Disappointed performance results with RCT3 & Crysis 1 (max settings) with the m14x?

Okay, before I begin, here are my specs. This shows my processor, memory and GPU, let me know if you need to know more.

Intel Core i7 2630QM 2.0GHz (2.9GHz Turbo Mode, 6M cache)
6GB DDR3 at 1600MHz
1.5GB DDR3 NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M using NVIDIA Optimus technology

(Now I'm assuming these are the specs most m14x's come with)

Anyways, as the title says, I have been disappointed with performance results of two games. Both games I've experienced lag and I'll start with crysis 1.

Crysis 1 (Release date 2008)

I downloaded this game off of direct2drive (it was about $30) and took about 5 hours to download. (I used download manager) Anyways, when it finally finished I started it up and immediately turned the graphics settings to max (assuming my ALIENWARE GAMING LAPTOP could handle it)... When the game started, at first I was satisfied with everything but then began to notice the motion was choppy and stuttery. It took me a while to realize this because at first I just figured it was the way the game was. So what I did was, just for the heck of it, I wanted to see what medium graphics settings was like. Once I changed it to medium, there was a significant improvement in performance, everything was running way smoother and the gameplay was just a lot better.

So, to narrow everything down.

Very high settings - Playable but choppy performance and most likely under 30fps
Medium settings - Playable smooth performance, no cons I can think of atm other then the fact that the visuals were downgraded ...

So here are my questions...

1) Is there anything I can do about this to make it able to run this game on max graphics settings? (If yes, go to 2, if no skip 2)
2) If yes, please give me step to step instructions on what to do.
3) During the whole process of choosing which PC to get, I've read several times that the alienware m14x can run crysis on max/very high settings. So how come OTHER people's m14x's can play this game but MINE can't? What is going on here?
4) Can your laptop run crysis 1 on max settings? (Simple Y/N ?)
Lastly, 5) Because this game came out four years ago, is it really that high demanding that even today's gaming type PC's can't run it on max settings? I just find that really hard to accept...

Next game... Roller coaster tycoon 3 (Release date 2004)

I have the gold edition and yes I got the night time lag free patch. Anyways... this game is a little different and I'll try to keep is as short as possible because I know this post is huge. This game runs just fine, but only starts to lag when there are 800+ peeps in the park. The lag isn't that bad and it only starts to lag when you zoom out a little to view your park and move the camera around. When you zoom back in though, there's still some lagg but not as much when you zoom out of course. Now I'm assuming that's more of a game problem then a GPU/CPU problem. If it's a problem everyone experiences, then I could careless. Like I said before it's not THAT bad, but ANY lag and I'm sure most will agree, kinda ruins the whole gaming experience... So thoughts?

Apologies for all the reading and I REALLY appreciate it if someone will help me out! (Because quite frankly, I hardly know anything about how PC's work)

 

That's normal. You're just squeezing more juice than your orange can provide. Crysis is the 2nd most demanding game there is ( after Metro 2033 ). Those frames seem about right for your laptop. You have a GT555M, not a GTX580M

Regarding RTC3, it's because there are lots of plygons in the scene, which is a pretty big number for your GPU.

If you are looking for top end performance for very demanding games, get a M17x or M18x.

 

Ok that's the kind of response I was looking for, because if this is a matter of playing the wrong kind of games, then I understand completely. But remember question 3 when I asked about other peoples M14X's able to run crysis 1 on max? Are those responses just people that are assuming it can because it's simply an alienware laptop and that must mean it can play anything?

"Regarding RTC3, it's because there are lots of plygons in the scene, which is a pretty big number for your GPU.

If you are looking for top end performance for very demanding games, get a M17x or M18x."

You're probably right but this game was released not four but EIGHT years ago... and the thing is, I saved the disk all those years. It's really unfortunate that I underestimated these 2 games because I was really looking forward to playing these two games weeks and weeks upon receiving the m14x.

