What do I need to play PC games?

[tidyclio]

I tried playing Forumla 1 on my laptop a while ago and it was very slow and reguarly froze making it impossible to enjoy the game.
I've been told because my computers only got 256mb of RAM that this isn't really enough to run games?
I have been looking at buying extra RAM but i'm not sure what I need to buy, how to install it and if this will solve my problems.
My laptops a Toshiba Satellite 2450-201 if any would be able to look at what this has and tell me what I will need to run games this would be great.

 

[Griff]

The term "PC Games" is so sweeping that it's a difficult question to answer. If you are happy playing a pc game that originally came out in March 2002 then your "needs" will be a lot less than someone who wants to play Crysis on the day it's released with every available option ticked.

Ram is only one key part of the pc and upgrading this alone (in your case anyway) isn't likely to make any real difference. The CPU, GPU and ram are all key. In your case your laptop is severely lacking in the GPU (graphics card) area so you could add all the ram in the world and it's never going to play anything 3d related with any real success.

 

[rob192]

Only as fast as the slowest component as they say.

 

[tidyclio]

When I was playing Formula 1 the graphics were acceptable but with my computer lacking in GPU as you say would this slow it down?
Not going to bother then as I don't want to spend a lot I just remember someone saying I needed more RAM and had noticed it wasn't that expensive to buy it in the shops.
I would consider buying a PS3 but I always seem to get bored of these kind of things really quickly!

 

[rob192]

I don't find myself ever getting bored of PC games, but that's 'cos I play them online and I don't bother with my consoles.

I think it's fairly expensive to upgrade a laptop, you'd be better off flogging it and building yourself a desktop unless of course you need it for work or whatever.