Buying new laptop, Wondering about performance.

[nzso]

I am about to buy a rather bottom of the line laptop simply because the price is to good to beat and I am rather tired of the the netbook I am using because it is mildly lacking in the performance department for the old games I enjoy playing.

The specs:

Processor: AMD C-50 1ghz
IGP: Radeon HD 6250
Memory: 2GB Ram

The specs are basically similar to an Atom processor with ION graphics which would be just enough of an upgrade for me considering my current netbook has a Intel 945gm which just is not enough for some of the old games I play.

Was wondering if I might be able to pull off playing PSU on low settings?

*Will be playing the offline portion of the game only*

[DeathDragon2332]

IDK man. The Processor is pretty weak. PSU only uses a Single core. And the Minimum CPU was 1.6gig so 1gig. I dont think you could run it and if you could pretty slow.

[nzso]

IDK man. The Processor is pretty weak. PSU only uses a Single core. And the Minimum CPU was 1.6gig so 1gig. I dont think you could run it and if you could pretty slow.

Believe it or not I can actually install and run it on my weaker netbook but it is unplayable due to slowness and graphic problems with the intel 945gm not supporting t&l. I have seen videos on youtube of the same laptop playing games like Half-Life 2, Farcry, Left for Dead and even Modern Warfare 2 so I thought it might be possible.

[Selphea]

The C-50 has better Instructions Per Clock (IPC) than the CPUs of 5 years ago. For example, a 1.83Ghz Core 2 Duo could wipe the floor with a 3Ghz Pentium 4, and I believe the C-50 has roughly the same IPC ratio as a C2D, so a 1Ghz C-50 is very likely to be faster than a 1.6Ghz Pentium 4, which is what was listed in PSU's requirements.

As for the graphics, it's good for a netbook, but PSU presents some unique circumstances - the game is programmed around a fixed FPS, which means the 6250 can't just hit playable framerates of 25+FPS on average, it must consistently be able to render 60FPS at worst with frameskip 0, or 30FPS with frameskip 1.

I am pretty confident that a Radeon HD 6250 will be able to hit an average of 25FPS on PSU easy. However, hitting a minimum of 30FPS or 60FPS on PSU is a bit harder to predict, and you will really want it to hit a stable FPS of 30 or 60 for Just Attack timings.

I'd suggest you keep your netbook and use that budget to get a desktop for gaming. For around US$530 you can get like, a Pentium G620 + H61 Motherboard + 4GB RAM + 500GB HDD + Radeon HD6770 + 20" Monitor + Keyboard/Mouse + 2.1 Speakers or a decent headset. Should be able to run PSU at 4xAA and run most non-FPS games on max settings and no AA at playable framerates. Your netbook fan will be eternally grateful to you for not abusing it =P

[str898mustang]

Yes get a desktop....try looking at www.cyberpowerpc.com....you can build a PC to your specs on there.

[Ezodagrom]

PSU only uses a Single core.
Forcing the CPU affinity to all cores results in:
[spoiler-box]http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3776/psu4cores.jpg[/spoiler-box]
(using a 3rd party software to always force the CPU affinity in PSU's .exe, otherwise the CPU affinity would go back to the default 1 core only)

Anyway, on-topic, not sure if a C-50 would be able to run it smoothly, if I'm not mistaken, my brother's Atom/Ion struggled to run PSU (don't remember well, since it was a long time ago since he tried it). :\
I'll try asking him tomorrow, to see if he remembers how PSU ran on his netbook, or to even ask him if he doesn't mind if I install it to see how it runs.

[DeathDragon2332]

So for a Vid card is a Geforce 7950GT OC good? I think its a 512 and its Overclocked. I just got a free desktop its 4Gig ram with this chip ^ and a Duel core 3.2Ghz Not sure what tho.

[Selphea]

To identify the CPU, get this: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html (download link is on the right side of the page)

My guess is that it's a Pentium D, and that rig is a high end gaming PC in 2006. I won't say it's good today but it should be able to max out PSU and if you don't mind turning down a few settings, it should be able to run most newer games well with a 19" monitor. It won't be very power efficient and the warranties should all have run out by now, but hey it's free =P

[InsertNameHere]

Get a alienware thats what i use and thats all you will ever need.

[DeathDragon2332]

I will be happy if it can run PSU at 0 FS lol. right now on my laptop I play on FS2 windowed 600/480 I think lol.