 

I can't comment on RTC3 though, since I have no idea what that game is and how it is, but I can assure you that Crysis even drags ultra-high end DESKTOPS to their knees when maxed. So yeah, Crytek did a bad job optimizing Crysis.

Perhaps those M14X's were overclocked?

 

Maybe, I just don't know what to do right now. I was planning on getting the PC version of the next elder scrolls skyrim that comes out November 11th, but after this disappointing outcome with these 2 games I just don't see that happening...

 

The m14x is a spectacular laptop in my opinion for its size but if you were looking to MAX OUT every single game that you play, you might want to rethink that. As the other guy said, Crytek did a terrible job optimizing Crysis 1 so don't let that ruin your day. Also, are you referring to Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 when you say RTC3? That game itself is buggy if you ask me.. I can see this laptop handling Skyrim fairly well but I mean if you really want to max the graphics of Skyrim, you probably should return the laptop if possible as I'm assuming you just bought this laptop and most companies offer at least 30 days 100% refund guarantee. If it was me though, I would keep that thing as it's just amazing how they fit all that into a 14" lappy

 

I would get an m17x-m18x if it wasn't so expensive. The m14x was expensive as it is, and if it means I have to pay over $1,500 to run these 2 games on max settings then I say it's not worth it. (Of course I could build my own PC but I decided to not go that route...)

Now I completely concur with what you both are saying, and when I mean handling skyrim I meant handling it on max settings. Because here's the thing, when I play a game (A pc game that is) I want to play it on the highest settings there is. The main reason I bought crysis was literally just to see if it could handle it on max settings. (And because it's a good game) but when I found out it couldn't, I kinda just gave up. Now I guess you could say I'm in denial because I've been trying to figure out ways around this for days but now I think it's time for me to come to the conclusion that I'll just have to deal with mid settings on most high demanding PC games.

It just concerns me knowing that my laptop doesn't have the potential to run (some) games on max settings.

Here are some other games I'm considering and please tell me if you think it can handle it on max settings.

-sims 3
-world of warcraft
-battlefield 3 bad company
-call of duty mw3 (as well as mw2 and cod 4)

That's about all I can think of at the moment.

 

People expect too much from an "alienware machine". Yes it looks nice and for its size performance is great. However it still cannot compete with high end desktops. When i had my single gtx 470 i could max out crysis at around 30-40 fps. Now that i have 2 6950's i can play it at a smooth 70+fps maxed (without AA) @ 1080p. Dont sweat about not being able to play crysis on the highest settings, personally imo for a gt 555m 1600x900 is too high. The numbers you are getting are in the expected range.

Oh and for the record most people with alienware laptops have absolutely no clue what they talk about. If they say their m14x can max crysis well they are full of $h1t
I know from personal experience, i had a gx640 and it could barely play crysis on high at 30+fps (1680x1050). Some dude on these forums upgrades from 4gb ram to 6gb of ram and tried to convince everyone that he could now max crysis (minus AA). I look at his videos and its obvios is fps has not changed from 4gb. He was running it in the low 20's and dipped to in 16+ fps area. Maybe 20 fps is playable to him but i certainly do not thnk its acceptable fps. To me for single player 30+ is fine and for multi i need at least 60+fps average (unless is slow paced game). Trust me mate, performance from ur laptop is quite normal.

-sims 3 - Should be maxed easy, I can play it on my m11x fine.
-world of warcraft - Very old game, just take shadows off and you should be sweet
-battlefield 3 bad company - FYI its just battlefield 3 Should be "playable" on medium settings at best
-call of duty mw3 (as well as mw2 and cod 4) - Given that the same old engine been used maxing or on high with 60fps+ should be easily obtainable.

 

That's somewhat of a relief but I'm still struggling with my next decision to make. Should I stick with this laptop or return it and purchase a m17x... I wonder if that would even run those 2 games lag free... if that won't then I definitely give up with these 2 games :laugh: !

