H*ll outa FX 5200. Saying High memory cards are the best is like saying a Pentium 1 at 100 MHz and 1GB memory can beat a P4 3.8 GHz(570J) with only 256 MB of ram.
List the following:
Motherboard with model
Video card (give me the name not its Vram size)
Another thing NEVER BUY a alienware(Other anyother prebuilt system from companys like compaq, dell etc), they are horribly over priced. I could build the same system of nearly any alienware for 200-500 Dollars cheaper! Trust me iv been building computers for a LONG time and I know. Its best to build your own. Its really not as hard as you think.
Now if you want to upgrade your computer I reccomend buying a new graphic card. Either a Radeon 9800 PRo 128 MB for about 180 or a 6600 GT agp 128 MB for 220. If you cant afford either of those, than go for a Radeon 9600 XT(PRETTY desent cards too). BTW check your motherboard to see if you have an 8X AGP and not 4X, 4x you can still run ok...but not as good. Assuming you get atleast a 9600 XT 128, added to your current system, AOE 3 should run Well with most eye candy on. Age of Empires 3 will certainly not be more intensive than HL2 which my Radeon 9800 Pro rans at 80-140 FPs even on 1280X1024 ALL MAXED (FULL EYE CANDY)OUT 4X AA 4X AF.
Sorry for the harsh tone, no offensive was intended. I just wanted to get my point clear. (High Vram isnt always good)
[This message has been edited by wal2rior (edited 01-13-2005 @ 06:53 PM).]