Need some help with my drivers and video cards?

Alright, I just bought the Half-Life 2 series, and the gameplay is VERY laggy, choppy, slow, etc. It crashes every 10 minutes too, with some sort of driver error. I'm not sure what type of drivers I have, but I'm sure I need to update them. Aswell I need to get a new videocard, but I have NO idea where to start. (Are drivers something you download online, or buy in the stores?) Any help would be MUCH appreciated!

Need some help with my drivers and video cards?
Drivers are like instructions for the OS for each


piece of hardware on your system. If you never updated


your video drivers, the OS may have installed generic drivers


which won't allow you to take full advantage of your video


cards performance.





Updated video drivers will allow your PC to more smoothly


and efficiently display graphics and less likely to give


you problems. You can update video drivers in the same


manner that you install plugins.





Make note of which OS you are running and the


model of video card you have in your PC and select


the appropriate driver to update.





Nvidia drivers:


http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.asp...





AMD ATI drivers:


http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html





The driver will download in the form of an excutable


and it should be striaght forward. You will require


a reboot after driver installation.
Reply:okeydokey. i want you to click start, and then 'run' and then type in 'dxdiag' then click display. now you should see a name of a video card there. it could be Nvidia or ATI or even Intel. now google the corresponding company(nvidia etc.) and you will find their website. on the website you should search for your video card (they probably have a search thing) and look for drivers to download. they do not cost.





the HL2 problem might be because of an insufficient video card or processor etc. try going into options and making all options low (and make antialiasing 0) and put it in the resolution of 800X600 or 640Xthingy.





good luck.





Hugo.
Reply:Driver Agent is a very good program that will keep all your drivers up to date. Unfortunately it is not free and cost about $20, downloadable off the internet.


http://www.driveragent.com