[DeathDragon2332]

Alienware are over rated. You can make a PC just as good at Half the Cost. You pay for looks and Brand name.

[Selphea]

I will be happy if it can run PSU at 0 FS lol. right now on my laptop I play on FS2 windowed 600/480 I think lol.

It can max PSU out =P You can maybe possibly get away with 2xAA too, and trust me AA makes a big difference on PSU 8)


Alienware are over rated. You can make a PC just as good at Half the Cost. You pay for looks and Brand name.

Not even looks lol, NZXT and Lian-Li's high end cases are pretty hawt

[DeathDragon2332]

Isn't the AA just 2 make the Edges better. Like the Pixelation of weapons and stuff.

[Selphea]

Pretty much, but PSU has so much pixellation it's not even funny - AA even worked on the ingame fonts O_O!

[DeathDragon2332]

Lol yeah I noticed that. I have 2 buy a new MotherBoard the 1 that came with it. Has 5 Blown Capacitors.

[Selphea]

Might be tricky to find the right motherboard for a Pentium D, there are 2 generations - Socket 478 and LGA775. 478s are plain hard to find, and not all 775s support Pentium Ds. Blown caps might hint at a power supply problem too

[Ezodagrom]

Might be tricky to find the right motherboard for a Pentium D, there are 2 generations - Socket 478 and LGA775. 478s are plain hard to find, and not all 775s support Pentium Ds. Blown caps might hint at a power supply problem too
There were no Pentium D for socket 478, only LGA775.
Also, since he has a 7950GT, which was released on late 2006, he could also have a 1st gen Core 2 Duo (which were released on late 2006 as well).
Scratch this...3.2GHz, definitely a Pentium D.

[Selphea]

Might be a 3.2Ghz Celeron D too, those were Socket 478 =p

[DeathDragon2332]

I just got a Brand New power Supply so it should be good.

[Ezodagrom]

Might be a 3.2Ghz Celeron D too, those were Socket 478 =p
Celeron D weren't dual-cores though, despite the name, they were sngle-core processors.

[nzso]

Forcing the CPU affinity to all cores results in:
[spoiler-box]http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/3776/psu4cores.jpg[/spoiler-box]
(using a 3rd party software to always force the CPU affinity in PSU's .exe, otherwise the CPU affinity would go back to the default 1 core only)

Anyway, on-topic, not sure if a C-50 would be able to run it smoothly, if I'm not mistaken, my brother's Atom/Ion struggled to run PSU (don't remember well, since it was a long time ago since he tried it). :\
I'll try asking him tomorrow, to see if he remembers how PSU ran on his netbook, or to even ask him if he doesn't mind if I install it to see how it runs.

Wow, that would be awesome. Let me know what you find out.

[nzso]

The C-50 has better Instructions Per Clock (IPC) than the CPUs of 5 years ago. For example, a 1.83Ghz Core 2 Duo could wipe the floor with a 3Ghz Pentium 4, and I believe the C-50 has roughly the same IPC ratio as a C2D, so a 1Ghz C-50 is very likely to be faster than a 1.6Ghz Pentium 4, which is what was listed in PSU's requirements.

As for the graphics, it's good for a netbook, but PSU presents some unique circumstances - the game is programmed around a fixed FPS, which means the 6250 can't just hit playable framerates of 25+FPS on average, it must consistently be able to render 60FPS at worst with frameskip 0, or 30FPS with frameskip 1.

I am pretty confident that a Radeon HD 6250 will be able to hit an average of 25FPS on PSU easy. However, hitting a minimum of 30FPS or 60FPS on PSU is a bit harder to predict, and you will really want it to hit a stable FPS of 30 or 60 for Just Attack timings.

I'd suggest you keep your netbook and use that budget to get a desktop for gaming. For around US$530 you can get like, a Pentium G620 + H61 Motherboard + 4GB RAM + 500GB HDD + Radeon HD6770 + 20" Monitor + Keyboard/Mouse + 2.1 Speakers or a decent headset. Should be able to run PSU at 4xAA and run most non-FPS games on max settings and no AA at playable framerates. Your netbook fan will be eternally grateful to you for not abusing it =P

This is mostly what I assumed and hoped to hear. My job keeps me traveling consistently year round so a desktop is out of the question. I generally play a lot of old school games like the Infinity engine games, the original Neverwinter Nights, Divine Divinity, the original PSO etc. etc. So buying a cheap laptop that can handle these titles is all I really need anyway. If PSU ends up becoming a slideshow for some reason I will probably just end up going back to PSO or PSOBB.

