Confused with my Studio 17 Graphics card...

Hello everyone, so here's the deal...

I just recently got my Dell Studio 17 i5 520M and I mostly got it to upgrade from my old laptop to play games. It successfully runs Bethesda's Oblivion pretty well and that's been my main game for awhile...
I've been recently been tempted to buy StarCraft 2 WOL but when I look up the specs I needed for the game at http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/cyr
It tells me that I pass all of the minimum requirements as well as the recommended. The only thing that fails is the graphics card. I will post the results here but I want to ask a question. The site also told me that my graphics card wasn't good enough for other games too and I'm just really confused. Does the site not recognize the card or something??

Please help me, I really want to play SC2! =)

HERE'S THE RESULTS FOR THE MINIMUM NEEDED
CPU
Minimum: 2.6 GHz Pentium® IV or equivalent AMD Athlon® processor
You Have: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 520 @ 2.40GHz
PASS

CPU Speed
Minimum: 2.6 GHz
You Have: 2.39 GHz Performance Rated at: 4.78 GHz
PASS

RAM
Minimum: 1 GB RAM (1.5 GB required for Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 users)
You Have: 3.7 GB
PASS

OS
Minimum: Windows® XP/Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 (Updated with the latest Service Packs)
You Have: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition (build 7600), 64-bit
PASS

Video Card
Minimum: 128 MB PCIe NVIDIA® GeForce® 6600 GT or ATI Radeon® 9800 PRO video card or better
You Have: Intel(R) HD Graphics (Core i5)
Upgrade Suggested: Unfortunately, your Video Card does not meet this requirement. Click here to see some recommendations.
Features: Minimum attributes of your Video Card
Required You Have
Video RAM 128 MB 1.7 GB
Hardware T&L Yes Yes
Pixel Shader version 2.0 4.0
Vertex Shader version 2.0 4.0

Free Disk Space
Minimum: 12 GB available HD space
You Have: 391.1 GB

 

You have integrated graphics, which just isn't very good for gaming. It seems to be reporting accurately, unless you KNOW that you have a dedicated card.

 

Hm... Well I know for sure I could play Vampire Masquerade and Oblivion...
Are those graphical demanding games comparable to SC2? I mean I don't mind turning down graphics but I just want to know if it will play it all at. I think it's pretty... dedicated.. =)

 

Tell me the exact specs of your system. SC2 should play on lowest settings either way, though.

 

Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 520 @ 2.40GHz
2.39 GHz Performance Rated at: 4.78 GHz
3.7 GB Ram
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition (build 7600), 64-bit
Intel(R) HD Graphics (Core i5)
Video RAM 128 MB 1.7 GB
Hardware T&L Yes Yes
Pixel Shader version 2.0 4.0
Vertex Shader version 2.0 4.0

HERE'S SOME EXTRA INFO ON MY Graphics Card
"The integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD (GMA HD) graphics card is known to be clocked up to 500-766 MHz and should be clearly faster than the old GMA 4500MHD. A GeForce 9400M (ION) should still be a faster (especially as Nvidia and ATI cards have a better driver support than Intel up to now). According to rumors, the GMA core will also use the Turbo Mode regulate the clock speed."

 

as mentioned if it only has intergrated graphics then you could be buggered.
intergrated uses the motherboard for graphics and a dedicated card is a seperate chip that is just used for graphics.

your above link doesnt work but taking a look here it shows studio 17 i5 have ATI cards. is this the same laptop youve got HERE

 

Yeah, I have that kind.
And I found out the card is 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5650 Graphics Card

 

then you should be able to play them games as you have a dedicated ati graphics card.

to find out if its working properly you could download 3Dmark06(second one down) which will give you a score of your graphics to show us if the card is working properly.
the first one on that page (vantage) is better than 06 but you can only run it once and then you have to buy it.

anyone know what sort of 3dmark06 score a 5650 will give? so we can compare it.

