Video Cards

I was reading up on some new games being released on gamespot.com when I came up to a forum and saw that many people had problems running Far Cry with their video cards. Radeon 64MB cards were called old. Now I just ordered my HP zx5000 with a 64MB Radeon 9200. Is this thing old or what? I'll return the thing if it is. I also read that the 9200 does not support DX 9.0. Is this true? Will my games run slow?

 

It does support support DX 9.0 its not really old, but it is also nowhere near top of the line for desktops. But its pretty decent for a laptop. You should be able to play most current games just not necessarily at the best resolution and with the most effects and extras on.

 

hey i gots a question for ya-

Im buying a compaq presario 3055CA (r3000 model). it has a 128 MB ATI Radeon IGP video card.. is that any good orwhat?I know its shared, so I am buying antoher stick of ram, 512, to replce the 256.

I allready bought it once but ive had some problems with the ram so im just taking the whole thingback and gettinga new one.. but buying different ram

which leads me to my second question- i bought a stick of 512 AZEN notebook ram and it locks this new machien up eery few reboots. I was thinkign of getting Crucial ram for it, since on the crucial memory configurator thing it says that compaq presario r3000 models accept a certain type of crucial ram.. so do youthink it would be good to get crucial ram? Kingston ram is also apparently made for my model- 3055ca. i typed in other models, such as 3070ca or somethign liek that,a nd it didnt show anything for that model, so i am assuming that type of kingston memory is good for my laptop also.

thank you!

p.s. if u know of any problems wtih r3000 models, dont hesistate to letmeknow! itwould be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks for the info Quikster. I guess I'll find out how it plays when I finally get my HP 5000 soon. Like Ive said before Im not a hardcore gamer so I guess the 9200 will be fine, as for Briggs, I have always been told that "dedicated" memory is always better than shared. Last notebook I owned had shared memory and I even upgraded to 1024 and I still wasnt to thrilled about how it performed. I would see some of my friends with dedicated memory and their computers ran better. Im sure it also depends on what model video card you have and the rest of the notebook specs, mine was older I had a Compaq 2100us series. AMD atlon 1.67 GHz, 1024 DDR (minus the 128 for he memory), 60 GB HDD, etc etc. Well Im not an expert on this stuff so Im sure someone else can give you better advise. Im just speaking on my experience using a shared memory video card.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by briggs_ca

 

Well, i guess i've just been trying to figure out what runs better. All iplay is counter-strike and games like that, and call of duty. thats the most advanced looking game i have at the moment.

I just didnt know if a 64MB dedicated card would run better then a 128 MB shared one..(in general) but so far im thinking the 64MB would run better.

I dont do any video editing, atleast nothing hardcore and professional.. justsilly little things in adobe premier and 3ds max but i rarely, RARELY touch those.. and my ibm thinkpad r31 can handl even most of the stuff i do on it..

if anyone could explain the biggest differences between a shared memory card and a dedicated one..like what is gona run faster.. that would be cool. (other then a shared memory card uses its memory from the system.. while the dedicated has its own memory.. i know that much)

 

I also play counter-stike a lot. The 64mb dedicated will definetly outperform any IGP even with double the memory. Since all it is doing is stealing 128mb of ram from the system and it can't render 3d as well as a dedicated it will create yet another hinderence with the loss of useable system memory. I'm not sure how well the said IGP would do but the destop nForce2 does well, but then again it is basically an integrated geforce 440mx. I would not count on being able to play cs great on the IGP, although it can probably be done, you may need to turn everything way down.

 

I was wrong about an earlier statement, the 9200 mobile does not support directx 9.0 through hardware. The desktop version does, but the the 9600 is the first mobile chip to support dx 9.0 w/ hardware. You will still most likely be able to play the dx 9 games, just not the ones that require full hardware support, and not w/ every little feature turened on.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Quikster

 

what about the radeon 9000 IGP? does that support directx 9?

damn.. this isa huge blow..blah..

 

No, again not in hardware. The 9600 is the first mobile from ati to support dx 9 through the hardware. In which case you would have to get the zx5000 or the R3000T if you are really worried about it and want the full dx 9. Personaly unless you are a big gamer I wouldn't worry about it too much. But if you have the money the graphics will be current for a little longer in these.

 

i looked into the r3000t, but i cant find them on the hp canadian site, only the american one. they are apparently sold here, but i dont know where!

I emailed HP and they said ...

"Yes, R3000t is similar to R3000 and comes under the same series R3000."

So im not sure how to take it..does it mean the R3060CA I want to get, with the Mobility ATI 64MB Radeon 9200 can possibly have the 9600 version?

I dont know how to differeniate all these different machines and series'. THeres even the r3000z series, but i think thats just with Athlon processors in them.

I'm just trying to get the best for my money.. and the most i can fork out is 2400 canadian (that would be including taxes and such up here), so im really trying to figure out what is the better deal to get, and I dont have alot of time to decide either!

I'm not sure if the R3000T is some NEW model that is coming out.. or if its just what i actualy am getting soon, but it goes by R3000 also.

HP help pretty much sucks. for every good reply they give me, i get like 7 bad ones lol

 

In the US anyway the R3000 has the max option of a 9200 and only the R3000T comes with either a 9200 or 9600 with the R3000z coming with the nVidia go440.

 

wel i think im outta luck. i wont be seeing an r3000t i dont think any time soon up here. mabe ill just get the machien wtih the 9200.. and then i have 2 weeks to return/exchange the laptop, hopefully they will a machine with a 9600 card in it.. lol then ill just go and exchange it for that.

the machine with the 9200 chip in it is on sale right now too.. so thats why i gota get it at some point soon.. sigh.. stressfull!!!