few gaming related questions.

I ordered a dell vostro 1500 last week, and need to know a few things.


First, Here are my specs:

- dell vostro 1500
- 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
- Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T5470 (1.6GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB)
- windows vista premium
- 120G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
- 8X CD/DVD Burner w/ double-layer DVD+R
- 128MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8400M GS


i was wanting to know a few gaming questions.

First, some games say they need atleast a 2.0 GHz processor to run, mine is 1.6 GHz but if i understand correctly it is faster because it is a core 2 duo?


Im wondering if it will run games like this-

http://www.gamesforwindows.com/en-US/Games/Pages/Halo2forWindowsVista.aspx Halo 2

and

http://www.gamesforwindows.com/en-US/Games/Pages/LostPlanetExtremeCondition.aspx Lost Planet



thanks alot

 

Your processor is fine, GHz readings are based on the old Pentium 4 chips (as of now). Your CPU is much more powerful than a P4.

Halo 2 and Lost Planet are pretty heavy on your GPU. They will probably run, but you'll need to turn down the settings and resolution to low, MAYBE some mid.

I always thought Halo 2 would be a cinch for modern hardware, considering it came out on the original XBox, but I guess they never thought to optimize it for anything else.

 

alright cool. I guess what holding me down is my graphics card?

 

Yeah, your video card will become the bottleneck before your processor, at least for the games you listed. Maybe they optimized Halo 2, theoretically it should play darn well on your hardware because it was on the XBOX, most people say that this isn't the case, though.

Lost Planet is just a new game. I've heard that running it in DX10 mode showed a tiny 1% improvement in performance in some cases. Its funny, DX10 is supposed to make games more efficient and run better, but so far only Lost Planet has shown ANY improvement in performance. I guess we have to wait for DX10 native games like Crysis to see how it'll really work.

 

you most likely won't be able to play lost planet. you might be able to run it, but probably not be able to "play" it

 

i would assume for the halo 2 requirements 2 1.6 GHz is better than 1 2.0 GHz right?

 

most likely yes

 

I know its sometimes tough to shell out the extra money, but if you could somehow get the 8600gt your computer will love you. As far as Im aware, US residents can get an inspiron 1520 cheaper than a vostro 1500 so try configuring that if you already haven't.

Oh, and dont forget about the $300 coupon and free upgrade to 2gb and 160gb hard drive US residents get when entering the codes

 

yea already ordered my vostro and its being built. It actually cost me less.. it was about 801 dollars for the vostro 1500 with the specs i have.

 

somewhere down they road is it easy to upgrade from a GS to GT by myself?

 

Oh, thats a great deal for that laptop

Im not sure about the vostro, but on older laptops its not possible to switch graphics cards. Probably because its new there will be a way, but Im not 100%. Either way thats a great deal for that machine...should be a nice build

 

yes since 8600GT is offered for the Vostro 1500 line. Just remember this though, its not going to be cheap(you'll have to buy it from ebay or something) and it should be the hardest thing to upgrade on a laptop.