R2 - Portal 2 on Integrated Graphics? Playable?

I know when I play Counter Strike: Source (on the same engine as Portal 2) its definitely playable on low settings. Reason I ask is because I'm going on a 5-6 hour plane flight in 2 months and planning ahead I am thinking of preordering the Razer Hydra + Portal 2 Bundle for this long flight. Just curious if anyone has tried it on integrated.

 

It will probably run but not well, especially with all the tweaks needed to reduce power consumption such as limiting the CPU speed. I could make you a special BIOS with lower voltage on the 335 but it's not realistic to expect 100-200% longer run times from it.

 

I am not expecting 5-6 hours out of it. Maybe 3-4 instead of the 2-2.5 i get out of gaming modes(without TS)

 

Portal 2 is so so on the 4500MHD (what the R1 has). Apparently the R2's Intel graphics are a bit better than that.

 

the R2 is using the same intel graphics i believe.

 

I think the M11x use the following:

R1: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD (GMA X4500MHD) - Notebookcheck.net Tech
R2: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD - Notebookcheck.net Tech

 

I read 5-6hour flight so I thought you wanted 5-6 hrs of usage off it. 3-4 hours with Intel graphics should be achievable. I'll think about the undervolted BIOS idea.

Yes, that is correct. GPUZ confirms this.

 

The R1 had the 4500mhd, R2 should be different, they call it something like "intel HD graphics", which is actually even better than the 4700mhd.

EDIT: I'm too slow.

 

Thanks everyone for the responses. Im definitely considering the purchase now. Very helpful. If worse comes to worse ill just be playing for 2.5 hrs on the plane and actually turn to READING a book

 

don't most modern planes have a 120v outlet?

 

I have not seen one unless I was flying first class. Which my company has not put me on for this flight. haha.

 

ya, I could only expect first class to have a power plug.

 

With portal 2 running on battery high performance and it running on the Gt335m i get about 2 hours of battery life

dont know if that'll help

 

Yeah thats with the card enabled. I was wondering if it could run with it disabled at good fps (low settings) because I know CS: source can it runs on the same engine as Portal 2. I'd assume the same results should be expected. I suppose Ill find out. Ill preorder it first chance I get and report back if I remember in 2 months. lol.

 

I think they do too. Especially big planes that do long flights.

Also, motion controls in an airplane? Won't it be a little to cramped for that?

 

Haha we will see. A mouse is equally as difficult.

 

optical trackball FTW...


Newegg.com - Logitech M570 Black 1 x Wheel USB RF Wireless Laser Trackball

 

Haha My sensativity is high it barely uses any space. I dont like the feel of track balls. good suggestion though.

 

Instead of getting economic class or whatever the class you are going in, you could change to Business class if you're flight provider has an option. They usually have plugs in the Business classes.

 

I wish it was my choice. Oh well. Thanks for all the input guys. I guess Ill wing it and if worse comes to worse the trip will be boring xD

 

or just dump a few videos onto a USB stick and watch them on the way!

 

For the record, Portal 2 & CS:S do not run on the same engine.


CS:S runs on the old version of Source Engine.


When Valve released Half Life 2: Episode One & the rest of the Orange Box, they upgraded their engine. They added stuff like, Soft particles, Facial Animation acceleration on GPUs, support for multicore CPUS. That was back in 2007, since then, they've updated it even more.....but sadly the new engine isn't backwards compatible with the old engine. (Valve got criticized a little bit for that, because the whole point to the source engine was the modularity & upgrade ability)


So, they're very similar engines....but TF2, Portal, HL2:Ep1 & Ep2, & now Portal 2 all run on a different engine than CS:S & HL2. The new version of source is a lot more CPU heavy than the old version....at least from my experiences. Not only that, but the new version of Source has a lot more GPU acceleration stuff going on.

 

Arak-Nafein makes a lot of sense.
half life 2 worked great with my old intel X3100, while left 4 dead didn't.

 

Some do, not as many as you may think. The stress and heat placed upon the power systems, as well as the limited space available for adding the wiring causes many companies to not bother upgrading their aircraft that are not very new. In some cases it has also caused problems with the electrical systems (and avionics) on some aircraft, causing some airlines to disable this function on their planes. Yes, the engines do produce more than enough power to maintain fully functional ac current throughout the plane, but integrating this into planes that dont yet have the feature available during the manufacturing process is both difficult and expensive, so I wouldnt board a plane expecting this feature unless I knew the airline had it ahead of time.

