8204 & x1600

Hi,
I have just got myself a new 8204wlmi and seem to be a bit disappointed. I have tried running a couple of games, Deus Ex and Half Life 1, both old games.

The problem is they run horrendously, stuttering and breaking up, to the point it is almost unplayable.

I have tried updating the graphics driver with the new catalyst driver from ATI but it wont allow me to install it as it is not the correct one, although i have downloaded the x1600 version, i am a bit puzzled.

I thought this laptop would cream these two games but my old athlon TBird 1ghz beats the pants off it.

Also, in task manager as soon as i boot up i am hitting over 500mb of ram usage, this cant be correct.

I must be doing something wrong. Can anybody help me get this laptop running the way it should.

cheers

 

Theres something seriously wrong with your laptop. I myself have the 8204 and it runs HL2 fantasticly. Try stopping ATI2evxx.exe and it might work...

 

~50% of 8204s shipped are malfunctioning. That is what Acer salesman told me

 

50% of 12/05 & 01/06 & 02/06 have problems.. the newer ones dont seem to have any noticeable ones.

 

And this came from an actual Acer employee? I highly doubt that 50% of the laptops are malfunctioning. We don't have any information in regards to this, so making such a statement is pointless. Also, what is the definition of malfunctioning? The samsung panels with the grey lines, are not malfunctioning, that's just the way they are.

 

I'm waiting until July to buy an 8204. That will give Acer PLENTY of time to deal with all of these "malfunctions". Even then it will still own the competition as it does now.

 

My advice, try the Omega drivers, they work like a charm on my machine.

I'd have to check how much RAM is in use when the machine boots, but to be honest I think mine is around 400-500MB of RAM, I'd have to check later (typing this on my work laptop).

 

Some of those old games only run on Win98. Try running them in Win98 emulation mode and see if that helps. They may not ever run right on XP becasue they are so old. BTW, Deus Ex is one of my favorite games... lots of fun.

 

Check your settings in the ATI control panel, if you've got everything maxxed out (AA/AF especially) and are trying to run games at the full 1680x1050 resolution, that would explain it.

I don't buy the 50% faulty BS at all, no company in the world could sustain a business model with that many defects. Pure nonsense!

 

Are you running with the power supply plugged in? On battery mode the graphics card downclocks, though it should still easily be able to play those games...Are you having the same problems running newer games like HL2? If so, you may want to reinstall XP with clean drivers.