Halo 1 & 2 for PC
This topic has moved here: Subject: The Buyer's Guide to Graphics Cards
  • Subject: The Buyer's Guide to Graphics Cards
Subject: The Buyer's Guide to Graphics Cards
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I have a general question...

Do graphics cards work in laptops? If not, is there anyway to improve the visuals on laptops?

I appreciate any help at all.



[Edited on 6/2/2005]

  • 06.02.2005 8:15 PM PDT
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There are mobility version of cards for laptops but you need to have an agp or pci-e slot

the ati mobile versions are called radeon mobility

the nvidia mobile cards are called geforce go

  • 06.02.2005 10:16 PM PDT
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Posted by: vectorracer
This is a long theard and i dont know if you talk about this yet but which is better in the area of bothe speed and grapics. PCi or Intergrated. And if i do gewt a PCI Card will i get a huge performance boost.


you should get the GeForce FX5700LE, either the one made by Apollo or Jaton, as its pretty much THE best card for PCI, not the 9200, sux ass, or the 5500, the 5700LE IS THE BEST u can get for it, i can run Halflife 2 on
1024x780 an get like 50-65fps with all the good stuff up mdium-high, an halo at 800x600
with most of th stuff up an get like 40fps.
I heard it can also run doom 3 at 800x600 on medium settings, which i think is what it defaults to on that card an get like 30-45fps, an same for Far cry.
Look it up on Newegg

by the way, a question about doom, does anyone think that it would run better if it werent for all the damn lighting?? but i gess it wouldnt be much of a game without it..........

[Edited on 6/3/2005]

  • 06.03.2005 3:54 AM PDT
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Usually upgrading something like a video card in a laptop is impossible or very hard. What graphics card/integrated is in it now?

Yeah, the 9200 isn't that great at all. I would say the 5700LE, too. Not much better than that, as PCI bandwidth is low.

And yes, with lighting Doom 3 is even more demanding, but without those crazy shadow effects it would not be remotely what it is. I mean, walking away from one light down a corridor, seeing something with your flashlight, switching to the shotty - and then not seeing it but hearing stuff around you move and gurgle and...[[!!!]. Ahh!!!

  • 06.03.2005 6:24 AM PDT
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monkeys ar cool

arent they?

[Edited on 6/3/2005]

  • 06.03.2005 1:22 PM PDT
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dont feel free to disagree

  • 06.03.2005 1:25 PM PDT
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...........................

  • 06.03.2005 1:26 PM PDT
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Could you refrase the question?

  • 06.03.2005 1:30 PM PDT
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Thank you Navu and Sexy Legs Davis.

I've looked into it (thanks to the info provided), and I think I'll just sell my laptop to my older brother (who is willing to buy it) and get a desktop.

So far, I've decided upon two:

eMachines:

*AMD Athlon™ 64 processor 3200+* with 64-bit platform; 2000MHz system bus with Enhanced Virus Protection for Windows XP SP2, and HyperTransport™ Technology (2.0 GHz)

* 512MB PC3200 DDR memory, expandable to 4.0GB

* Multiformat DVD±RW/CD-RW drive with double-layer support records up to 8.5GB of data or 4 hours of video using compatible DVD+R DL media; 48x ma ximum speed CD-ROM drive

* 160.0GB hard drive (7200 rpm)

* ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 IGP graphics with 128MB DDR shared video memory; Dolby 5.1 (6-channel) support

* 2 PCI and 1 PCI Express x16 expansion slots

Total Price: $974.96


or


Dell:

* Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 520 w/HT Technology (2.80GHz, 800FSB)

* 512MB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 400MHz (2x256M)

* 80GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)

* Dual Drives: 16x DVD-ROM Drive + 48x CD-RW Drive

* 128MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon™ X300 SE

Total Price: $988


The eMachines seems like an overall better system, but the only thing that bothers me is the processor speed. Although, the system bus is 1200MHz more than that of the Dell... I'll probably get the eMachines.

[Edited on 6/4/2005]

  • 06.03.2005 3:50 PM PDT
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the emachines has a 64bit processor which is twice as much as the dell so it should run as fast or faster than the dell. I say upgrade the emachines to 1.5gb memory or 1gb if you don't play games much because the shared memory means it uses 128mb of the system memory and on the dell 1gb if you play games or keep the same if you hardly play games

  • 06.03.2005 6:13 PM PDT
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Thanks again, Navu =).

