PC Gamers - help a complete noob!

[L1gh7Sp33d]

You're video card would certainly chug on oblivion on high settings, but your rig should be able to hand anything last year or older on at least minimum settings.

My guesses on quality
Counter Strike: High
Minecraft: High (duh)
COD 4: medium
Oblivion: medium
Fallout 3: low-medium
Fallout New Vegas: Low (not optimized as well)

Newer games like the witcher 2 are far out of your reach currently. No you can't upgrade your graphics card, most laptops don't have the architecture for discrete (read: external) graphics cards. If you feel yours games run too slow, your only options are to get a new machine or get more RAM -- I would recommend the former.

 

[Art Axiv]

Hello guys,

I just been given a nice new laptop and I'm wondering what kind of games I can run on it. 'Canyourunit' told me I can run Fallout 3 but not on the 'recommended' level. Bear in mind I'm completely new to this, the only games I've used a PC for are the early Fallout games and Morrowind.

Now, this is all double dutch to me, but here are my specs:

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7300 @ 2.00GHz

You Have: 2.0 GB RAM
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition Service Pack 2 (build 6002), 32-bit

Video Card
GeForce 8400M GT


Video RAM

512 MB

1008.3 MB



Pixel Shader version

3.0

4.0

Vertex Shader version

3.0

4.0

Audio:
SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC

So... maybe you guys could let me know what kind of level of games I can run on this baby? I'd love to run Fallout 3, New Vegas, Oblivion and mod them to high heaven.

What about Counter Strike? COD4? Minecraft?

Also, is there such a thing as an external video card if I want to upgrade?

Thanks in advance for your help

I have a similar spec' laptop here, runs Minecraft very well with the distance drawing set to "Normal" . Go for it! You should play on the Escapist Server.

 

[vault69]

You're video card would certainly chug on oblivion on high settings, but your rig should be able to hand anything last year or older on at least minimum settings.

My guesses on quality
Counter Strike: High
Minecraft: High (duh)
COD 4: medium
Oblivion: medium
Fallout 3: low-medium
Fallout New Vegas: Low (not optimized as well)

Newer games like the witcher 2 are far out of your reach currently. No you can't upgrade your graphics card, most laptops don't have the architecture for discrete (read: external) graphics cards. If you feel yours games run too slow, your only options are to get a new machine or get more RAM -- I would recommend the former.

This
I have convinced several friends to skip on a gaming laptop for a desktop because of the long term cost. Granted short term is about the same sometimes(pending on hardware) but if you do decide to get a new machine make sure its a desktop so you can upgrade every now and then.

 

[Major_Tom]

I think it could run most current games at least on low. Pre-2007 games should run on high. CoD 4 probably on medium (and every other CoD after it since they are basically the same). My 8700M GT can still run most modern games on medium-high (Portal 2 ran maxed out), except when developers are lazy (Witcher 2) or game is a bad console port (GTA IV).

Also, you can upgrade your RAM to 4 GB, it's really easy even if you are a noob, you just have to know which type of RAM fits your machine - you can find that out here: http://www.crucial.com/
And upgrade to 64-bit Windows 7.

 

[isnosche]

i've had the same specs in a vaio

COd is no problem on 1280*800
oblivion and wow work too
cs is easy - anything in the source code
mirror's edge
anything from last year was playable
i did have 4 gig ram, rest was the same

 

[Ritalynn]

i'd never play real games on a laptop.

 

[player3141]

If you don't mind playing games in on low/med with lower resolution, your laptop should handle most games fine.

The laptop specs makes the laptop seem oldish. Vista is outdated, 2 gb is ram isn't much, and most new computers come with a 64 bit OS. I think a readyboost device might be able to boost your ram. I would suggest upgrading it, but all of the slots are probably being used.

 

[Dmatix]

I ran FO3 on a similar computer. You might only be able to run it on medium settings, but it should work just fine. Have fun,its an awesome game, and if you like it, try New Vages, its even better.

 

[Wintermoot]

I think you can run source games (HL2/Portal2 etc.) but not any games by Bethesda (TESIV/FO NV/FO3)

 

[MiracleOfSound]

OK so I'm getting the general gist that older games will be ok, but if i'm serious about running newer games well I'd be better to invest in a desktop.

Thanks for the advice dudes :0

 

[William MacKay]

on a cyri site, if you are below 'recommended' you probably shouldnt buy it. if possible, get a demo (ie from Steam). also, check the sys req on the actual game match up with the parts of your computer: my computer failed the test for Oblivion and passed for Amnesia: i cant run Amnesia but i can run Oblivion. like one of the first posters said, only buy games older than your components by a year.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Upgrade Vista to 7 or down to XP.