Although there are other games, these 2 games specifically I really wanted to play and I can understand crysis but RCT 3... that's just not acceptable. Even if there was 2000+ guests in my park, that's no excuse for it to lag, especially since this game came out 2004 and I am running it on a gaming laptop released in 2011? I just don't get it... now since this is in the laptop forum section, and not to bash laptops (I was actually originally going to get a desktop but went with laptop in the end!) but I'm sure the real problem here is that I am playing games MEANT to be played on desktops rather then laptops. Because after doing some research, I've read that laptops are a bad idea for gaming. Not only because you can't upgrade it, but also simply because desktops are just more powerful and are more capable of running games than a laptop. (Even if it is a gaming type)

 

it would run better, the thing is that the m14x aint a good thing by a mile, its got the same size and weight of a 15'' and not the power to back it up.

I would simply go for the m18x if you want extreme gaming performance, however its not that portable, I would either go for the NP8150 with the 6990m when it arrives, it will have the same weight and about the same size, and more than 2x the power

 

Besides alienware, what are some other good gaming PC's out there? Please don't recommend anything higher than $1,500. You could suggest a desktop but a laptop would be nice.

 

Asus
Sager
MSI
Clevo

Take your pick. All will probably be better than alienware.

 

You need xfire 5870 or at least single 6970 to get crysis maxed.

That means almost $2000.

 

Your words wound me!

 

just out of curiosity how much did you pay for your m14x?
i know that aleienware laptops tend to be overpriced

also "max" setting on crysis can mean diffrent to diffrent people i can play it "maxed" but i have to turn the res down 1600x900 and turn the shaders down to medium to run it smoothly.
my laptop cost £850 but i know that people in the us were gettin better versions for $1000..and this was nearly a year ago

 

My Clevo P170HMx with Intel Core i7 2720QM and AMD Radeon HD 6970m struggles with Crysis 1 at "maximum" graphics.: eek:
But thanks to my recent repaste i shaved a 20c off my GPU temps so now i can probably try OCing some more for a couple of frames.

As with all notebooks you have to choose between portability or performance.
My notebook is faster than yours, but is bulkier and gets worse battery life.
When im running on battery even Minecraft lags. D:
(Notebook does not get enough juice.)

What you can do with your notebook is either do a overclock on the GPU to give it a little boost, or use one of the many custom configs for Crysis 1.
They look really good and also keeps the framerate high.

As for WoW, yes it is an old game but it recently got an overhaul so requirements have gone up slightly.
Just keep the AA and all that off while keeping the shadows at a minimum and you got yourself a portable powerhouse.
My settings are between high and ultra on Dx11 and im in the stable 60fps zone with Vsync.

 

I had the same dilema believe it or not.
I tried making a laptop as a primary but the hardware just got outdated way too quickly. So i sold my laptop and with that money + 200NZD I bought everything in my sig. I am so much more better off and happier. I suggest you take consideration into this route.

 

You want to max out every game?

Get a desktop with two 6990's or two 590's in crossfire/sli.
Well you don't need two but seriously I would just go for a desktop since its cheaper and more powerful and...it sits on your desk.

 

Really? . I figured the 6970 would have no problems, what resolution was this at?

Also to the OP, the GT555 is an excellent mid-range card.

 

Running Crysis in DirectX 9 with some tweaking can get you very close to the visuals of DirectX 10 without that mode's performance hit.

You can compare screenshots here.

 

Alienwares look hella sweet, but the price to performance ratio of the Sager/Clevo boxes is basically unbeatable.

 

Is the CCC mod still popular? It could get you more frames and a new ToD

 

I use it without the ToD mod and I have a hard time telling it from the lesser-performing standard DX 10 mode.

