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Compatible With Modern Games?

Forum CPU & Components : CPUs Compatible With Modern Games?

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I do not want to buy a modern game such as Starcraft 2 and find out that i cant run it so....

I used Systemrequirementslab and it told me:

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

CPU
Minimum: 2.6 GHz Pentium® IV or equivalent AMD Athlon® processor
You Have: AMD Athlon(tm) II Dual-Core M300
PASS

CPU Speed
Minimum: 2.6 GHz
You Have: 1.99 GHz Performance Rated at: 3.383 GHz
PASS

RAM
Minimum: 1 GB RAM (1.5 GB required for Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 users)
You Have: 2.7 GB
PASS

OS
Minimum: Windows® XP/Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 (Updated with the latest Service Packs)
You Have: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition (build 7600), 32-bit
PASS

Video Card
Minimum: 128 MB PCIe NVIDIA® GeForce® 6600 GT or ATI Radeon® 9800 PRO video card or better
You Have: ATI display adapter (0x9713)
PASS

Features: Minimum attributes of your Video Card :

Video RAM: 1.4 GB
Hardware T&L: Yes
Pixel Shader Version: 4.0

Again these were minimum requirements and if anyone would like to know recommended requirements i will post them.

My graphics card has enough ram as well as a Pixel Shader to comply with the recommended requirements but the card itself is not what the website recommended so it automatically says not pass.

My processer is 1.99GHz with dual core but it says performance rated at 3.3GHz --Meaning it will perform at 3.3GHz while playing a game?

-Thankyou
(Not sure if this is in the right (sub) section)

Reply to seejay

Well this would be a lot easier if you told us what laptop you have?

looking at those specs though, it looks like the game would be very choppy, if its playable at all.

your CPU should just about be fine, but your GPU will most likely be too weak. we'd need to know what GPU it is though. so what laptop do you have?

Manufactuerer: TOSHIBA
Model: Satellite L505D
Lus-PC
System Type: 32-bit Operating System

Everything else i found was just processor info and memory etc...

i thought my graphics were good enough because of the ram and shaders etc. but thats a real bummer... oh well

Message edited by seejay on 10-17-2010 at 03:23:53 AM

Reply to seejay

ok what does it say here ,
right click on desktop
go to screen resolution
advanced settings
adapter tab
and now either take a screenshot or tell us the CHIP type and Dedicated Video Memory.

Reply to amirp

AMD M860G with ATI Mobility Radeon 4100

it says its a driver if that means anything

i think the newer radeons are like 5900 haha.fail

Message edited by seejay on 10-17-2010 at 03:59:33 AM

Reply to seejay

yeah, 4100 is far too weak. not gonna cut it for serious gaming, even on low settings.

game over. and unreplaceable graphics

Message edited by seejay on 10-17-2010 at 06:03:14 AM

Reply to seejay

i just dont understand why it would be bad because i used systemrequirementslab on another computer and it lagged pretty bad but it was BELOW even the minimum requirements while this computer is past the minimum and about half to recommended (check out the site if youd like its pretty nice). should atleast be able to run relatively smooth on low in my opinion

could i buy a PC from bestbuy and just replace the graphics card? or would that be spending more than needed (i decided not to build my own computer for now)

Message edited by seejay on 10-17-2010 at 06:20:24 AM

Reply to seejay

http://forums.toshiba.com/t5/Video [...] d-p/122541

according to this with proper drivers SC2 WILL work on your laptop mate, "Small update after removing the driver and isntalling the latest Catalyst software I now have the updated ATI drivers. SC2 plays like a dream on medium settings now"

do this to get the newest driver:
www.ati.com
on the download drivers section select the following from the dropdowns:
Component category -> notebook graphics
product line -> mobility radeon series
product model -> mobility radeon 4100 series
windows 7 32 bit

then hit download , and install the full package with catalyst control centre

Message edited by amirp on 10-17-2010 at 07:33:58 AM

Reply to amirp

LOL this guy is even saying he overclocked his 4100 on his laptop easily since it is the same as the 4200 but downclocked apparently , so dont be scared you can atleast overclock the core from 350hz (stock 4100) to 500hz (stock 4200)

http://www.overclock.net/ati/79721 [...] 100-a.html

and if you scroll down to his next comment he gives a guide how to overclock the card, and also on his next comment he says
"its amazing how much of a performance boost you get, i play starcraft 2 on all max settings except shaders which are on med 1600x1200"

