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Running TF2 on a Lappy... (Need Assistance Backing up my System)
Hranj
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Hey everyone, I was wondering if any of you have any experience running this game on a laptop. I know the system requirements aren't that high, but the thing is the laptop I was looking at doesn't have a dedicated card. I'd be (trying) to run it on a X3100 integrated graphics processor.
Does anyone think this would work or has anyone tried it and what happened? I don't want a different laptop because its mainly for school and not meant for gaming, but this is probably my favorite all time shooter and it would be awesome to have it on the go.
For the record I'm well aware of the fact that integrated graphics are absolutely terrible and should be used as a last resort and the game will look terrible. I just want to know if it will run even on all low settings. Maybe it will give me a greater appreciation for my HD 4870 in my desktop at home.
This is the laptop... I wouldn't be buying this one if it wasn't for being on sale this week at Staples for $650.
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/Search.do?c=1&searchType=user&keyword=dv6930us&searchSection=All&go.x=0&go.y=0
EDIT: Please read after this...
I've decided to go with a different laptop. What do you think of this one.
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/Search.do?c=1&searchType=user&keyword=dv9910us&searchSection=All
I'd be price matching it at Circuit City with a Staples flyer and it would come to 650. My only concern is the AMD processor? Will it bottle the system? And the wireless N. Is wireless N the way of t he future? Or just a gimmick and it won't matter if it supports it or not?
Does anyone think this would work or has anyone tried it and what happened? I don't want a different laptop because its mainly for school and not meant for gaming, but this is probably my favorite all time shooter and it would be awesome to have it on the go.
For the record I'm well aware of the fact that integrated graphics are absolutely terrible and should be used as a last resort and the game will look terrible. I just want to know if it will run even on all low settings. Maybe it will give me a greater appreciation for my HD 4870 in my desktop at home.
This is the laptop... I wouldn't be buying this one if it wasn't for being on sale this week at Staples for $650.
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/Search.do?c=1&searchType=user&keyword=dv6930us&searchSection=All&go.x=0&go.y=0
EDIT: Please read after this...
I've decided to go with a different laptop. What do you think of this one.
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/Search.do?c=1&searchType=user&keyword=dv9910us&searchSection=All
I'd be price matching it at Circuit City with a Staples flyer and it would come to 650. My only concern is the AMD processor? Will it bottle the system? And the wireless N. Is wireless N the way of t he future? Or just a gimmick and it won't matter if it supports it or not?
Zune: Pirate Monkey
Hranj on
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But not much.
Playable, but don't expect to do very well.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
That's running on a Macbook, mind you, through Crossover, but that's roughly the performance you can expect.
Switch: 6200-8149-0919 / Wii U: maximumzero / 3DS: 0860-3352-3335 / eBay Shop
I went wireless N at my home and have never looked back. Obviously the router also has to support N so if
you don't have access to one/won't be buying one you wight as well save the money and get a G
I've had some experience with this particular laptop as a buddy of mine has that exact model. The graphics chip in it as i remember is a nvidia 7200 or something similiar. By itself its not a great chip but what helps it is the fact that the ram dedicated to it is scaleable. Default is 128mb which is good for just general surfing and what have you but you can dial it up to a full 1024mb of memory dedicated to the chip (all controlled by a setting in the bios) and it does pretty well to become a halfway decent gaming machine. Definately good enough to play TF2 at the monitor's native res with moderate settings. As for the AMD processor in it, its not spectacular but its a solid dual core and it runs at 2.0 which meets the needs for TF2 just fine.
As for wireless N, its technically what wireless is migrating to but nearly all N cards are backwards compatible with G (including this one). So if anything you are just ensuring that you will be compatible with most networks for the forseeable future.
GT: Tanky the Tank
Black: 1377 6749 7425
bwahahaha
MUHAHAHAHAHHAHA
</engineer taunt>
If you're on a serious budget for your laptop and/or want the battery-life boost you get from integrated graphics, look for an HP dv5z or anything else with the ATI Radeon HD3200 IGP. Snicker all you want, but it's about on par with the 8400M, in that you'll get playable-if-not-awesome framerates, and decent details. Oh, and run dual-channel memory (two identical SODIMMS) for anything with an IGP.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
You know that 14-day return policy?
Use it.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
You know that 14-day return policy? It has a 15% restocking fee attached to it. Weeeeeeeeee!
*edit* In order to be more helpful, I'm going to be very specific about laptops and gaming.
If you want to do ANY worthwhile gaming at native res, you will need to get a laptop that has a discrete video card. What that means is the laptop motherboard has a stand-alone, dedicated video processor with DEDICATED MEMORY. A 8600GT, for instance, is a good start. Anything less and you're going to end up with sub-30fps framerates - expect dips in the single digits. You need to spend about $1,000 if you expect good fps from a laptop.
I don't know about CC, but even Billy Bob's Bait Shop and Computer Emporium up here has a 14-day return policy with no restocking fee. Does CC just fail that hard?
