Returning a laptop?

TerrorFirmer

If this belongs in consumer issues please move, just thought it might get the response of experience here.

Basically I bought a laptop last week. Sempron 3000+, 1gig of ram, and an Xpress 200 gpu (uses shared memory).

I bought it *solely* for playing older games on the move or when I didn't have access to my desktop, which is quite a bit sometimes so a 128mb card was perfect for what I needed it for. I choose this card over the much cheaper GMA900 from intel which also runs old games perfectly but I wanted the better support from ati like regular driver updates etc.

I think everyone who knows anything about computers would agree that 3000+ Sempron, 1gig of ram (896mb free) and a 128mb ati x200 card would be expected to run games like wolfenstein, Medal of Honor and Call of Duty perfectly. They're are old games that would work on a 32mb Geforce 2 fine. The x200 gpu is a cut down version of the x300 and is more powerful then a Geforce 4, probably comparable to an fx5200.

Except with the uma set to 128mb ram and the latest omega drivers, the best I can get from Call of duty - requirements 800mhz, 256mb ram, 32mb vram is a measly 15 frames a second. Disgraceful you will agree, especially for the card, even if it is an integrated one. Same with most of my games - crap frame rates, and the strangest bit - it doesn't matter what settings I use. The game runs the exact same with the exact same framerate whether its at low res with all options off or high res with all options on. Clearly this indicates the card just has some major flaw, not its actual abilities

Now, this problem is across the board. Googling "Radeon Xpress 200 problems" reveals a whole host of people who can't get their xpress 200 to play all sorts of oldish games like the ones I've mentioned, even if the requirements are 4x whats recommended.

I can run Battlefield 2 smoothly, I can run Call of Duty 2 smoothly. Then I can't run Call of Duty original faster then a slide show, or Medal of Honor, or a whole host of other older games which are all I wanted to play.

Can I bring the laptop back to the store on the basis that the card is clearly a flawed piece of crap? I spent 750 on this laptop when my friends 399 dell laptop with a gma900 integrated is outperforming the x200 which is much better on paper. Such a fantastic waste of money and its really going to ruin my day/month/year knowing I've spend an extra few hundred quid for no reason whatsoever, or in this case, worse peformance then the cheaper option.

Whoever is responsible for this deserves a thousand lashes. For the first time in the world something has actually made me wish I opted for the intel integrated solution. :eek: :eek:

8T8

Maybe a coincidence maybe not but Wolfenstein, Medal of Honor and Call of Duty are all OpenGL based games.

BF2 and Call of Duty 2 are Direct3D based and we know OpenGL has never been ATI's strong point but I haven't the foggiest on how to sort the performance problem & no idea if the store will take it back or not.

TerrorFirmer

Yeah I thought that as well, and to further add suspision I installed Battlefield 1942 and that works on all high settings, smooth as butter, and that doesn't use OpenGL either. Actually now that you mention it, every direct3d game I've installed works flawlessly and every opengl game works like a dog with the below exception:

But - I Installed Soldier of Fortune 2, which uses the Quake III engine and obviously openGL, and that works 100%.

I cannot believe for a second that Ati would release a card, no matter how low end it was, that could not render even a 6 year old opengl based game over 15 frames a second, it boggles the mind.

I have tried using control center to decrease everything down from quality to performance but absolutely no difference.

What an earth the problem is is totally beyond my grasp, or even a remote guess as to what it could be. I emailed ati but no response yet.

mac_leinn

Sorry if youve tried this already but are there any patches available from either ati or the makers of the games that may fix the issue.

The reason I suggest this is that didnt ati have to release a patch or a tweak for doom 3 to make it run smoother. If I remember correctly Doom 3 was supposed to show of Nvidias graphical power and Half Life 2 was supposed to show of atis graphical power. I think the reason they didnt run as well on different graphic card makers was something similar to OpenGL versus Direct3D.

Its ironic... usually older games run too fast on newer computers

TerrorFirmer

Ok, last ****in straw.

Tried Medal of Honor today - can only get 20 frames a second at max. On a 128mb card.

Keep in mind I used to run this game SIX years ago on a 16mb tnt card on relatively high settings.

The ati x200 truely has the worst opengl support this side of the solar system. I can't believe it would be released in this state.

I know its not just me because ive found many people with the same problem running opengl games.

WillieDH

u get what u pay for, how can u expect a mid range notebook to be a games machine ?!

Anti

i use a laptop for gaming too. and have no problems at all, albeit my spec differ from yours:

intel core duo t2300
2gb ram
256 nvidia 7400

Its not exactally a alienware or rock direct. but it manages it all, and for ohh €1000 more then what you paid.