If you do go this route i suggest you also do this to your sc2 game to prevent overheating:
http://gameinformer.com/b/news/arc [...] g-bug.aspx

Also the guy in his guide doesnt explain this , he says he overclocked his memory to 1000mhz effective.... that really means 500mhz (it gets doubled because of the ddr2 memory) so dont overdo it and kill your pc...!

also go to www.cpuid.com and download Hardware Monitor to monitor temperatures

Message edited by amirp on 10-17-2010 at 07:44:16 AM

Reply to amirp

I clicked option 1 download for Catalyst Software Suite and it told me ' cannot be downloaded due to incompatible hardware/software on your computer' how do i fix that

Message edited by seejay on 10-17-2010 at 07:41:57 AM

Reply to seejay

Alright i installed the Catalyst Control Software.. Now what do i need to do to update my radeon 4100 driver? Uninstall it then what?

Message edited by seejay on 10-17-2010 at 08:03:07 AM

Reply to seejay

How do i know if the installation worked? Systemrequirementslab.com shows the same results and under screen resolution>advanced my graphics card remains the same

Message edited by seejay on 10-17-2010 at 07:55:14 AM

Reply to seejay

I also tried going under device manager and it told me my driver was up to date so... What???

Reply to seejay

the catalys control centre is packaged with the driver why would you uninstall anything? lol , and your graphic card is still the same lol why would it change...

if you want to, follow the link i gave above for overclocking the card , but if you dont know what you are doing , then dont do it.

in general you should be able to play sc2
but according to the link above... you would gain a lot of performance by overclocking the card

Message edited by amirp on 10-17-2010 at 08:12:43 AM

Reply to amirp

Confusion : you posted that link to a thread in which the Catalyst was said to have allowed one guy to be able to play starcraft 2 on a higher graphics setting. Your telling me that it doesnt change a thing now. I'll try overclocking but i read a few posts and people say it could smoke or fry your computer or melt it..

and i dont want choppyness lol. Think i can play relatively smoothly on medium? maybe low?

Message edited by seejay on 10-17-2010 at 08:26:56 AM

Reply to seejay

What he means is that changing the driver is not going to change what video adapter is shown.

Given that you are running a laptop and appear to have little or no understanding of what overclocking entails or what risks are involved, I suggest that you either do a lot of reading or don't overclock at all. It's pretty hard to damage a desktop computer by overclocking, but laptops are built to restrict cooling capacity (to save space) as much as is possible given the heat output of the system at stock clock and voltage settings.

Reply to randoMIZER

So it improved behind the scenes? (keep in mind that i tried to update via device manager and it said i was already up to date) As for overclocking - i'd rather not risk the meltdown of my computer - but i would enjoy playing starcraft on medium settings smoothly

Veni vidi dimiti = Come, See, leave?

Message edited by seejay on 10-17-2010 at 08:36:01 AM

Reply to seejay

Basically the driver simply provides an interface for other software to communicate with the hardware without understanding the specifics of how the hardware actually works. Driver updates normally just fix bugs in the software but in some cases can improve performance noticeably if a significant bug is fixed or if the manufacturer enables (or disables) some application-specific optimisation that in its previous state deliberately hampered performance so as to spring a little surprise on the competition and to make a PR stunt.

Device Manager only checks Windows Update to see if a newer driver exists, and Windows Update is usually well behind releases direct from AMD.

Reply to randoMIZER

Thankyou all for the extreme clarification and help. but maybe a few more questions:

1. Will i be notified of updated by catalyst control center or will i have to find them?

Time to try sc2 (tomorrow)

Message edited by seejay on 10-17-2010 at 10:55:58 PM

Reply to seejay

CCC doesn't check for updates, you'd have to check yourself. AMD normally releases a new driver each month (the version number corresponds to the year and month it was released in). Updating without reason to update only increases the likelihood of breaking things though.

I don't play SC2, nor do I know how well it performs on average, so I have no idea if the minimum requirements are really the minimum required to get the game to load or if they are quite conservative.

Reply to randoMIZER

alright. hit or miss time

Reply to seejay

If you wish to try the game without buying it, i can give you my guest pass key (comes free with each copy of the game, to allow a friend to try the game). ill send it to you via PM. check your inbox.

you'll need to go to starcraft2.com/guest and create a battle.net account then enter the key. saves buying the game to find out it doesn't work though.

i deem it impossible to find my inbox on this website - found it after 15 minutes

Message edited by seejay on 10-17-2010 at 10:15:24 AM

Reply to seejay

StarCraft 2 need a heavy armor. I won't play SC2 with light armor.

