Well hello, everyone. My name is Andrew, and I am new to the alienware community.

 

Yesterday, I was finally tempted enough to go out and get a baseline x51 just because I've never really been able to experience a good gaming PC.

My specs are as follows;
Windows 8 64-bit
Nvidia 640 GT
Intel i3 3.4 GHz
1 TB HD
6 GB RAM
and wireless N built-in WiFi.

I am a Charter customer, and they are providing internet speeds 30MB Down, 5 MB Up. I get pretty phenomenal download times.

However, I think I am doing some things wrong, only because of the fact that I am having trouble with older/very minimal games.

 

For example, I decided to try out, "The War Z," which is a new zombie MMO. However, along with being new, it has very low system requirements. The recommended requirements are; Windows 7 64-bit, 2.4 GHz Quad core or better, 4GB of RAM, Direct X 9.0, 3GB HD Space, Windows Compatible sound card, and a broadband internet connected.

I meet all of these requirements, do I not? However, everytime I play that game, it gives me a default of low settings, and I get a solid 6 FPS.. The game runs terribly.

 

Does anyone know why it could be doing this? Is this just not that great of a computer and I am expecting too much out of it? or am I doing something wrong?

I will give a little more information about my setup.

I've got it on my full 1080p HDTV/monitor via an HDMI cable.
I have the power source plugged in appropriately.
When I first got it out of the box, being unfamiliar with this sort of thing, I plugged my HDMI cable into the back of my monitor and connected it to what I believe was the graphics card. When I would boot up the system, it would show me a loading screen, and would then go to "no signal."
I then noticed the other HDMI port toward the top of the tower, and plugged it into that, and it booted up no problem. Could that be my issue, since i'm not running the HDMI directly from my graphics card?

 

I will apologize in advance for not being familiar, and asking for help with what is probably a very minimal and easily fixable issue.

I would also like to thank anyone who helps me in advance, and I will appreciate all tips and advice. Thank you.