Anyhow. About the discrete GPU - it really depends what he's going after. If "native res" is 1280x800, and "gaming" is just a little light TF2/WoW when he's away from his main desktop, the HD3200 or 8400M will suffice. What with the NVIDIA chip failures though, I'd lean more towards the ATI side of things.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Are those the external ExpressCard based ones (ViDock?) If so, they're pretty overpriced for the performance they give, and you'd probably save money by just selling your current laptop and buying a new one. :P
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Of course i dont know if this is true or not though
http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/28/ati-to-release-power-hungry-external-video-card/
You're a little out of date there. I assume you mean ATI's XGP ( http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/04/amds-ati-xgp-external-laptop-graphics-platform-goes-legit/ ) - which I have still yet to see a "normal" laptop allow for.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
At first I was very confused who this is telling me to go ahead and raid their house for games, but once I figured it out I figured that your parents would pretty much let me run a muck looking for stuff.
I'm not sure how many FPS I'm getting on TF2 but its not playable. I'm considering the return fee and then maybe getting one of those old Gateway laptops that they have at Best Buy and are trying to get rid of. But I don't really know if its worth the hassle. I might just try and install XP so I have even more options open to me in gaming. I tried to install Max Payne today but it said it wasn't compatible with my 64-bit OS. O well.
The reason large retailers have restocking fees on things like computers, camcorders, TVs - when nothing is wrong with them - is that they're sold so close to margin and they have to make up the difference on open-boxing the item. Billy Bob's Computer Emporium probably just tapes the box closed again and sells it as "new" - complete with quotes.
243 kills as Pyro? He wasn't farming achievements at all, no sir.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Really? Huh. FutureShop, Staples, BestBuy ... the big chains up here don't charge you anything if you return within two weeks. (Unless you're missing shit, then it's not a valid return, of course.)
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
Then they're doing it wrong - SOP is to charge 15% restocking on any returned merch that is not deemed defective. Worked there long enough, took enough heat for it, I should know
Now, you can probably exchange it and waive that fee, and yes, you CAN return the warranty.
Dude, why suffer with those graphics? Suck it up and exchange it for that Gateway. SO worth it.
Anyone have a better reason than, "I just want to have it as an option."
Also, I think a problem might be that we got the three year + 1 free, warranty and accidental damage plan. Do you think that would be able to be "returned?"
If your dad has bought you a laptop for school, then think yourself lucky.
A decent laptop for gaming that is still lightweight (and has good battery life) will be significantly more expensive. I don't really think there's any way to justify that extra cost to your dad. He's bought a laptop for school work, and the one you have is perfectly good for that.
If you've got a few hundred dollars laying around, then the best bet would be to say: "I'll pay the difference for a gaming one", and see what he says. If you don't have the money, then just use what you have and be happy that your father is generous enough to pay for it.
Also, Hranj, I notice that you're from hunterdon. Where'd you go to school, Central?
GT: Tanky the Tank
Black: 1377 6749 7425
When I went to school, I saved my money for a few years to get a laptop. I ended up buying a fancy Pentium 120 with a massive 10.4" TFT screen. I paid almost AU$3000.
It wasn't all that great for gaming either... some things never change with laptops.
Also, I think I said this in an earlier post but I already have a gaming computer, I just want something fun to do to pass the time between classes. I got TF2 running in DX8.1 but it still stinks, I think I'm gonna try and switch to XP and see if that improves it at all.
It can be hard to find drivers for a laptop if it was built natively for vista. Sometimes you can get lucky though and the Microsoft Update will grab a generic driver for stuff. Usually the problem is for wireless cards. Another problem you have is that XP disk may not see your hardrive upon installation. That means you will have to press the f6 when it asks you to to install 3rd party drivers. It doesn't happen all the time but it can be annoying. I just keep a copy of XP that I have slipstreamed and has a driver database like a hundred times bigger then that of the original
I'm not sure if you have used vista but there are a lot more things you can just plug in and it will just pick up a pre loaded driver. It does the same thing here
By the way, what do you all think the best way would be to back up an entire computer? I want to back up my Vista install that I have right now so in the even something goes wrong and I can't get XP to work properly, I can basically just pop disks in and restore my system.
I graduated from Bridgewater a few years ago, and I remember H. Central had a gigantuous marching band is all.
GT: Tanky the Tank
Black: 1377 6749 7425
Anyway, I'm fairly certain XP's your ticket to playing TF2 with those CoD4 kids in the student lounge. Really, the only thing you'd have to worry about would be not being able to find support for the card reader or some other peripheral. There isn't really a whole lot to go wrong, but it still can't hurt to back it up. Using Acronis to make an HDD image could work, or try the Vista backup. I have no idea how that works, but it might work.
Also, does anyone know of a program that essentially does the same thing as the Windows Vista Complete System Restore, but doesn't require me to upgrade and is, if possible free?
Also, he has to pretty much always keep it on external power because it sucks the battery dry really fast.
Critical Failures - Havenhold Campaign • August St. Cloud (Human Ranger)
To your second, Acronis True Image will do this, but it costs money. There are ways to get it for free, though....