 

RCT3 is a 7 year old game. I recall running it on everything from an ATi Radeon 9000 (64MB DDR VRAM) - loaded Dell inspiron 600m all the way to my nVidia GeForce Go 7950GTX (512MB GDDR3 VRAM) - loaded XPS m1710 and it even ran on my current Sager NP8662 with GTX 260m (1GB GDDR3 VRAM). However, as much fun as the game is, I fear that this game is reaching the point where it is so old that modern GPUs may be too powerful or unable (due to DX11 v. DX8 / 9) to run the game. My GTX 260m with this game runs at about 100fps even with everything maxed out in-game, since it is so far and above requirements. However, it is only DX10, whereas the GT555m is DX11 (albeit the 260m is 256-bit; the GT555m is 192-bit or 128-bit, depending on card). If you are adamant about the alienware, see if you can have a tech replace the 1.5GB card with the 3GB GT555m card. Sometimes increasing the memory available to the GPU can have a profound effect at higher resolutions.

As for those who say "return the AW and get a sager", unfortunately I must agree with that assessment. Let's say roughly speaking you spent $1800 inclusive of OS, warranty, etc. For that same $1800 you could get the following (courtesy of xoticpc).

Sager NP8130 / Clevo P151HM1
- 3% Cash Discount, 8GB RAM Promotion & Price Match! Ask us about our Current Specials! We GUARANTEE we have the lowest price for the same configuration!
- 15.6” FHD 16:9 LED Backlit Wide screen (1920x1080) Super Clear Matte Type Screen
- Standard Dead Pixel Policy
- - 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-2630QM, 2.0-2.8GHz, (32nm, 6MB L3 cache)
- - IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU
- nVidia GeForce GTX 560M 1,536MB PCI-Express GDDR5 DX11
- No Video Adapter
- ~ 16,384MB DDR3 1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (4 SODIMMS)
- Standard Finish
- ~ 500GB (w/ 4GB SSD Memory) Seagate XT 7200RPM NCQ Hybrid (Serial-ATA II 300 - 32MB Cache)
- ~ 6X Blu-Ray Read/8X DVDRW Super Multi Combo Drive - Special
- No Extra Optical Bay Hard Drive Caddy
- No Back Up Hard Drive
- NO External USB Optical Drive
- No Floppy Drive
- Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)
- No Back Up Software
- None Standard--
- Intel® Ultimate-N 6300 - 802.11A/B/G/N Wireless LAN Module
- No Network Accessory
- Built in 2.0 Megapixel Camera
- No TV Tuner
- Sound Blaster Compatible 3D Audio - Included
- No Carrying Case
- Smart Li-ion Battery (8-Cell)
- No Car Adapter
- None Standard*
- No Dock/Hub/Adapter
- Integrated Fingerprint Reader
- No External Keyboard or Mouse
- No Notebook Cooler
- No Thanks, Please do not Overclock my system (Overclocking will add 3-6 business days to build time)
- ~Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Installed (64&32-Bit CD Included) w/ Drivers & Utilities CD's + Microsoft Office Starter 2010 - Included with OS Purchase
- No Office Software
- No Software Bundle
- Sager 2 Year Parts & 3 Year Labor Warranty w/ Lifetime 24/7 DOMESTIC Toll Free Customer Support
- No Xotic PC Gear
Total: $1,738.

Same CPU, but MUCH more memory, a more robust GPU, USA 24/7 support, and reliable. With this crysis should be much smoother (memory is GDDR5, guaranteed 192-bit bandwidth), be playable at a bit higher resolution, and the bang for the buck is far greater. As for RCT3, you may want to ask Atari what to do with the game; I will admit it is one of my favorite games (even if the physics are wacky to where with the bobsled, if you have a very robust GPU you go 300mph), and it'll be more than gameable for at least the next 3 years. Best part, nobody will know that your rig is a gaming machine

Just my .02

Jason

 

Those people are as bad and clueless as people who say Monster Beats by Dr. Dre are the best headphones ever.

