Can Someone Please explain...Graphic Crds and Game

[dmilbrath]

I'm so confused it hurts . I just purchased a HP ZD8000 for my Family (mostly the kids) it is configured as follows:

P4 3.0 630 cpu
1 gb ram
100 gb 5400 HD
ATI mobility x600 256mb Video card
High Resolution Monitor
Windows XP Home

What i dont understand is as follows:

My children installed there Sims Online game ( we greatly exceed the specs), and while playing the game the text displayed is fuzzy or blurred. At the same time we had the game running on a old dell inspiron 8000 (p3 800, 64mb mobility 4) connected to a 15 lcd monitor) and it displayed perfectly (although a litte slow).

Both displays were set at 1024 x 768, changing this had no effect on the HP Laptop, reinstalling the ATI drivers had no affect on the HP laptop, other games looked great on the HP Laptop (C&C, Doom 3).

Can someone help me understand this ( i need to return this laptop if it doesn't meet the kids needs), HP Blames ATI, ATI blames EA Games, and no one will help.

I have read so much about the cards i am begining to be pixelated. I have a small understaing of card generations and ram size and pipelines and ddr ram.... so why isnt the better card (ATI Mobility x600) able to display the game at least as good as the old card (ATI Mobility 4) with significant less features and memory.

Please help.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Your lapton has an LCD screen, which displays images MUCH better when at its native resolution of 1440 x 900.

I couldn't find any information on forcing the Sims resolution though.

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[dmilbrath]

Thanks for the info. But, The Dell running this game at the same time, connected to a seperate lcd screen at 1024 x 768 shows none of the problems (again it is running a significantly older and less powerful ati mobility 4 card).

So.... i still do not understand the correlation between cards, configuration, monitors and games... all that i have read implies i should be getting significantly better performance and visuals.

Any other help would be appreciated.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Can you post a screen shot?

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[dmilbrath]

Unfortunately no. I tried to capture the screen but it will not let me while in game play.

As I stated previously, during game play there is "Blurring" of text and character detail (it appears as extra dots (at least that is the only way i can describe it)and or lack or distortion of detail.

 

[Ned_Flanders]

Are you sure the printscreen button doesn't work?!

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[cleeve]

Well, if it isn't the LCD svreen itself, it's a game or driver probblem, plain and simple.

I think you'll have to resign yourself to the fact that this particular game will not work on this particular laptop. Return it, and *test* the game on another laptop first before you repurchase...

________________
<b>Geforce <font color=red>6800 Ultra</b></font color=red>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~3300+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 412 FSB @ 2266 Mhz)</i>
<b>3dMark05: <font color=red>5,275</b>

 

[dmilbrath]

Thank everyone for the suggestions.

Unfortunately they do not clear up my confusion over graphic cards (drivers), monitors, and games.

I purchased this system ( as i imagine quite a few people purchase their system) based on specifications and features of the components. I presumed that the better the hardware the components the better certain applications and games would perform compared to to the same applications being on a system of significantly poorer specifications.

Know i am being told by support that this is not the case but that in the gaming world exceeding minimum spec is no gurantee the game will even run let alone run well. This is frustrating at a whole new level.

I presumed it was either the video card, video drivers, monitor or monitor drivers or the game specs. But the correlation between these entites i am lacking. And support seems to be rather "well return it" if still able or "well your just screwed" if you are not.

Sorry for the rant. Thanks again for your suggestions.

 

[marneus]

it is most likely your screen resolution that the game runs at... TFT screens are usally only good at their default resolution & when a different one is used the picture quality degrades (sometimes quite badly as in this case)... i would say that its just a screen issue, if you hooked the system up to an standard external display it would be fine

BTW this doesnt mean you systems' screen is broken, it just means that the screen is not good at that resolution the game uses...

Trust me I know what I'm doing... ooops, grab the cat...