 

Hang on - I play CS:S a lot - and I thought Valve DID update the game to the new engine - especially because several things have changed since a major update happened to CS:S late last year:

1. The game behaves differently, and commands have changed, character collision is handles entirely differently now.

2. There IS an option for "multicore rendering" in the CS:S options.

3. And certain environmental effects are much better eg, dynamic shadows, lighting. All this got integrated with that last big update 6 months ago.

UPDATE: Ye I just checked, Valve DID do the engine update to the newest one! So yes, Portal 2 and CS:S do use the same engine now.

What I'd like to know is: does anyone here play CS:S WILLINGLY on low details??? Does that help with gaming? I have heard that many pro players tune down effects etc. Just wanted to know if anyone had any anecdotes on that?

 

Thats what I thought. The only reason I tune down the effects is if i want to play on battery for a while. The R2 integrated can hold a solid 30-45fps on low settings. Besides that I do not know.

 

I tried running Portal 2 on the NVIDIA GPU, but all I get is a black screen with audio, know any fixes? Outdated driver? I'm using 260.99

 

The 260.xx ones are known to have that issue. Upgrade.

 

Ah, yes. I forgot about that. That is what the whole CS:S beta thing was about. My bad. It's been a while since I've been on CS:S. All I got to say is FINALLY, it took them long enough.

 

Ah ye but still graphics are behind the times. They should really update all the visuals and the models.

 

The problem with doing this is that I know at least 10 people with computers barely compatible with the newest updated engine. So if they did this they would be losing a lot of buyers that have stuck with them since 2004 (original CSS release)

 

From my personal experience, the Intel GMA 4500 plays Portal 2 at 1280x720 with no lag. When I tried playing it at 1600x900, the display started flickering black and the game appeared and then black again.

 

Maybe buy like the cheapest netbook you can find and load a few videos on? (Or maybe like Half-Life 1/mods )

 

Thanks! EXACTLY what i was looking for. Awesome. +rep for the info.

Based on the previous quote I will have no need. Even though I do have an early Asus Netbook that could serve that purpose if absolutely needed.

 

mm yes I do agree. I was looking at the last STEAM Hardware survey and you would not believe the amount of people on STEAM who still either use integrated graphics or GPUs that are like 7 years old!!!!

Thing is though, from Valve's perspective this should not matter much because of:
1. CS:S isn't pay per month. Once you bought it Valve isn't going to make more money off of you and they couldn't care less whether you actually play or not.

2. Most ppl playing CS:S, as you rightfully say, have been with CS:S for a long time like me, but those of us who use old GPUs (not me ) have probably bought the game a long time ago and aren't giving Valve anymore money for CS:S. So Valve can update the game graphics, off those old ppl and attract new customers to CS:S. That way they can actually make some money, and make those of us happy who have been craving for better textures, more detailed models etc....

What do you think?

 

I think alienating their customers like that is very unvalve-like. Valve are so popular because they are good to their customers. Just blowing off everyone with bad/old hardware would tick a lot of people off.

The whole "We already have their money, so who cares what we do now" sounds a lot like EA, Crytek, Activision, Epic & a few others.....but not Valve.

Rather than trying to do that....they should just make a new CS when the new Source engine comes out. Everybody wins.

 

....and charge everyone AGAIN for the same game (like they did for L4D2)! LOL, indeed, everyone (especially Valve) wins...

 

We'll if it would be on a new engine, then I don't see what the problem is. Just like all the people that bought CS:S who already had the original Counterstrike on Gldsrc. It would be a worthy upgrade. If you don't like it, then don't buy it.


The beauty of it is, it gives you choice. Rather than forcing all those people who have hardware barely capable of playing CS:S to upgrade to newer hardware....they could simply continue playing CS:S. Those who want the newer version on the newer engine, could pay & play.



I do agree with your point about L4D2, tho, that was probably had something to do with the consoles & their shenanigans. Tho, nobody is forcing you to buy L4D2. Not to mention, during Steam's sales events that game is really, really cheap.

 

Maybe have two types of graphics available.

 

Well whatever they do they better do SOMETHING! Cause as it stands there's neither going to be a graphics upgrade NOR a separate "CS:S 2".......which is the WORST option! Valve always take superlong to do anything!

Half-Life 1 -> Half-Life 2: 6 years

Half-Life Episode 2 -> Episode 3: 4 years and counting.....

Portal 1 -> Portal 2: 4 years

Left 4 Dead doesn't count cause it was developed by Turtle Rock Studios (and subsequently bought by Valve).

 

I won't speak for everyone but the groups I hang around, if they have one valve game they usually have more than one type of game series. So I feel that valve's strategy is good. The source engine allows for flexibility and the games seem to come out on rotation. I have no beef with that. They come out with solid quality games unlike most of the "crap" thats been spewed every year that barely should be considered an upgrade.