Hot games tested on A8Js

Just got two new released the PC games tested on my A8JS (default configuration)

Need for Speed Carbon

Set 1: All Max features on: 1440*900, all high sets, motion blur, 4x AA
result: 9-12 fps

Set2: most Max features on: 1440*900, some medium sets, motion blur off, 2x AA
result: 28-35 fps


Neverwinter End 2

Set1: All Max features on: 1440*900, all high sets, shadow high, texture high, light numbers >4
result: 5-8 fps

Set2: most Max features on: 1440*900, some medium sets, shadow off, texture high, light numbers =2
result: 19-25fps

Conclusion: its just a brief test of A8Js game performance. This two games almost represent the highest requirement for hardwares, and they are obviously missions impossible to most laptops. Based on the test data, A8Js is a really powerful laptop for games. Under reasonable configuration, both games can run smoothly with great visual features. But again! its still a laptop, far from an ultimate game station. If you need a portable bussiness or study company and would like to play some 3D games every now and then,(such as me ) A8Js would be a good choice for you. If you are a big gamer,however, pursuing extreme game enjoyment, then go for a desktop or at least 17"LCD laptop with GF7900 or more powerful video card and RAM, CPU, harddisk......dont expect A8Js can totally replace your game station~



some screenshots listed below correspond to 4 test conditions......

 

Thanks for sharing the information!

 

If the A8Js has a 1280x768 screen like W3J, maybe NFS Carbon will perform better?

 

I think so....some time.

Since its horrible to adjust the LCD down to 1280*800 or lower resolution in fullscreen game mode, high resolution such as 1440*900 is not "that" good for everything. (unless you got extremely powerful hardware support)

 

ooo nice!! a little off topic (or a lot lol) How does nwn2 compared to 1 in online gameplay?

 

That's pretty good, thank you for the information. Could you please post the settings that offer the most ideal performance on your machine? So far, it seems great! Also, could you please test something like TES:4 Oblivion and BF2142 (demo)? Much appreciated, I'm sure this'll help a lot of people considering this notebook.

 

Yeah I think so... I agree with you. BTW does NFSC support widescreen res from the get-go or do you have to apply some hack to the game?

 

I wonder how these games look on a GMA900 lol...

 

No, NFSC doesnt officially support widescreen so far. But you can download some patches from http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/. They doesnt work perfectly, but at least the cars and most things look good in wildscreen....

 

I run non widescreen games in a window.

The gpu can auto black out and essentially play in a 1024 x 768 window

So you would never have to stretch the image on any game I know of.

Almost every game I have seen offers 1440 x 900 but the exceptions I would run like that.

nwn2 looks disapointingly similar to nwn1

Im sure it will draw me in later but nothing that tests the a8js in the least, all settings max it runs over 60 fps.

 

I understand what you've just said, but if you look here, I tried scaling on a LG S1 and it was successfull, do you mind dropping the resolution to 1280x768/800 and test what settings and FPS you get? Also if it looks good or not, basicaly you can see the LG S1 did an excellent job of scaling, i'm curious if the A8js can do the same.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=69108

 

on the A8Jm with everything on High/Max settings, motion blur off, 1280x800 fraps shows 22 - 35 fps

 

I don't know if I would use NFS Carbon as a good benchmark. In my experience the current NFS games are less then...efficient...in their use of processor and graphics resources.

EA doesn't spend much time optimizing, because they are too busy making versions of 16 million different consoles...

 

It's interesting, because I was thinking along similar lines, but, i do think NFS Carbon is a good game, it is one of the BEST racing games along side with GT2, i personaly would use it as a benchmark because it is so hard on the system, eventhough the game may not be optimally optimized.

Also, if you notice the screen shots the OP posted, how did he get the FPS to show in the top left hand corner??

I have an ATI card and Ati Tray Tools allows me to have the FPS on the top right corner, but does Nvidia 7xxx series drivers do the same?

Thanks,

MysticGolem

 

Perhaps he used Fraps: www.fraps.com

 

Yes, it's Fraps from www.fraps.com

 

Quake 4, FEAR, Oblivion would be the sort of things I would like to see as benchmarks.

As far as I have read NWN2 looks to better then NWN1, but manages to bring modern graphics cards to their knees...

 

well...

nwn 2 has some complicated shadow settings.

Also I never left the opening scene which was indoors.

As far as its graphics it looks just like the old game but with different textures. I dont think of it as the right kind of test Im thinking gothic 3 and oblivian which Im going to get to tommorow.

 

Definitely, I can drop the resolution to 1280*900 or even lower, the FPS will be better accordingly. The very reason I dont wanna do this is lowering resolution will make the the screen a little bit blurred, since most LCD only works perfectly in their optimal(default) resolution, inclusing my desktop's LCD. In contrast, if you swtich resolution using a CRT monitor, you will see the superiority over LCD.....

