laptop video card

[HK-47_THE_MEATBAG_KILLER]

ok, ive been thinking about getting a new graphics card. i have a dell inspiron 600m laptop, and i have read that they take different graphics cards than the desktop computer. is this true? if so, does anyone know where to get a good laptop graphics card? i have searched on amazon and dell.com and found only regular cards...

[shadowriath]

First go to Dell's site to look for the parts...Dell is very big on proprity hardware, meaning only stuff they remanufacture will work with their system unless the buyer otherwise notes they don't want that kind of hardware. At their site, go to http://support.dell.com/?~ck=mn and put in the service tag (usealy on a sticker on case), if you can't find one check your BIOS under the main tab it'll be listed there. This number will bring up your systems build information and all parts, drivers, warrenty and other info about it and compatable with it they have.

[ap76]

Well as long as we're on the subject of Laptops, how does this play on a laptop

 

IBM R51

1.6Ghz Centrino

256MB RAM

Intel Graphics 64MB RAM

 

PS I don't mind dialing the graphics waaaay back when playing on this, it is just for something to do when I travel

Edited March 25, 2006 by ap76

[shadowriath]

With graphics set low it will run. I can run NWN and KotoR1 on a system with half the speed.

[Sturm]

ouch..

[HK-47_THE_MEATBAG_KILLER]

Well as long as we're on the subject of Laptops, how does this play on a laptop

 

IBM R51

1.6Ghz Centrino

256MB RAM

Intel Graphics 64MB RAM

 

PS I don't mind dialing the graphics waaaay back when playing on this, it is just for something to do when I travel

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

dont you mean 64MB graphics card? your RAM is to low, you should probably have at least 512 MB. on my old computer, i had the same size card and RAM, and the game was so choppy, even with the graphics turned down low, that i couldnt play. now on my dell inspiron labtop with only a 32MB graphics card and 512 MB RAM, and it works just fine. i dont think a centrino processor will work, i think you need a Pentium. of course, this is all based on my experience.

[shadowriath]

Other things other then just hardware and ingame settings comes into play with adjust performence.

-Service's running, Windows by default has a high number of services running that you never or likely wont use.

-Pagefile size and location, a pagefile set to at least 1gig min and max on a seperate physical drive will allow the OS to access the data on it's drive while having time to let the pagefile to access the pagefile with out moving the read head.

-Free space on HD, More free space equals faster HD read/write speeds.

-OS application resource priority and timing, The higher the priority the more time the OS allows for the applaction to use the resources.

-Indexed and OS compressed files, Indexed and compressed files reduce the read/write speeds of the HDs.

-Data fragmention, reduces the read/write speed of HDs.

-Amount of low size clusters created by empty folders and 5k or smaller files,

Higher the number of these the more slack space is on the HD...it's not free space and it's not used space but it does reduce read/write speed of HDs.

-Temprature of the hardware, Higher the temp of hardware the slower it preforms.

-Amount of free voltage from the power supply, The more free voltage the more that can be given to hardware to preform at it's fullest while in high use.

[HK-47_THE_MEATBAG_KILLER]

voltage matters? huh, that's probably why my laptop runs the game better plugged than off the battery. im no computer wiz, so i dont know much past the basics (and how to play my games, hee hee)