I am returning to This project that is a sphere that can roll straight and will stay on the terrain. This time I am using Java instead of C++. The sphere right now is a cube. I am using LWJGL which is a light version of OpenGL. I have included two videos.

What I am wondering is what can I expect if I ran this program with a graphics card. I think it would be faster, right? Is LWJGL good enough so that the the terrain would look better, or is it not so great? If the graphics do improve, what could I expect to see? Also, I am assuming more ram wouldn't effect the quality, is this right?

Considering buying a graphics card,

Josheir

I'm not sure if these videos will have the right quality, if not here are the links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6nFw3xKlfg​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmQ2RKkwPrA

Josheir said:
Considering buying a graphics card,

Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

Wait… what?

How do you not have a graphics card, are you running on a 1990s toaster?

Josheir said:
What I am wondering is what can I expect if I ran this program with a graphics card. I think it would be faster, right? Is LWJGL good enough so that the the terrain would look better, or is it not so great?

Hardware-rendering is generally going to be faster, and thus allows you to achieve better realtime-graphics. but its usually not without work you have to do. I don't know how the library you are using is doing software vs hardware-rendering, but a graphics-card is not magically gonna inprove your visual quality. Its just that you are not going to be able to achieve realtime-rendering like this without a GPU:

I just checked, it uses hardware rendering, is this what I should expect from a free library, and it doesn't get much better? It looks a little bit better than the videos, though.

I haven't programmed much in the way of 3D.

Josheir

Also, from what I have experienced there seems to be a definite better quality of graphics with a graphics card. Will it affect my program though?

Josheir said:
Also, from what I have experienced there seems to be a definite better quality of graphics with a graphics card. Will it affect my program though?

Yes, as I said, GPUs allow you to make better visuals. For using a game that someone built with GPUs in mind (so pretty much any 3d game from the last 15 years), you are going to see an increase in visual quality. Mainly because if the app for some reason also supports software-rendering, expensive effects like realtime-shadows will probably be deactivated.

For your own app, you won't get those features for free. Unless for exampleLWJGL does shadows automatically, you will have to program them yourselfs. and so on for every expensive effect that increases visual fidelty (PBR, reflections, SSAO, …).

;TL;DR: GPUs push the limit of what you can visually achieve. its up to you to make use of that.