What should I upgrade for gaming? Graphics card or RAM?

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Level 1

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What should I upgrade for gaming? Graphics card or RAM?

Hello,

My birthday is coming up and I am a huge gamer, but I've run into a problem. My computer can't handle games like Planetary Annihilation or Counterstike: Global Offensive on high-res graphics and I was wondering what would boost my frame rate of those games up more effectively, a better graphics card or 16 GB of RAM. My current specs are:

- iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013)

- Processor 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5

- Memory 8 GB (two 4 sticks) 1600 MHz DDR3

- Graphics Intel Iris Pro 1536 MB

Any feed back would be helpful.

Rawson02

iMac, OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Posted on Aug 28, 2015 9:12 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

361,741 points

Aug 28, 2015 9:41 PM in response to rawson02

Your model does not have a discrete GPU. It only has an integrated GPU using up to 1.5 GB of shared RAM. Thus, the only upgrade you can do is to add more RAM. That won't help much unless you are presently running out of RAM.

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Answer 2

babowa

Level 9

78,115 points

Aug 28, 2015 10:08 PM in response to rawson02

Additionally, adding RAM on the newer 21" iMacs is not as easy as it used to be - here is an installation video:

http://eshop.macsales.com/installvideos/imac_21inch_late_2013/

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Answer 3

Rudegar

Level 10

170,880 points

Aug 29, 2015 2:52 AM in response to rawson02

onboard video card from Intel and gaming are natural enemies. Like Englishmen and Scots! Or Welshmen and Scots! Or Japanese and Scots! Or Scots and other Scots! **** Scots! They ruined Scotland!

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