Can my computer run game X?

[isiolia]

If you have any issues playing those, it'd be from compatibility oddities, not performance. Your IGP is comparable/better than top end cards circa 2005, and the newest games you mentioned are from 2006.

There's really quite a number of newer titles you can play on modern-ish integrated graphics if you keep things to 720p and lower settings (and are happy with ~30fps).

[Forlorn Drifter]

Gotcha. Wasn't super worried about it. I've been slowly peeking through GOG and those were probably the things that caught my eye I was least sure about.

[Tanooki]

That Intel HD card is fine and all, but the problem is going to be RAM. The thing siphons off a chunk of your base RAM to do the graphics, and coupling that with the 1-2GB that Windows snacks on too you're likely going to have around 4GB more/less free so it could cause problems maybe.

[isiolia]

Stuff he's talking about specs a 128-256MB DX9 card, and was released when 32-bit Windows was more common, so the entire system would tend to have less than 4GB available. I doubt RAM will be an issue on anything integrated graphics can work well for (and even past that, it probably wouldn't be critical).

[Tanooki]

Probably not then. I couldn't remember the RAM requirements from the period so well but if it needs like 32-128MB minimum to run solidly then it's almost surely fine. I just recall that the intel HD line can be really pissy about some bells and whistles and fly with others. I've got my old computer from before this and it was an i5 with the HD3000 on it, and it could run stuff as new as like Civ5 at low/med settings smoothly enough, but you could also try and fire up Call of Duty Modern Warfare 1, and it would crawl around 5-10fps because the way the engine ran Hardware Transform & Lighting calls for the visuals, yet other FPS games not using that dumb engine ran great. I was thinking along the whole hit and miss aspect with the integrated card as Intel made something pretty nice but it has holes.

[isiolia]

Odd for that to have issues. Usually it's the pre-DX9 stuff that can end up performing badly due to emulation layers or whatever (hence dgVoodoo to convert the calls to DX11). Oddball rendering tricks can be a detriment too though, which are often seen more with console ports. Things can get hit or miss with older titles like that, I agree, but for the most part Intel graphics can do well with games from that era.

[RCBH928]

If I am looking for a PC that will give me launch PS4 graphics all while being with low fan noise/quite, how much should I expect to pay?

[isiolia]

I think a consideration there is the current market. Right now, graphics card prices are largely spiked through the roof - there's a massive demand for the moderately powerful models due to cryptocurrency mining, and even lower end or used cards are seeing higher prices than normal (or intended, based on MSRP). DDR4 RAM is also up significantly in price. So it puts a lot of caveats on things.

The base PS4 uses a derivative of the ATI Radeon 7850. By contrast, the PS4 Pro uses something between an RX 470 and 480 (AFAIK basically an RX 480 clocked down). At least on the PC side, about the only modern cards that won't do better than a 7850 are the lowest of the low end (1030GT, RX 550), and even then, the RX 550 would likely be pretty close. Keeping in mind, of course, that those cards aren't targeted as much at gaming.
The cards that are marketed for gaming - the RX 560 and GTX 1050 cards - both offer better performance than a base PS4 (for examples, keeping in mind how few PS4 games do 60fps at native 1080p). Those cards have a relatively low power draw, with I think the 1050 being about the best you can get without needing an PCIe power connector.

So, in theory, you could handily outdo a base PS4 by dropping in a GPU that's (supposed to cost) $110-130 into...pretty much any half decent machine from the past 6-7 years or thereabouts, whether a brand new budget build/machine, or a refurb office workstation. Get a good deal on the latter, and you could potentially put together a machine for comparable cost to a PS4 (see: far too many Youtube videos).
Right now though, it may take some hunting to find cards at MSRP. However, if you want to go any higher than that (even cards that are supposed to be sub-$200, the RX 570 or 3GB GTX 1060), finding them at reasonable prices will take even more effort. Those are more like PS4 Pro performance though, and it'd likely prove simpler to just get a prebuilt machine at that point (probably around $600-650 if you watch for sales/etc to get one of those cards included).

[Tanooki]

That post is right on the nose there. Depending where you live or just finding odd deals with the weeklies from newegg.com or other sites it shouldn't be that bad.

I've got a laptop now over 3 years in age and it has i7-4710 processor running 3ghz when it turbo's up for games, 16GB of RAM, and a built in 8GB backed Nvidia 980M (equal to a 970 desktop) video chip/card in there.

What I have here isn't that expensive anymore compared to the time I got it when it was new. Even that is shooting well over the PS4 capabilities and into being like the Pro system. I would imagine going with a sharply for sale moderate i7 or a solid i5 along with a video card in that range stated along with a 16GB addition of memory you could get to where you want with it.

I went overboard when I did it because I don't have a normal budget for such goodies so I wanted it to last, and barring a meltdown and if the processors ever get cheap enough I could throw a beefier i7 in as I only maxed out the GPU.

[RCBH928]

I think a consideration there is the current market. Right now, graphics card prices are largely spiked through the roof - there's a massive demand for the moderately powerful models due to cryptocurrency mining, and even lower end or used cards are seeing higher prices than normal (or intended, based on MSRP). DDR4 RAM is also up significantly in price. So it puts a lot of caveats on things.

Thanks for the reply. We live an interesting moment in history, this is the first time I hear PC tech. is actually going higher in price and not lower.

Even that is shooting well over the PS4 capabilities and into being like the Pro system. I would imagine going with a sharply for sale moderate i7 or a solid i5 along with a video card in that range stated along with a 16GB addition of memory you could get to where you want with it.
.

16GB ram? Isn't this an overkill? I come from an age where 512MB RAM sounded like the machine used to do the CGI of The Matrix.