Reply to dEAne

top right corner, my threads/my messages.

Downloading under ASIA servers. oh well ha

Message edited by seejay on 10-17-2010 at 10:56:42 PM

Reply to seejay

'Tracker is not responding' i tried opening ports and turning my firewall off etc.. but nothin will work, i might call blizzard.

Reply to seejay

>.<

FYI, blizzard customer service is awful. worst i have ever encountered.

Alright.. Starcraft 2 downloaded.

It runs smoothly with:

Shaders on medium (controls the looks of building/units 'my highest priortity at the moment') because high/ultra shaders are just more detailed versions of medium (ie. medium- minerals, ultra- glowing minerals). Effects and models are also set on high. The rest of the graphics arent really in my interest so are set to low to increase speed (3d portraits of units, lighting, post-processing, reflections).

I'm curious as to what 'post-processing' and 'reflections' deal with though.

It's wierd because the suggested settings are on medium/high throughout the graphics options but cause low fps/lag. So i lowered certain effects.

Keep in mind that i have not tested this computer in major battles or battles on creep (both of which lag is at its peak).

Message edited by seejay on 10-20-2010 at 01:10:53 AM

Reply to seejay

Post processing is generally after-effects and filters. these include bloom, flare, blur etc. IMO post-processing is the best visual improvement to a game. i tend to have it set to high before anything else.

good to know the game is playable though, blizz obviously did a great job with the scaling. You may want to test out a large battle to see how the CPU copes though.

Turns out: It's either medium shaders or post-processing. If i have the shaders on low and processing on high it looks the same as when i have shaders on medium and processing on low. If i have both i lag on campaign which probably means i will in online games.

I'm not sure about blizzard doing well with scaling/graphics (they could have made it look really cool with lower graphics requirements)

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by seejay on 10-23-2010 at 01:43:23 AM

Reply to seejay

seejay wrote :

I'm not sure about blizzard doing well with scaling/graphics (they could have made it look really cool with lower graphics requirements)

this made me lol.

you aren't a programmer are you?

they did a pretty awesome job to be honest. given how weak your hardware is, i'm amazed you can run it at all. Not up to the devs to regress their games so people with old hardware can play. they did more than most, and they shouldn't have to dedicate more time to downward scaling.

Actually a lot of people call blizzard and get refunds for their online purchase because of its high graphics demand.

I'm still glad that i dont have to blow $600 on a good desktop or somethin yet..

Whats scaling anyways..

Message edited by seejay on 10-23-2010 at 05:38:28 PM

Reply to seejay

With your specs I'm surprised it can run at all -- that's great for a notebook IGP.

Can you give us an idea of the cpu utilization?

Reply to Wisecracker

What do you mean by cpu utilization?

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by seejay on 10-23-2010 at 06:45:36 PM

Reply to seejay

Just buy the game and go from there. If it plays, it plays. Instead of going out and purchasing a comp form best buy and replacing the graphics card. Could always just build a cheap tower to play sc2. I built one to specifically play it at ultra settings haha.

Reply to Anonymous

nice, this is a laptop though, and i think i will buy it cause i only have like 2 hours left for my trial haha (i did consider building a new desktop because i already have a monitor; mouse, and keyboard).

Message edited by seejay on 10-23-2010 at 06:50:05 PM

Reply to seejay

seejay wrote :

What do you mean by cpu utilization?

right click on your task bar and select task manager, choose the performance tab

crank up the game and have at it

exit the game and observe the graph

Reply to Wisecracker

Alright ill keep ya posted.

Reply to seejay

What am i looking for? since the graph only showed what happened in ~ the last minute

I also just ran out of play time for my trial haha. Probably gonna order the full version from amazon, people sell it for $30 .

Message edited by seejay on 10-24-2010 at 12:56:43 AM

Reply to seejay

I play on my L305, integreated intel gma 4500hd graphics, T6500 processor 3gb ram, when I'm at work and even on reduced setting it can get choppy with heavy fighting but I still find it enjoyable!

Reply to popatim

I wish this laptop (L505D) came with a better graphics card like yours (i dont know if its possible to replace it) - but i dont want to be getting killed in online games because of lag

Message edited by seejay on 10-24-2010 at 02:13:25 AM

Reply to seejay

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