Need Some Help

'ello,
I am not a hard-core gamer. I am not a computer wizard. I just want to play a few games from time-to-time.

I've been trying to play Command & Conquer 3 on my laptop but I can't play for more than a minute or two before it crashes. I know this game an be played on a laptop because I've played it on a lesser laptop than mine.

Anyways, I get about a minute of play then it goes to a black screen for a moment, then I get a notification that says Windows has found a problem and the programme must be closed.

Any help is appreciated.

The machine is a Toshiba P105, 2 GIGs of RAM, 200 GIG Hard Drive, and a 1.7 Ghz Duo Core Processor, and Vista Business.

I have all of the setting as low as they can go in the game...I have also downloaded the latest Patch etc for the game.

I have a hard time believing that this machine cannot play this game especially when I've played it on other machines that are not as powerful etc.

The laptop is new - I just picked up the game two or three days ago.

Thanks in advance.

 

Is this the laptop you have? If so, then you have integrated graphics chip Intel GMA950, which is not meant for gaming. You can propably try to play about 3 year old games with it though but I wouldn't guarantee they run well either. C&C3 is a new game and you need better, preferably dedicated graphics card to be able to run it. Otherwise those specs in your laptop look good.

You can confirm my info by checking if you can run C&C3 (select it in the dropdown menu) in this page: http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/referrer/srtest

 

Thanks for that link - worked a treat.

It looks like my laptop did really well with two exceptions.
Here is what it failed in:

Now that I know the problem, how do I correct it? Rather...where do I get the right chipset? I know this can be uprated - can you only get the chipset from Toshiba via their site? Would a laptop store have them? Would I need to get it from NVIDIA?

 

You have integrated graphics adapter. It cannot be upgraded. I'm sorry.

 

It's the year 2k7 and you're telling me there's nothing I can do?..there must be something I can do...

 

You can buy a new laptop with dedicated graphics card. Laptops are not like desktops where you can just swap the graphics card with a new one. Even most dedicated graphics cards cannot be upgraded in laptops. You just get what you buy. Memory, HDD and processors are different matter.

 

Hmm. Well, anybody want to buy a laptop? I find that irritating. I guess I need a different laptop.

 

GPU is what matters. If you wanna play games, you have to look at the GPU first.

I suggest you try disposing of you laptop first, but it all depends on you if you're willing to sell that laptop for a price much lower than what you got it for.

Then look for a laptop with a decent video card. When you're looking at the GPU (video card), always check the 2nd digit of the model, whether ATI or Nvidia. Check this out first:

ATI Mobility Radeon X2300, X1600, X1400, X700
Nvidia Geforce Go 7600, 7400, 6600, 6200

The first digit indicates the series with the exception of the X700 being a mid-ranged card of the X000 series. The second digit indicates the model in the series. Higher always means better. A Geforce Go 7600 is obviously better than a 7300. Some sneaky or idiotic sales people try to salestalk buyers. It happened to me two weeks ago when I went looking for a laptop. The guy told me the X2300 is way better than the X1600 just because it can HyperMemory up to 869 Mb which is absolutely false because even with that memory a 128 Mb X1600 is still way faster. Same is true for a 7300 and a 6600. A Geforce Go 6600 will slaughter a 7300 in any benchmark. An X1400 is faster than an X2300 but not faster than an X1600 or an X700. Get the picture? Memory doesn't matter much when choosing among different models because a common misconception by most ordinary users is that the more memory, the better; which is obviously false. But if it's the same model, get the one with more memory, obviously. X1600 256 Mb > X1600 128 Mb.

That's a simple way to put it when looking for graphics cards. But for most techies, they tend to be picky and check how many pipelines, shaders; what the clock speed is, etc.

Good luck in finding a good laptop with a decent video card for some gaming. And make sure that laptop has at least 1 Gb of RAM if you're going to use Windows Vista.

 

Ok, where should I sell this laptop then?

I think I want $800.00 for it.

Is it just not possible to uprate the GPU on this thing?

 

I think you also have to ask yourself is the game really worth throwing money away like that. You can still play older games with you laptop.

If you decide to sell the old and buy or trade to a new one, there's propably numerous possibilities. There's actually a Buy, Sell, Trade section here in NBR. You sould also fill out the What Should I Buy FAQ here to get some answers what are good options for a new laptop.

 

Yes, it's worth it.

If it can't do what I want it to do then I need to replace it.

This laptop is like three days old, so this is a little funny.

 

It propably feels odd for sure. It's just that many laptops are not meant for gaming. The idea to buy a laptop with a integrated graphics chip without great 3D/gaming capabilities is to get good battery life and nearly zero heat. So they are usually best graphics solutions for general office/business line laptops.

If you need more info about laptop graphics cards and their performance, check the Gaming/Graphics General Info -sticky on top of the Gaming section.

 

Seeing how Moto posts, I don't think he's serious about actually selling his laptop and getting another one with a decent video card.

 

Yep...I still think it's retarded.

Don't be a moron. I just picked up a laptop with 512 MB of dedicated graphics. It's great.

My other P-105 is for sale.

Other than you being a dummy your post was completely pointless.

Have a nice day.

 

My other laptop just sold yesterday. I'm back down to one now.