 

Yes, I agree with you cooking... that's why I chose W3J, I really think that 1280x768 res in W3J matches the X1600.

 

i DONT have Quake 4 and FEAR at hand, but I did play Oblivion using my A8Js before. Sorry I cant give the FPS information since it is not in my harddisk right now due to the coming of NWN2. I can say the speed is acceptable even if you turn on all effects to highest unless the scenario contains a lot of grass and tree.

 

Im just starting oblivian

You may not hear from me for months lol. This game is mind blowing

I played the game at 1440 x 900 settings on high but some medium.

In each area Ive been the fps were capped. In a small area it was 30 fps, and a larger one 60 fps.

It stayed close to the max fps and took a dip when a lot of monsters were fighting.Basically runs it great. Not without 'stutters' I can believe a 79000 runs it better absolutely

The minimum recomended specs of oblivian are a 6800. the 7700 exceeds the 68000 in some scores although it is a 128 bit interface vs 256 bit.

It runs oblivian better than a 68000 it can run it with everything turned on and mostly stay with the games fps cap.

Is there a more challenging game for the system?

 

What about Need for Speed Carbon?

 

The whole reason I started my notebook search was to get a 15 inch notebook that could meet the recomended specs for oblivian.

The x800 or 6800 level gpu is actually last generation.

When my old notebook started giving up the ghost in may I just looked at a gpu chart.
It said the 7600 gt was faster than the 6800, it was the first mid range gpu to run the game correctly.

So I thought well Im set all I have to do is get a 7600 gpu machine. But the 7600 was greatly delayed to the us, they sold it in europe in acer machines first.
So when the a8jm was coming out I fixated on it.
It turns out though that the 7600 go does not meet oblivians recomended specs.
I was just going to live with it but something delayed my purchase a few months.
When I heard about the a8js I decided to wait because FINALLY, this was the real thing.
Up until this point I only had one choice really, the dell e1705 which is fine but it doesnt meet my needs it would be a gaming notebook and require me to buy a seperate internet cafe and library notebook down the road.

I was really nervous when I found out the 7700 go STILL is not as fast as the 7600 gt. I literally had to buy it sight unseen assuming its overclock range brought it high enough to cover the hardware requirements.
And the other factor is the cpus by this time were so much faster than the cpus that were out when the game was new it would pick up the slack.


Its so scary putting down that much money for something and not really knowing if it going to meet your needs.

It turns out it definitely does. It really plays all the current games at high, it really meets the mid range of this generation of hardware.

Its not a compromise. Im very pleased.

 

Gothic 3 ran at about 15-25 fps at 1440 x 900 in high detail.

Much slower than oblivian but I think thats because you start out in an outdoor setting.

oblivian is very consolized with small areas that load. I feel certain the graphics detail in oblivian is higher.

They both look really cool though lol.

 

When you say 7600gt do you mean the desktop card?

Because there's a nvidia go 7600gt on this mobile video card list

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

Just wondering, that's all.

 

i think he's referring to a Go 7600GT. from the info on nvidia's webpage, the GT is a lot better than the non GT.

http://www.nvidia.com/page/go_7600.html

scroll down to the bottom of the page...


insane

 

Im going off the desktop card. I had to use it as the benchmark of apples to oranges. Eventually the 128 bit card gets faster than the older 256 bit ones. In some ways its still not but in most ways it is. It literally needs to be twice as fast to get the same bandwidth and its not quite there but its scores and real life use are going to be significantly faster

the notebook gt card is only in one machine and to this day Ive never seen its actual scores by an owner.

Its not the same format as the 7700 its in the dtr sized card for 17 inch machines.

When the 7600 gt go came out I was also waiting for it to be put in a 15 inch but it never happened and it never will.

what the 7700 is, is the 7600 gt downclocked to fit the smaller format.

 

I just started playing Oblivion last night, and I have to say that it looks and runs great on the A8Js! I may disappear for a while...

 

Ok, I have what is probably a stupid question. Since the native resolution of the A8Js is usually not optimized for most games, can you always force a game to run in a window at a specfic resolution (1280 x 800) ??

Thanks,

-Ryan

 

every single game ive tried supports 1440 x 900 resolution.

many games allow you to run in a window of whatever size.

I played nwn2 in a 1024 x 768 window www.widescreengaming.com is what you might be thinking of, to try and run the game full screen 1024 x 768 with blacked out corners.

As far as I know every single game ever made can be run this way.

The game homm5 didnt have an in game setting to run in a window. I bet if I looked into it I could change the cfg file.

Most games can be run in a window but I bet there are a minority of games that cant.

 

I meant for games like Fear that aren't optimized for the resolution of the A8JS even though it supports it. So, if I were to run in a 128 x 800 window I could bump up the settings due to less pixes and better optimization without much loss in real estate.

-Ryan

 

Yes I understand.

Im sure you can.