 

That's totally different. It seems that the problem might be that you have switchable graphics. Do you know how to switch them? Also, what are your Windows Experience Index scores? (If it says that you need to refreshed the score, don't do it. Just give the scores as they are right now.)

 

Well my experience index score thingie is 4.6 how's that? =)
I never heard of switchable graphics... what use does that have? =O

 

I mean post all of the scores.

If it's graphics causing that score and you don't need to refresh the index, chances are that you don't have an HD 5650. In that case, most games from 2009 or 2010 will only be playable at lowest settings.

Switchable graphics means that you can switch between your system's dedicated card (for graphical performance) and it's integrated card (for battery life).

 

It's an ATI card, aren't most of the switchable graphics options on Nvidia configurations with Optimus?

 

click start, then type dxdiag in your search box. Then click on Display tab. What do you see there? (if you got your spec from dxdiag, then nvm).

 

"Most" is the key word here. There are laptops with ATI GPUs and switchable graphics. The laptop in my sig has switchable graphics, for example.

 

SC2 should play. I know a lot of people who play SC2 on a 13" MacBook Pro which uses Core 2 Duo and ridiculously lame integrated graphics, 320M I think? 1366*768? on mix of medium and low settings.

 

I'm almost certain my card is that ATI one
I also have this Intel Graphics and Media Control Panel that's always here on my desktop

Back to the topic: I just want to know if it will run SC2 lolol XD
Don't wanna' waste my money on something I can't use.
Better to be safe than sorry =)

My dxdiag? Here it is:

System Information
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Dell Inc
Studio 1749
BIOS: Ver 1.00
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 520 @2.40GHz (4CPUs), ~ 2.4 GHZ
Memore: 4096MB RAM

Device
Name: Intel(R) HD Graphics
Manufacturer: Intel Coproration
Chip Type: Intel(R) HD Graphics (Core i5)
DAC Type: Internal
Approx Total Memory: 1754
Current Display Model: 1600 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Generic PnP Monitor

 

The Nvidia Geforce 320M is the best integrated graphics solution out right now, actually beating some entry-level dedicated cards. It destroys Intel HD graphics by a ton (at least twice as fast). Even with Sandy Bridge Intel probably won't catch up. No comparison there.


@kevynn17: No, you don't have the ATI card. You can only play SC2 smoothly on low.

 

I am not too sure, but if your laptop had a dedicated gpu, it would show up on your dxdiag report. I guess it automatically switches to ati card when playing a game?

What's worrying me is, dxdiag report is only showing intel HD graphics. Do all studio 17 come with 5650, always? You might have gotten the one with just the integrated card. In any case, your laptop might be able to run SC2 on lowest settings if it's only with integrated card. If it is indeed with 5650, then at least medium settings I am guessing.

 

easiest way to find out is how much you paid for the laptop and where did you buy it from. gives us a link and we can clear this up.

 

This. I was going to ask this next.

 

LOLOL ok then here's my order that i got from the dell website. i had a customized laptop. it was awesome! originally around 1,200-1,300$ but i got it on sale and had online coupons. the total was around 900. pretty kool =)

