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    About to buy laptop. How will games look/play?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by g0ldenboy, Dec 22, 2004.

  1. g0ldenboy

    g0ldenboy Notebook Enthusiast

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    I'm seriouisly thinking into buying this laptop(specs below) and want to know how it will run games like Far Cry, Doom 3, Half-Life 2. Those are the most graphical games out now, I presume. So how will it run games like that?

    Doom 3- Low, Medium, High, Ultra
    Far Cry- Low, Medium, High, Very High
    Half-Life 2- Low, Medium, High

    SPECIFICATIONS:

    Sony Vaio VGN-S270 Laptop
    13.3" WXGA TFT with XBRITE LCD Technology and ATI Mobility RADEON 9700 Graphic Chipset 64 MB
    Intel Pentium M Processor 735 (Processor speed 1.70A GHz, 2 MB L2 Cache, 400 MHz FSB)
    768 MB DDR-SDRAM (DDR333, 512 MBx1,256MBx1) 172pin PC2700 DDR333 microDIMM
    60 GB Hard Disk Drive
    CD-RW_DVD drive
    Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional 2003

    Thanks,
    g0ldenboy
     
    g0ldenboy, Dec 22, 2004
    #1
  2. bootleg2go

    bootleg2go Notebook Deity NBR Reviewer

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    Hi g0ldenboy,
    Welcome to the notebook review forums. I deleted your other two identical posts on the other forums as crossposting is not allowed. Since the GPU is about 98% of what determines gaming performance, the 9700 radeon should do you good unless you need the very fastest and best performance. I would say that a notebook with the 9700 GPU should be able to run all of these games at a medium-high setting. I'm not a big gamer, so someone with more experience can add to this post and I'm just speaking from what I've read around here.

    Thanks
    Jack

    "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security" (Ben Franklin)
    http://pbase.com/joneill
     
    bootleg2go, Dec 22, 2004
    #2
  3. DaGreek

    DaGreek Notebook Evangelist

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    I've played 2 of these games on my computer and from my experence and hardware I would think you will be able to run them at Medium to High. They are all demanding games to play but that system will run them all smoothly. It should be noted that all 3 games look great even at low settings.

    Compaq R3000T (CTO)
    P4 Desktop 3.0GHz w/HT
    2 X 1024MB RAM
    Radeon 9600 128MB
    60GB 7,200RPM HD
    AquaMark3: 24,257, 3DMark03: 3,115
     
    DaGreek, Dec 23, 2004
    #3
  4. g0ldenboy

    g0ldenboy Notebook Enthusiast

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    <blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by DaGreek
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 8, 2015
    g0ldenboy, Dec 23, 2004
    #4
  5. DaGreek

    DaGreek Notebook Evangelist

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    Your right that my notebook is more powerful but...for games of these type the video card is huge!!! Your video card is better then what I have, so I think all combined we are near equals, you might even have the advantage in the 3D gaming department.

    Compaq R3000T (CTO)
    P4 Desktop 3.0GHz w/HT
    2 X 1024MB RAM
    Radeon 9600 128MB
    60GB 7,200RPM HD
    AquaMark3: 24,257, 3DMark03: 3,115
     
    DaGreek, Dec 23, 2004
    #5
  6. g0ldenboy

    g0ldenboy Notebook Enthusiast

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    You might be right though because Half-Life 2 only needs 32MB RAM on the video card. So that might run better. But, I don't know about the others.
     
    g0ldenboy, Dec 23, 2004
    #6
  7. g0ldenboy

    g0ldenboy Notebook Enthusiast

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    <blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by DaGreek
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 8, 2015
    g0ldenboy, Dec 23, 2004
    #7
  8. DaGreek

    DaGreek Notebook Evangelist

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    I think the type of card is more important then the memory on the card.

    Compaq R3000T (CTO)
    P4 Desktop 3.0GHz w/HT
    2 X 1024MB RAM
    Radeon 9600 128MB
    60GB 7,200RPM HD
    AquaMark3: 24,257, 3DMark03: 3,115
     
    DaGreek, Dec 23, 2004
    #8
  9. TruckFreak69

    TruckFreak69 Newbie

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    I think the only problem you may have is I believe sony's use only shared memory video. I don't believe that 64 megs is seperate from the system ram. Although it is a good GPU, and although my comp only has a 64MB geforce 4 it runs Doom great. So I'd guess you should be fine, especially with that much ram

    Previous owner of E-machines M6810
    but had the dreaded
    hinge crack.

    Now I own a Compaq R3240US.
     
    TruckFreak69, Dec 25, 2004
    #9
  10. cromat44

    cromat44 Notebook Guru

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    The radeon 9700 is not much fastet, maybe only a few frames per second with games like doom3 and half-life 2. The 64mb of ram won't have a big affect, maybe have to lower texture quality, but it definately won't be enough for the next set of demanding games.

    But that will run every game out now on above average settings. remember, even crappy radeon 9000s can run games like those on playable settings.
     
    cromat44, Dec 27, 2004
    #10
  11. Ballin4life

    Ballin4life Notebook Evangelist

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    well in a couple days the S series should come up with a 128 MB Geforce Go6200. Even though I read the difference won't be THAT much, at least you get 128 MB GPU.
     
    Ballin4life, Jan 17, 2005
    #11
  12. gecko

    gecko Notebook Evangelist

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    From my experience the biggest problem is RAM. The 9700 will be fine. But upgrade the ram to at least 1gig. I've got 512megs of ram, P43.0ghzHT, 9700(64meg). With the ram and HD I have, HL2 lags everyonce in awhile. Not enough ram to hold everything, and the HD isn't fast enough to keep up with the swap files.
     
    gecko, Jan 27, 2005
    #12