X series for gaming

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ishinryu · #1 Post by **ishinryu** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 1:47 am

Elsewhere I posted a question asking if the X31 could play either of the online games HL2 or DoomIII. Not surprisingly the concensus was no and that it would be sometime before any notebook could.
I am confused by this.
OK, both games are very cpu and gpu intensive but are they so much more demanding than, say, HL1, Counter-Strike or Aliens vs Predator?
My desktop plays them very well and it is a PIII 1G running 133MHz RAM on a 133MHz bus using a 32Mb GeForce2 display card. Surely the X31 outperforms my desktop so it should easily play the same games and therefore have a good stab at playing HL2 and DoomIII?

MichaelMeier · #2 Post by **MichaelMeier** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 2:00 am

ishinryu · #3 Post by **ishinryu** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 2:30 am

Thanks that's very encouraging. I guess that provided the particular hardware specifics of the notebook are up to the game then in theory the notebook can play it. I haven't decided 100% on the X31 as there are other second-hand X series models that I have my eye on but I will keep in mind that maxing out the ram is a wise thing to do.

skanky · #4 Post by **skanky** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 3:00 am

my desktop struggles with doom3 to the point of it slowing down too much by the time i reach the first imp, and thats at 640x480.

half life2 seems playable at 800x600 with lowish details and a bit of the way into the game now, so keeping fingers crossed..

this is on a p4 1.7 williamette, 512mb, geforce fx5700LE.

ishinryu · #5 Post by **ishinryu** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 3:16 am

That may be because DoomIII recommends 64Mb of vram.

skanky · #6 Post by **skanky** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 7:33 am

the geforce 5700LE i have has 128mb ram..

ishinryu · #7 Post by **ishinryu** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 7:45 am

OK ... didn't know that. What is causing the game to run so slow on your setup then?

tselling · #8 Post by **tselling** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 9:08 am

The 16mb video ram on the X31 will most likely be the limiting factor. Many of todays games require 32mb or even 64mb of video ram. And the video ram is not upgradeable on Thinkpads.

skanky · #9 Post by **skanky** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 2:15 pm

ishinryu wrote:OK ... didn't know that. What is causing the game to run so slow on your setup then?

i think its: 90% graphics card and 10% processor thats the bottleneck.

ishinryu · #10 Post by **ishinryu** » Wed Dec 01, 2004 8:34 pm

Looks like I'll have to set my sights higher for an upgrade to my desktop if I want to buy DoomIII.

X series for gaming

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