The sempron isnt exactally a fast cpu, but is more then enough for what you want.

And just out of interest my gf has a pc here thats got the same onboard gfx as you. i installed moh , and supprise supprise, its slow as ****, and her pc has 2gb ram ( she stole a gig from me ) and a 3400+. bf2 is okay, but not on highest settings. doom3 will just run at low.

So im guessing its your gfx.

I very much doubt you can take it back and expect a refund / exchange simply because it dosent work how you want it.

And it sounds like a pc world jobbie that loobz has set you up with. and they will 100% not take it back. unless you bought the extended warrenty. If you did simply **** it on the ground and jump on it, take it back in and get all your money back allbeit in vouchers, and expect to wait up to 3 months for them.

gl anyway

TerrorFirmer

WillieDH wrote:

typical some gob****e who paid 899 for a laptop expecting a 1399 performance.

U get what u deserve, how much did u pay for it and from whom ?!

Clearly you know nothing about graphics card.

The X200 is a cut down version of the x300 core - in essence, a low end pci-e card.

I can run Battlefield 2, but not Medal Of Honor or ANY openGL game from the years 1999-to date.

Battlefield 2 minimum requirements: 1.7Ghz, 512mb Ram, 128mb GFX card.
Medal of Honor minimum requirements: 400mhz, 128mb ram, 16mb GFX Card.

Maybe NOW you realise what the problem is?? I'm sure you can understand Anti, if your girlfriends computer can run one of todays most resource hungry games and then it can't run a six year old game that was never demanding to begin with. This is my frustration.

The graphics card has got sub standard openGL support and quite frankly should not be for sale at all. It can run Direct 3D games fine - Battlefield 2, Battlefield Vietnam, etc, all running flawlessly and smoothly.

I paid 749 for this laptop - Sempron 3000, 1gig ram, 128mb x200. Its not for playing new games, its for playing OLD games as I've already stated - so please, don't post here telling me I'm ignorant and that my machine cannot play older games, because you (you in particular WillieDH )clearly know nothing about computer hardware if you actually think my machine cannot handle titles from 1999.

My friends 399 can run all these games on high settings, why? Because they're old and they aren't resource heavy, and he bought the laptop for playing these games! Just like me! And hes using an inferior (on paper) GMA900 integrated card. And he has no problems at all.

If I wanted a laptop to play new games I've have bought a dell. This was only for old games, which I have to say again, should run flawlessly on an x200.

Post reported actually williedh - ironic how you call me a gob****e yet you are clearly totally ignorant yourself of computer hardware capabilities

SouperComputer

HavoK, im sure you have guessed this already, but somthing is very wrong there. Have a chat with whoever you bought it from. Hoepfully you will get someone who is clued in and will able able to help. Im surprised and ATI GPU is weak on OpenGl, back in the day they were great.

From the sounds of things, I might be barely able to run Quake 1!

Anyway, looks like you aee not alone with these issues

TerrorFirmer

I did just that souper. The Manager listened to the issues with the chipset (thankfully he knew what I was talkinga bout as did the other lads in the store, I was blessed today clearly, usually they don't know an awful lot) and then said he had no problem exhanging the laptop for another one at all.

I am now the proud owner of a Sony Vaio with a Geforce 6400, which the manager gave to me a mere 200 extra.

Bargin or what? I'm happy.

timeout

[edit]Congrates! My reply took way too long and so has been deleted!

SouperComputer

HavoK wrote:

I did just that souper. The Manager listened to the issues with the chipset (thankfully he knew what I was talkinga bout as did the other lads in the store, I was blessed today clearly, usually they don't know an awful lot) and then said he had no problem exhanging the laptop for another one at all.

I am now the proud owner of a Sony Vaio with a Geforce 6400, which the manager gave to me a mere 200 extra.

Bargin or what? I'm happy.

Wow, what store was it? I'm impressed!

TerrorFirmer

Pc World, Galway. I was afraid they were going to lack the knowledge to understand what I was saying about the substandard OpenGL support, but they seemed ok about it, and had no problems at all allowing me to return the laptop to exchange it for another or towards another laptop.

am very pleased, fair play to them the manager even gave me a reduction on the sony on top of its already reduced price.

+1 pcworld, never thought I'd say that!

zilog_jones

Amazing - someone working in PC World actually knew something! Congrats indeed.

SouperComputer

zilog_jones wrote:

Amazing - someone working in PC World actually knew something! Congrats indeed.

Two people from what HavoK was saying. Astounding!