It all comes down to the performance of the GPU regardless of whatever computer casing / brand it is.

Indeed the GT555 is a months-old chip while Crysis is a many-years-old game. However the GT555 is only a low~mid-tier discrete GPU, which IS much more powerful than a mid-tier discrete a few years ago, but still can't beat the high-tier GPUs from 5 years ago simply because of physical limitations (not enough shaders built in). The "new-ness" of hardware is indeed a factor of performance, but the tier ultimately determines how powerful it is.

 

the GT 555m is MID RANGE gpu.

Why would anyone use 16gb of ram? Only if you are a professional graphics artist, compile and run the said compiled program on several VMs, or do some intensive ram tasks, and those 2 are the only ones I can remember.

The op could get a NP8150 with a gtx 485m for about 1500. There is no need to get the NP8151, with only the gtx 560m, its a much less powerful card than the 485m, it will be thoroughly stomped by the 6990m, and we are expecting the pricing of the 6990m to be in the 6970m levels which means, a great pc for around 1600

 

I play at native resolution, 1920x1080.
And i feel that anything under stable 60fps is kinda unplayable.
I want the game to run buttery smooth.

 

Thanks for all the feedback guys, now that I know what the problem actually is (my GPU) Then which laptops come with the best GPU's to max out the most high demanding games (such as crysis and metro I believe...)

Now Like I said I'm not good with PC's so when you guys are saying all these GPU #'s, I don't know what they mean.

 

For the current gen graphics cards, here's a simple breakdown of what the numbers mean....

For NVidia, there are 3 digits, ###, the first # signifies the generation of GPU, the second # signifies the tier / performance of the GPU, and the third # specifies slight differences within each tier (e.g. GT420 vs GT425, exactly the same physical chip, just slightly higher clocked / specified to run at a higher rate on the 425).
The most important part is thus the second #, generally the higher, the more powerful (by a huge margin)

Same for ATI cards, except ATi cards have 4 digits, first # for generation, second # for tier, and third # for slight differences within each tier; the forth # is usually a zero so that the numbers look bigger than NVidia card numbers lol.

 

Okay, thank you for informing me lol. So the GPU I have I've heard is a middle-class one... so which laptops come with high GPU's and another thing. Does the GPU it comes with make the price difference THAT much more expensive. Because literally EVERYTHING about my m14x is fine EXCEPT for the GPU. That's the only flaw it has...

 

Usually its a couple hundred $ difference when upgrading from mid to high tier GPUs (given there is an option for that when you are customizing for it). However I do not know specifics as to which brands / versions have the top notch ones. I heard good things about Sager though, might wanna check that out.

 

Okay and I'm assuming sager's laptops are generally less expensive than alienware's? I hope so because I could careless about the outside appearance. Because that's really what makes these alienware's so expensive and I love the way it looks but this GPU is just not working for me at all.

 

Don't ask me, I'm not an expert in high-end laptop pricing lol. Check out the sites yourself and compare the specs / pricing.

 

Also, I'm reading that Asus laptops are better than sagers?

 

It depends really, Some models can be expensive for price/performance, but then you can work out amazing deals and get them cheap.(EPP,AAFES,etc.) lots of ppl have scored nice M11-18x's rather cheap through the discount programs. Heck even calling them directly instead of buying online will net you some discounts. I think warranty/customer service and build quality should come into play as well.

 

Sadly there aint enough space to cram a performance GPU inside the 14" chassis while keeping it cool.

Asus G73SW / G74SX does give you allot of notebook for the price, but its harder to upgrade than for example Sager / Clevo.
Also gives you a backlighted keyboard too.

But Asus does not offer the highest performing GPUs in their notebook line.

 

Its a downclocked 6850. Sure as hell its powerful in a laptop but in the desktop world its merely a mid range card. Only in crossfire would it be a decent setup in terms of desktop components, but over here it would be an absolute beast.