I plan on getting the laptop on Thursday so I will post the results of it's playability when I get a chance.

[Ezodagrom]

Okay, I asked my brother, he said that his netbook ran PSU at 1280x720 with frameskip 1 (30fps), and no framerate drops, apparently.
He also said that the nvidia ion got quite hot while playing, but his netbook only has passive cooling, so it's kinda normal it gets hot.

The C-50 does have a low clock though not sure if it could run PSU as well, but there are netbooks that have the E-350 instead, which has better specifications than the C-50 (dual-core @1.6GHz, HD6310 graphics). These cost around $330~$400.
For example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230091

[nzso]

Okay, I asked my brother, he said that his netbook ran PSU at 1280x720 with frameskip 1 (30fps), and no framerate drops, apparently.
He also said that the nvidia ion got quite hot while playing, but his netbook only has passive cooling, so it's kinda normal it gets hot.

The C-50 does have a low clock though not sure if it could be run PSU as well, but there are netbooks that have the E-350 instead, which has better specifications than the C-50 (dual-core @1.6GHz, HD6310 graphics). These cost around $330~$400.
For example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834230091

That's a good point and I had actually considered the e-series but the laptop I have my eyes on is $100 cheaper and in fact a $100 cheaper then what I paid for my little netbook. When Thursday rolls around though I may change my mind and shoot for the e-series line. Thanks for asking though!

[nzso]

Installed and ran PSU AOL today at 1280x720 on normal settings. Absolutely no lag or slowdown when running around the starting city or going through the first mission. High settings have not been tested yet. Very happy with the performance. Thought I would post that for anyone looking to buy a laptop with the c-50/radeon 6250 combo.

[Keilyn]

You should consider finding a way to deal with Thermodynamics.

As you know, most laptops are made with plastic shells. When temps get high and hot, the internal plastic can melt and spread on the chipset, causing failures and other problems.

What you want is to find if someone can mod you an Aluminum Shell. This will allow you to keep the laptop cool and will also allow it to last for a very long time. The problem with laptops is how bad they get at dissipating heat when they run for prolonged periods.

If you are a gamer who is plays 4 - 8 hours a day, consider looking into it since it will be during that period of time (4 - 8 hours easily) when your laptop takes the most wear and tear.

Good Luck. I know A LOT OF registry tweaks that help PSU, specially some that destroys the slowdown that Nprotect does.

Windows is like playing the secret of mana. :) When you first get it, its a "Rusty Sword" and when you tweak it, it becomes the strongest sword. ^_^

[nzso]

You should consider finding a way to deal with Thermodynamics.

As you know, most laptops are made with plastic shells. When temps get high and hot, the internal plastic can melt and spread on the chipset, causing failures and other problems.

What you want is to find if someone can mod you an Aluminum Shell. This will allow you to keep the laptop cool and will also allow it to last for a very long time. The problem with laptops is how bad they get at dissipating heat when they run for prolonged periods.

If you are a gamer who is plays 4 - 8 hours a day, consider looking into it since it will be during that period of time (4 - 8 hours easily) when your laptop takes the most wear and tear.

Good Luck. I know A LOT OF registry tweaks that help PSU, specially some that destroys the slowdown that Nprotect does.

Windows is like playing the secret of mana. :) When you first get it, its a "Rusty Sword" and when you tweak it, it becomes the strongest sword. ^_^

Thanks for the suggestions and sharing those registry tweaks would make for a good topic if you haven't done that already. I also enjoyed the reference to SOM by the way!

[Keilyn]

I would share them but the list is heavy.

I literally have added around 200 - 300 values to the registry and changed many others. I also have a lot of shell scripts (to automate certain things) and then I have some programs I run that are more monitoring and bypass programs. I tend to save an Image of the HDD as a backup so I dont have to do the work again.

Posting these settings on the internet is like writing an Engineering Manual for a Sovereign-Class Starship and having people with Constitution-Class or Excelsior-Class starships thinking the manual won't break their ships to the nth degree because its applied to other Federation Ships.

I get people who try to apply registry tweaks meant for Win 7 64 bit on Windows XP, 2000 and Vista and they get mad at me because their systems break....