How will it handle games?

Check out the specifications in my signature. They are that of my Dell Inspiron 1520 which should be arriving shortly.

I customized it without planning to use it for gaming. However, I was wondering how it would handle games if I decided to play a few on it.

How would it handle the average racing game? Are they any realistic driving simulator titles out there that my notebook can handle?

How about Flight Simulator X? Would I be able to play that at a decent rate?

Since my native screen resolution will be 1680 x 1050, does that mean that I will have to run games at a higher quality in order to play it in that resolution? If my hardware is not capable of running games in high quality, will I be able to lower the resolution in the game to compensate?

I am completely new to PC gaming so a quick run-down on things I should know about it would be very helpful and greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

 

Please see this thread for info on your graphics card, and no offense man but with 300 post's it just seems like you would have see it at least once.

 

Like I've stated before, I'm completely new to gaming. This is the first thread I've started in the gaming part of the forums. I've been quite helpful to those that needed help in parts of the forum I am experienced in. I would appreciate it if someone were to do the same for me here.

 

I've already pointed you to a post that will answer most of your questions. Isn't that helpful?

 

It should handle games fine. Your card is similar to my card in the c90. My c90 handles supreme commander, company of heroes, and fear max settings on 1280 x 1024 no problem.

Not a big fan of racing games so can't help you there.

Flight simulator is a very very very very demanding game. I think even desktops 8800s can't run it very well. So I'd say you would have to play on low settings but dont quote me on that since I don't own the game and have no tested.

Resolution increase basically makes your pictures clearer. But the thing is jumps in resolution also take a hit on performance especially with the 8 series it is one of the biggest complaints. I usually play on 1280 x 1024. Often increasing resolution is not justified enough to play at that resolution because you often to turn down graphic options to do so. I personally would rather play on a lower resolution (1280 x 1024 not low in my opinion but in my opinoon the base resolution for laptop gaming) and crank up the settings to high then crank up the resolution and then have to lower settings. But its a matter of personal preference. However the one thing you do notice when turning up the res is the less need for AA/F which also take a decent hit on performance. Like I said its a struggle to find a balance between resolution and settings.

 

So just because my native resolution is 1680 x 1050, it doesn't mean I will have to run my games in that resolution, correct? Will I be able to change the resolution temporarily in the game's menu? I am not crazy about changing the DPI settings in Windows.

 

Ah no your resolution of what you have when your normally usign the comp has nothing to do with your gaming resolution. Well it does basically its this, whatever you have your regular desktop and comp resolution to is your max resolution you can use in gaming. Now in gaming you can choose from 5 to sometimes over 15 resolutions depending on the game so no whatever resolution you are using is not the resolution you have to game in. You choose the resolution of the game in options in the game.

 

just make sure u have the service pack for Flight Simulator X

 

Dirt is suppose to be a good racing game, but its very demanding so I doubt you'll get very good performance at nice settings

As already stated, Flight Sim X is a very demanding game, i think no current computer can max out that game and get decent frame rate.

 

But overall, my notebook will be a gaming-capable machine, right? Maybe it won't handle the latest titles at maximum quality and resolution but I will be able to use my notebook for light gaming, right?

Would my computer be able to play an older version of Flight Simulator at almost maximum settings? Flight Simulator 2004 perhaps?

 

Yes it will rock at those games. You can't do much better than an 8600M GT without spending a whole bucketful of money.

 

Thanks.

I was a little worried about my processor, but nobody mentioned it so I'm guessing it will work fine...