You'll be so glad you did.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

I ran FO3 on a similar computer. You might only be able to run it on medium settings, but it should work just fine. Have fun,its an awesome game, and if you like it, try New Vages, its even better.

Played em both on 360, great games indeed. It's the mods I'm interested in now!

 

[Zero_ctrl]

OK so I'm getting the general gist that older games will be ok, but if i'm serious about running newer games well I'd be better to invest in a desktop.

Thanks for the advice dudes :0

It doesn't necessarily have to be a desktop, but you've got to be careful when looking at the specs.
Especially if you're planning on spending 800+ USD.

Desktops are easier to upgrade individual parts, though.

 

[Rafael Dera]

My first advice to you: downgrade to windows xp. Vista is a) crap and b) much more resource hungry.
If you're a complete noob at all things PC, you should only do this if you have the xp drivers (for motherboard components, audio chip and graphics card) on cd. Or get your tech-savvy friend to do it it's less intimidating then it sounds (if you have a vague idea of what you're doing) and will give your system alot more breathing space.

Give rise of legends, dawn of war (dark crusade and/or soulstorm), demigod, sins of a solar empire and age of empires III a try. I also enjoyed heroes of might and magic V; but i seem to be the only one =D
If you don't mind the learning curve, supreme commander (1) is incredibly good (especially with forged alliance). You should be able to run it under xp on reasonable settings (i can on my comparable laptop, anyway)
Avoid supreme commander 2 like the plague.

 

[qeinar]

Hello guys,

I just been given a nice new laptop and I'm wondering what kind of games I can run on it. 'Canyourunit' told me I can run Fallout 3 but not on the 'recommended' level. Bear in mind I'm completely new to this, the only games I've used a PC for are the early Fallout games and Morrowind.

Now, this is all double dutch to me, but here are my specs:

Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T7300 @ 2.00GHz

You Have: 2.0 GB RAM
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Edition Service Pack 2 (build 6002), 32-bit

Video Card
GeForce 8400M GT


Video RAM

512 MB

1008.3 MB



Pixel Shader version

3.0

4.0

Vertex Shader version

3.0

4.0

Audio:
SigmaTel High Definition Audio CODEC

So... maybe you guys could let me know what kind of level of games I can run on this baby? I'd love to run Fallout 3, New Vegas, Oblivion and mod them to high heaven.

What about Counter Strike? COD4? Minecraft?

Also, is there such a thing as an external video card if I want to upgrade?

Thanks in advance for your help

more than enough for CS, cod4 and minecraft. : p if you you run it says you can run fallout 3 you probably can.

 

[Wieke]

OK so I'm getting the general gist that older games will be ok, but if i'm serious about running newer games well I'd be better to invest in a desktop.

Thanks for the advice dudes :0

It doesn't necessarily have to be a desktop, but you've got to be careful when looking at the specs.
Especially if you're planning on spending 800+ USD.

Desktops are easier to upgrade individual parts, though.

Not to mention that desktops tend to be a lot cheaper. Especially if you put one together yourself (or have a friend who's willing to do that for you).

Seriously you're a thief of your own wallet (<- is this a proper English saying, cause I suspect I may be unconsciously translating it from Dutch) if you get a gaming laptop unless you travel often or don't have enough space.

Holy *bleep*,I'm quite surprised at these prices, for a desktop the 8600gt (slightly better than the one in that laptop) costs about 50 euros, same for a Core 2 Duo processor. My pc (little over a year old) would probably trounce that laptop (AMD phenom X6 1055T @2.8Ghz, HD5850 1gb, 12 gb mem) costs about 950 euros (mmm, didn't depreciate in value as much as I would have expected).

 

[RA92]

OP

Like a few already said, get Win7. Vista is hogging around 1GB of your RAM right now, 7 will take up less than half of that to run in the background. Install <url=http://download.cnet.com/Game-Booster/3000-18512_4-10913645.html>Game Booster as well (it's free) to free up around a further 200MB of RAM.

Also, don't forget to make an account on Steam and keep a lookout for good deals. Considering you already own an XBox, chances are you've played a lot of the latest releases as nearly all games are multi-platform these days. Maybe dig up some old titles at GoG and Steam that you can't get on the XBox?

And if you're interested in mods, get HL2 as soon as you can - even after 7 years, it still has an active mod community. I usually keep tabs on new mods from Rock Paper Shotgun, so you may check that out (they also feature a lot of indie games, so there's that). Seriously, the amount of awesome free content is staggering.

And don't worry, your rig will run a decent amount of games. I ran The Witcher 2 on a worse setup than yours (Dual Core, 2GB RAM, ATi HD4350). Play around with the settings for shadow, texture, lighting, ubersampling, etc till you hit the sweet spot. Just don't go anywhere near ArmA 2, and you'll be fine.

Oh, and welcome to PC gaming.