Tech Support Guy banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

Any way to improve my situation?

2K views 10 replies 3 participants last post by  Wisconsinbigdog 
#1 ·
Okay, so I have my self this setup:

Gateway NV7802u 17" Notebook
Intel Core2 Duo T6600 2.2Ghz
4Gb DDR3 Memory
Intel Chipset4 GMA4500MHD
Windows 7 Home Premium


Not too shabby for my first laptop, given as a gift.
Now, the part that is not too great is the video card, and I'm trying to explore my options into expanding my gaming potential. I don't think the card is as terrible as some people think, as it runs most games before '07 really well, including World in Conflict, but it isn't a powerhouse. So here are a few options I've compiled.
1. ViDock 2 External Video Card Adapter-http://harmonicinversion.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=162&category_id=4&vmcchk=1&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=21
A *little* over my budget at the moment:rolleyes: But seems to be a very safe way to go. I'm pretty sure it's compatible with my system. The PCI slot it goes into is just over the width of a thumb, correct? Anything about this?
2. I have been told there is a way to solder on a more advanced video card to the mobo-this is very risky, and without the proper heat disipation could fry my laptop even if put on correctly. Any comments or idea towards this path?
3. Going into the BIOS and directing more of the Memory to be used by the Intel card. Would this actually help make the game performance better at all? Specifically Empire: Total War, which runs at about 20 fps on average at Ultra unit size and medium unit detail, everything else is off or low. What about this one?
4. Are there any mods for Empire Total War that will allow me to reduce the actual graphics even lower or remove the trees or something? I've searched the Total War forums, but didn't find much, only a graphic performance upgrade that supposedly made smoke disappear faster and reduce texture...but it actually slowed the game down.

I use the program AlacrityPC to free up as much memory as possible, can get it to about 13% without the game running. Are there any solutions or methods I may have missed? If so I would LOVE to hear about them...and please don't suggest another laptop, that is not an option at the moment.
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Laptops unless it was very expensive are not very good with games.......reason is in most cases you cannot upgrade the hardware.
You can check on the manufactures site for any updated drivers like your graphic card etc.

You can try gamebooster it shuts down unnecessary programs running in the background.

http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html

And I will not suggest another laptop....I will suggest a Desktop
 
#3 ·
You can try gamebooster it shuts down unnecessary programs running in the background.

http://www.iobit.com/gamebooster.html

And I will not suggest another laptop....I will suggest a Desktop
Unfortunately the whole point of the laptop is to use it for college, so a desktop isn't a very practical option at the moment. Once I'm done with college, I know that a desktop is the only choice. I used Gamebooster for a while, but know i got with AlacrityPC, which gives me much more customization and power to close certain things. Frees up about 700-800 MB of memory...but I guess it's just not enough. Does anyone know if people still play the first America's Army, I think it would run on here. I can only get 17 FPS on the 3rd one. :cool:
 
#4 ·
I have had problems with the Intel card in my system for a long time.

A lot of the time it is not necessarily your system as much as it is the game getting a false report from the card, or in my case this is true. Like: my card supports Pixel Shader 2.0, but the game says I do not....

What has helped me in the past in an emulator called 3d Analyze, which emulates whatever you would like it too. Like: Pixel Shader Caps...

http://www.3dfxzone.it/dir/tools/3d_analyze/download/

And if thats not your problem, try increasing the process priority, which will put it as a more important process than it is currently set to....

Simply "ctrl+alt+delete", right click the game process, "Set Priority" and then set it to "High"

I don't know if this will help, but it helped me when i was having problems...
 
#5 ·
A lot of the time it is not necessarily your system as much as it is the game getting a false report from the card, or in my case this is true. Like: my card supports Pixel Shader 2.0, but the game says I do not....
This seems to be what games do, for example, Mount & Blade likes to tell me that I only have some random amount of memory between 120 and 170MB. And that's just memory, not even video, so I have no idea what other games are getting about my card!

What has helped me in the past in an emulator called 3d Analyze, which emulates whatever you would like it too. Like: Pixel Shader Caps...

http://www.3dfxzone.it/dir/tools/3d_analyze/download/
I do have this, but there is one problem...I have no idea how to use it. And it doesn't help that no one on their forums answers questions about how to do it. Will using any of the "skip" options make a game run better? like shaders or something?

And if thats not your problem, try increasing the process priority, which will put it as a more important process than it is currently set to....

Simply "ctrl+alt+delete", right click the game process, "Set Priority" and then set it to "High"
I've never tried this, I wasn't sure what it'd do since windows likes to warn you about messing with that setting. I'll definitely give it a try!:up:
 
#6 ·
I do have this, but there is one problem...I have no idea how to use it. And it doesn't help that no one on their forums answers questions about how to do it. Will using any of the "skip" options make a game run better? like shaders or something?
Not sure in your case, I would try the settings in the "Direct X" section, such as "Performance" and "Hardware Limits," those settings might be able to help your situation.

To use them, just click "Select" and find you game engine file.... then click some of the options and click "Run" to try them out."
 
#8 ·
Game engine? Is that the exe, or something else, because I think that is the problem I had, once I went to run it, I got some sort of error message.
Yah thats the .exe for the game in your C:/ drive, shortcuts do not work with it, and games that go to an updater and then in to the game do not work either, because 3d Analyze will be used on the updater rather than the game itself....
 
#9 ·
Alright, so let's for example take empire total war. Would it run faster if, for example, I select disable lighting? What would be the effect on the game? And should I put one of the Devices into the Device ID fields? Anything else you would suggest so that I can get it to run faster than normal?
 
#10 ·
Disable lighting would have effects on the game you would not like, and it might not improve the speed at all....you need to try around with the settings, and find what works for you, do not worry about the Device ID and stuff, just play with the check box settings, somethings might help and somethings may hurt, it will be different for every machine....
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top