How to upgrade my Lenovo Ideapad Z500 to meet the minimum requirements of a game?

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mrm198

mrm198

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Jul 29, 2015
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I would like to play a game with the following minimum requirements on my Lenovo Ideapad Z500:

MINIMUM:
OS: 64-Bit Windows 7 Service Pack 1, or Windows 8
Processor: 2 GHz Dual-Core 64-bit CPU
Memory: 4000 MB RAM
Graphics: DirectX10 Compatible GPU with 1 GB Video RAM
DirectX: Version 10
Hard Drive: 20000 MB available space

My Lenovo Ideapad Z500 has the following:

CPU processor: intel core i5-3230M cpu 2.60Ghz
installed memory: 4gb (3.86gb usable)
GPU: GeForce GT635M
current resolution 1366 x 768, 59 hz
64 bit operating system
windows 8.1
intel graphics hd 4000
total available graphics memory: 1792mb
dedicated video memory 32mb
system video memory 0mb
shared system memory 1760mb

Please can you tell me where my computer is lacking and what options i have to upgrade the areas i need to?

So for example, if I do not have enough video ram, can i fix this problem, and if so how?

I'd really appreciate any help you can give me.
Thanks
Mark
 
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V
Minimum requirements are usually just a guideline to know whether or not your game will be minimally playable. Running a game will almost always be possible unless other incompatibilities kick in (e.g. 16 bit DOS games on WVista or above), but playing it at 15~10 fps isn't really going to be enjoyable...

Your hardware isn't the top of the line for gaming, but it's not trash either. I don't know which games you're talking about, since you didn't specifically mention any, but with what you've got, RAM isn't going to be worth the upgrade. You won't be pushing for high details on most recent games, and older ones will run just fine with 4GB.
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Vynavill

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Unfortunately, since it's a laptop, the only things you can upgrade easily are RAM and HDD.
Both GPU and CPU are, in pretty much 99% of the cases, soldered directly on the motherboard.

In the extremely rare case they aren't (which you can only check by disassembling your laptop), changing the CPU would be possible, and the GPU too as long as it uses PCI-E (a thing that most manufacturers likely stopped doing, by now)
You would be, however, limited by the power your battery/charger can output, not to mention the fact that the extra GPU you're putting in will likely be an "heatsink-less" desktop card, which will most likely need its power pushed by a desktop PSU.

In the end, you're likely going to spend so much time and money in upgrading that than building a mini-itx portable rig or buying a gaming-oriented laptop will result in being a better alternative. Size will always be an issue, but you can pretty much switch up everything you want at any time you want (in the former case, at least)
 
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mrm198

mrm198

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Thanks Vynavill. So will upgrading my RAM help me in this case? Or is there no way to meet these minimum requirements because its not just the RAM thats the problem?
 
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Vynavill

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Nov 30, 2013
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Minimum requirements are usually just a guideline to know whether or not your game will be minimally playable. Running a game will almost always be possible unless other incompatibilities kick in (e.g. 16 bit DOS games on WVista or above), but playing it at 15~10 fps isn't really going to be enjoyable...

Your hardware isn't the top of the line for gaming, but it's not trash either. I don't know which games you're talking about, since you didn't specifically mention any, but with what you've got, RAM isn't going to be worth the upgrade. You won't be pushing for high details on most recent games, and older ones will run just fine with 4GB.
 
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mrm198

mrm198

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Jul 29, 2015
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Sorry for the slow reply! Thanks again, I really appreciate it. The game i referred to is ARK:Survival evolved. My laptop plays all of my older games fine, although a few do work it quite hard (fan goes on / temperature up...)
 
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