I'll probably upgrade to 1.5GB or 2GB of memory, in time.

[Edited on 6/3/2005]

  • 06.03.2005 7:30 PM PDT
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The emachines GPU seems a little dodgy to me. You will want to upgrade.

  • 06.04.2005 11:12 AM PDT
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It's alright, but not worth keeping, so, yeah, I'll upgrade the GPU sometime after I get it.

  • 06.04.2005 4:21 PM PDT
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Yeah, the XPress is pretty weak. A little better than Intel integrated, but nevertheless not that great.

  • 06.04.2005 11:30 PM PDT
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I know this isn't a graphic card question but what should I look for in a hard drive? It is the only part of the computer that I don't know much about.

  • 06.05.2005 4:02 PM PDT
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Well, SATA is only good if you want a WD Raptor 10k-rpm drive. Otherwise IDE and SATA are about the same. IDE uses big-ribbon cables though. SATA uses smaller ones.

A good hard drive:

7200rpm [even better 10k-rpm]
8MB buffer [4MB is getting old]
And benchmarks - look for reviews and benchmarks, specs can be a way to see ballpark performance, but some drives with lower specs can outperform those with higher specs. Just depends, I suppose.

  • 06.05.2005 9:38 PM PDT
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Hey, Sexy Legs, I know this isn't graphics related but what do you know about these new, so-called "physics cards"?

  • 06.05.2005 10:02 PM PDT
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oh yea, i heard bout teh Ageia PhysX Processing unit, a bit of the preview i found, "The PhysX chip will be the first hardware-based physics processing unit (PPU) released for the PC platform. Physics-accelerated games will be able to offload physics calculations from the CPU to the PPU much like how 3D-accelerated games process graphics on a video card. The extra physics processing power will let developers create game environments with a massive number of physical objects that would cause normal CPUs to grind to a halt. This will allow games to use effects like fluid dynamics or cloth simulation and to create gameworlds where a player can interact with tens of thousands of objects instead of only 20 or 30." "While the final board specs will be decided by the manufacturer, the Ageia reference board design will include 128MB of GDDR3 memory. Initial boards will be PCI-compatible, but PCI Express versions will follow afterward. Retail boards should appear in the October time frame and should sell in the high-$200 range.".

sounds pretty cool, id definetly get onen of them, imagine games with more than just cheap ragdoll physics, ppl actually go flying realisticly, an lets say u shoot a rocket at somone and he goes soaring, on the way his leg hits a pole, an instead of just hitting it an falling down, his body goes in the direction of the point of imapact an when he falls his head breaks a mailbox.....................cool.

imagine Halo with those kind of physics.........

  • 06.06.2005 10:46 PM PDT
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Dude, play Half Life 2.

  • 06.07.2005 8:54 AM PDT
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the ppu sounds pretty cool


do you know if they are making a laptop version

  • 06.08.2005 7:58 PM PDT
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NVM

[Edited on 6/11/2005]

  • 06.08.2005 8:10 PM PDT
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Another question about liquid cooling...

It says here http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=3 70382 that is has universal clips for Intel P4 socket 775, P4, AMD K8, AMD K7. Does this mean it won't work on an AMD 64?

  • 06.11.2005 8:02 AM PDT
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Yes, AMD 64 = K8.

Hmm, those you're lookin at aren't that great, IMO. They are quiet, but work as well as a Zalman copper cpu block and fan. If you want good cooling get an Asetek Waterchill or Swiftech kit. Those are quiet and cool. My Asetek Triple has my CPU idling at 28, load 35. GPU idle 28, load 33. I know they have 120mm fans, but the larger the fans the quieter, not to mention that they run on 7v and are brushless so they're practically without noise.

  • 06.11.2005 12:02 PM PDT
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ati multiple card technology is out

crossfire requires a connecter with two imputs like the 3dfx sli

you have to have a radeon x800 or x850 for it to work though

  • 06.13.2005 8:50 AM PDT
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Are there any motherboards and GPUs out there yet or is this just the official announcement?

  • 06.13.2005 9:00 AM PDT