Low - Med Gmaing with AMD Turion 2.2Ghz and ATI Radeon 512MB

(sorry, the Title should read "Low - Med Gaming with AMD Turion 2.2Ghz and ATI Radeon 512 MB)

Hey All

I have posted a similar thread in the "What notebook should I buy" section, and ZaZ recommended me to also make a post here. I am planing to buy a HP Pavilion dV6 Notebook. I am not sure of the exact model but I think it is the DV6-1216SA. It has an AMD Turion 2.2Ghz Processor and ATI Graphics 512 MB (I think it is a 4530). I want to know If I am able to run games like NFS SHift, Undercover and Age of Empires III at low to medium settings with playable framerates (at least around 18FPS). I also want to use Pinnacle Studio 14 HD COllection at workable speeds.

I have never used an AMD processor before (not that I'm against them), and I don't know how it performs and what is its closest Intel match. I want to mild gaming at playable rates.

So basicly, can new games be played with minimal settings at palayble speeds, and can I use Pinnacle studio at unfrustrating speeds.

Thanks Everyone

UV

 

You will be able to Play AOE 3 just fine at high settings. You will be able to run newer games at low settings. I would recommend getting a better Graphic card, its the graphic card that will bottleneck you in games.

 

You may want to check or compare GPUs instead of CPUs since GPUs are the most important in gaming.

I havent played any of the games you mentioned BUT I am pretty sure you can play those low and more likely in medium.

You can check or search for ATI 4530 game benchmarks.

Here is an example

AMD ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 - Notebookcheck

 

The thing is, that I am buying this from a local store, and they don't have much of a selection, and almost anything else is over my budget. I am glad to know that I might be able to run games at low-med. THe graphics are definitely an upgrade from Intel GMA X4500MHD right?

Thanks for the replies

UV

 

It will be one of the nicest upgrade you can have when you compare it with an Intel GPU...

 

It is waay better than the Intel X4500. I could play AOE3 in full HD on an ancient ATi 9700 pro 128MB. On notebookcheck they tested a few games with the HD 4530: AMD ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4530 - Notebookcheck

 

I have that card in mine HP DV7 with a M520 AMD 2.3ghz i think. Unfortunately for you i don't do gaming but any other question just ask.
I can work okay with 3D applications(just modeling) and do video/image editing without problems but my stuff isn't heavy.

 

@ tHE JOKER
Yeah I've checked that site. I have also found another laptop with 1.86 GHz Intel Pentium dual core processor T2390 and NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS, but I think the configuration above is way better

@ Bullit
How is your Video editing performance. Does it usually (generally) take ages to render, and can you use your video editor with ease (ie. no lagging, and waiting for stuff to load). I think the M520 is supirior to the turion but still we but still I'd like to know how your usual computing life is. Generally do your apps load fast, are there any weakspots with your laptop, what are they. Which Video editor do you use?

I want to know two more things.

1. Is this laptop better than a desktop with the following specs:

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 @ 2Ghz
nVidia GeForce GT210 512MB from Asus (EN210)
1GB RAM

2. I think the Laptop comes with a 32-bit version of Windows 7. Will the performance suffer or will there be no difference, because their is 4GB of RAM. Will 3GB RAM yield more performance than 4GB because of 32-bit. Is HP supposed to give me a 64-bit OS, since the laptop won't be able to support the full 4GB RAM with a 32-bit one.


All contributions are apreciated

Thank you all for your help, I think I will buy it this weekend. It is for my birthday which is the 10 September, and I want a gift which will really benefit me. If you guys have anymore info on this GPU, Processor or Laptop, please tell me. I want to know how it performs in the real worlds (not just tests.)

Thanks

UV

 

Just for the record, the memory size on a graphics chipset is probably the least important spec. Memory type and speed, as well as core speed and number of cores are the big ones...

For the games you mentioned, that system will run them above 30FPS no problem.

 

@ Classic77
Thanks for the quick reply. Which games do you think will gice the GFX Card a hard time

 

None, as long as you run the more strenuous games on low

 

Video card doesn't matter for rendering, it only needs to show the viewport and the video that the CPU renders.
Just a very small number of video editing programs can render video with help of GPU.
I had here something from Grass Valley, i think it was Edius. I had no problemas but i was testing editing in SD only and not HD.
I think M520 is still called Turion, anyway it is working fine, and i unclocked the lowest mhz step and undervolted so with 25ºC temperature the CPU doesn't goes more than 75ºC pushing to the max. Navigating in web it just gets around 50-55ºC with that 25ºC atmosphere temperature.

I think you should push the store/HP seriously to get Windows 7 x64, laptop has 4Gb RAM and you should get everything from it. With 4Gb RAM you can have more programs opened or working in an heavy projects without problemas.

If that desktop has only 1Gb RAM it will be far worse than laptop. 1Gb don't lets you go very far today.

 

@ tHE JOCKER
Were you talking about the nVidia GT210 or the Mobility Radeon 4530. I want to know about the 4530.

@ Bullit
That's nice to hear. So I can expect somewhat smooth performance. I didn't know you overclock (or underclock) a laptop. Is it possible throught the BIOS or did you do it using some software?

Thanks

UV

 

AOE III fine.

But NFS Shift is demanding and Undercover wasn't optimized that well, so will be tough as well. Maybe on low settings for those games.
- HD5870M @ 1080p on high gets around 50 FPS for NFS Shift if that helps.

 

@ ziddy123
Thanks for the reply. I only want to play on low settings. Your HD5870M is significantly better from all sides, so it is hard to use that info to predict what my Graphics Card will do. What do you mean by undercover not optimized well

Thanks

UV

 

I was talking about the Radeon HD 4530

I think it was first a console game that they ported to Windows.

 

As i can remember on NFS shift i was getting 22FPS on near max settings on my HD4570 so yeah it will run on medium settings on a HD4530

Same goes for NFS Undercover

 

@KING19
Thanks very much for that info. I think I'll buy this. IF I do, I'll post its performance here, and if I don't then I'll need help from you guys to buy a different one.

If you guys have any more info, Please tell me.

Thanks

UV

 

There is a small program called K10stat that works with K10 AMD series CPU's but you shouldn't touch it unless you really know what you are doing.

 

Ok Guys The Deal is done. My Dad let me spend a lot over my budget and I ended up buying a DV7-2150ei. It has less RAM but har a C2D procesor and also has the Same ATI Radeon 4530. It is bigger but also more expensive. It looks quite good, and has some touch buttons at the top. It follows more or less the same specs and design as the dV6. I hope I will be satisfied with it.]

THank you all for your advice

UV