Quantity Item Number Description Unit Price
1 224-8067 Studio 17 (1749) CTO $849.99
1 317-3605 Intel Core i5-520M 2.40GHz (2.93Ghz Turbo Mode, 3M cache) $0.00
1 317-3612 4GB, DDR3, 1066MHZ, 2 DIMM $0.00
1 330-4434 Standard Internal Keyboard $0.00
1 421-1009 Dell Webcam Software 1.4 Application Kit $0.00
1 320-8820 17.3 in HD+ TL LED Display w/Cam $0.00
1 320-8817 Intel HD Graphics $0.00
1 342-9526 500GB 7200 RPM HDD $0.00
1 313-8046 Midnight Blue $0.00
1 420-7938 Dell Connect 2.1 $0.00
1 421-0187 Dell Support Center Software 64 Bit 2.0 $0.00
1 420-6576 DELL WELCOME,Software Dimension/Inspiron $0.00
1 420-6436 PC-Restore, Dim/Insp $0.00
1 421-0323 Windows Live Search,Multiple User Interface $0.00
1 330-6222 Windows 7 Label $0.00
1 330-7417 DELL RESOURCE DVD,BACK-UP,1749 $0.00
1 420-9352 Dell, Software, Wild Tangent Inc Games $0.00
1 421-1737 Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English $0.00
1 420-9691 DataSafe Local BackUp $0.00
1 421-2086 eBay Webslice $0.00
1 421-0757 Skype VOIP Application $0.00
1 410-1883 Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.0 Multi-Language $0.00
1 313-8870 8X DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive $0.00
1 421-1362 Dell Software,Roxio 1.0 $0.00
1 421-1445 Cyberlink PowerDVD DX 8.3 Kit $0.00
1 313-4783 Integrated High Definition Audio 2.2 $0.00
1 430-3619 Intel WiFi Link 6200 $0.00
1 420-9100 Dell Dock Consumer $0.00
1 410-2462 MCAFEE PEARL MUI,15MTH,Without Media $0.00
1 312-0978 85 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell) $0.00
1 410-0487 Microsoft Office Starter 2010 $0.00
1 923-7737 Dell Hardware Limited Warranty Plus At-Home Service, Initial Year $0.00
1 934-6370 Next Business Day In-Home Service after Remote Diagnosis, Initial Year $0.00
1 420-8878 Software, Soft Contracts Dell In-Home $0.00
1 950-3337 1 Year Limited Warranty $0.00
1 950-9797 No Warranty, Year 2 and 3 $0.00
1 933-0400 Warranty Support,Initial Year $0.00
1 988-7707 2GB DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 FOR SDO/DIM/INS/XPS $0.00
1 420-9518 DATASAFE ONLINE 1.1 2GB $0.00
1 988-0099 To activate your online backupaccount, go to Start, Programs, DataSafe Online $0.00
1 330-0171 S and P Drop-in-Box Marcom forDHS Notebooks $0.00
1 330-4532 No Mobile Broadband Card selected $0.00
1 600-0039 State Environmental Fee for display less than 15 inches $8.00

 

Yeah, it's Intel HD. No ATI card.

 

lol you were certain your laptop had a ATI card, but you never customized for it. So now you are stuck with integrated card Of course it'll be cheap since the laptop doesn't have a dedicated gpu.

 

sadly as mentioned above you dont have a dedicated graphics card. if the website you ordered it from had a ati card advertised then youve been duped into buying a cheaper laptop without the card.
could always ring them up and say you thought it came with a ati card and see what they say.
dont hold your breath though as this is dell lol.

 

10 characters

 

return it and get one with a 5650.

 

I am not sure if Dell would allow 'return a customized laptop'. I am not a Dell fan, so I don't know anything about their policy. But as Sean473 said, try returning it I guess.

 

you have like 14 days to return it but i think it costs like 15% restocking fee

 

Your Studio 17 has Intel HD graphics. It's expresscard slot can host a US$220/$280 GTS450/GTX460 Optimus DIY VIDock, which will outbench the HD5650 option.

 

Please we know you like your DIY ViDocks but look at the history of this thread do you seriously think he's going to go for that?

 

i doubt it.. DIY Vidock isn't portable.. might as build a desktop... if he can return it , its better...

 

It's the *only* option to provide a gpu that is gaming capable with the Intel HD system so is worth listing as another option to consider if replacement options are not suitable/available.

Another incentive of decoupling the gpu from the system via the DIY ViDock is battery life. If the HD5650 Studio 17 doesn't have switchable graphics then there would be a battery life drop compared to the current Intel HD system.

 

He also doesnt seem like the type of person who would game on the go and its actually not that hard I set it up for my friend and hooked it up to his 50 inch led tv and he loves but that's probably because there are "free" games easily available for the PC.
So now he just hooks up his laptop to the Vidock along with a few wireless controllers and plays any game he likes. and I only charged him 100 bucks for it