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    Specs vs. Gameplay (icspeedracer)

    Discussion in 'Dell' started by mathlete2001, Aug 17, 2004.

  1. mathlete2001

    mathlete2001 Notebook Deity

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    icspeedracer posted: "i'm thinking of getting a 9100 with a 2.8ghz PIV and MR9800... do you think it will be a big difference in gameplay results with that setup as oppose to a 3 or 3.2 ghz with all other components being 1 gig ram, 7200rpm hd, wsxga+ screen???"

    The CPU upgrade isn't worth it as much as the gigabyte of RAM. 1024MB of system RAM is a must for gaming, as it prevents paging on the hard disk. The hard drive does not affect actual gameplay, provided you have enough RAM. However, a slower drive like the 4200RPM can be a pain to load. My 4200RPM actually loses me some games because the game starts before I have loaded (in multiplayer.) The WSXGA+ screen is also very important, especially considering your GPU. It would be a waste to use that much power in just 1280x800 resolution. You will see far less stairstepping with the wsxga while still maintaining a smooth framerate.
    hard drive=60% improvement loading and paging
    gig of RAM=100% improvement all around
    screen upgrade=72% sharper picture
    CPU= %14 improvement all around

    GPU cooling (100°C->75°C)* Inspiron 8600 * 1.8ghz Pentium M * 128 MB Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo (337/242 -> 400/300) * 2x256 MB DDR2700 SDRAM * Aquamark 3: 24058 * 3DMark'03: 3404 * 3DMark'01 SE: 13120
     
    mathlete2001, Aug 17, 2004
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  2. icspeedracer

    icspeedracer Newbie

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    Andrew,
    Thanks soooo much for your insight. I was getting stressed because i was looking at the desktop numbers from THGs CPU tests. I'm getting the wsxga+ screen as you mentioned too because i had an older model dell with a uxga screen, but ended up playing game on it at lower res and bumping up the text size...

    Thanks again for your post...[ :)]
     
    icspeedracer, Aug 17, 2004
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