Sony Vaio VGN-N38E_W

Lunabu

I bought this laptop a few weeks back in Tesco in Derry, but the same deals are available here, I believe (don't know about Tesco but have seen it for a similar price online in the Republic).
Very happy with it so far although it doesn't have some of the programmes (Media Center, for instance) that I had on my Dell Inspiron.
Yesterday I downloaded a trial version of Age of Empires III and was surprised that the Vaio wasn't able to play the game. I was told that the Graphics Card (or something similar) wasn't up to the job, that the Vaio's was only a 32 but that I needed a 64 to play the game.
Now I must admit that while I know a bit about software, I know next to nothing about hardware. Still, I checked through all the system specs on my Vaio and couldn't find anything definite on this graphics card or whatever. Would like to check for an upgrade, but have to know
a) what exactly am I looking for and
b) where to find the info on my Vaio.
Can someone help pretty please?:o

TerrorFirmer

You have the GMA950. It can take up to 224mb of video memory but to be honest it's a horrible card for gaming. Most games won't work on it, or will work but very poorly. the only games guaranteed to work are those from roughly 2003 downwards. Age of Empires 3 should work though, not very well, but you should be able to start it up and play on lowest settings. What error are you getting?

You cannot upgrade the card.

Here's your laptop

Lunabu

Thanks for the info even if it's bad news:(
Well, I've uninstalled the AOE III Trial so I can't reproduce the error code. But it was something to the effect of:
It appears your computer has a 32 graphics card (or something like that). In order to play this game, you require a 64 graphics card ( or something like that). Please contact your computer manufacturer regarding an upgrade.
The actual game may allow different settings, but the trial didn't. It gave me the option to "try and run" the game, but it wouldn't start and go back to Windows.
Thing is, I don't have broadband where I live (although I've been using this 3 "broadband" modem on and off, but it doesn't give me broadband = see thread for this in broadband section) So when I have lousy internet speeds, it's nice to be able to play a PC game offline.
And as to not being able to upgrade: why is that?

TerrorFirmer

You can't upgrade laptop cards. Apart from a tiny percentage, which use an expensive format which only appears in very high end and gaming laptops. Your's appears at the very bottom of that ladder unfortunately

The only other thing I can think of is that the bios has the card set to a maximum of 32mb or something, although usually the gma950 takes ram dynamically as it needs it. Again, I've seen people play AOE3 fine, so maybe it's just an issue with the demo at the same time. Either way, it shouldn't be happening.

The third thing is that maybe you need newer drivers for your card, the ones that came with it are quite possibly very old.

Lunabu

Yeah, I know this is an "economy" Vaio, but I must say, it's damn nice for that! And I didn't buy it as a gaming computer but just for general usage.
But tell me, as you seem to be very knowledgeable on this, what games can I actually play on this laptop? Taking into consideration that I'm using Vista which is still not compatible with many games (it was actually on this basis that I'd chosen the AOE III Trial as it supposedly works well with Vista). And can I try and use older games like AOE or games that weren't even made for XP? I just don't wanna f*** up my new computer as I had a lot of problems with my Dell Inspiron 1501.
Thanks very much for your help;)

Would I find newer drivers on the Sony website? (Sorry for being so ignorant)

TerrorFirmer

Yeah you should be able to get them from the Sony website or from the Intel one directly.

Check out this, it should help and give you an idea. I've never personally owned a GMA but I did use someone elses to make the thread I linked to, it was a very asked about card about 8 months to a year ago. It's since been replaced by the much better GMA 3100. Look at the yellow number in the top right of all screenshots, ideally, a game has to be at least running at 25 frames per second to look and feel smooth, otherwise it gets choppy. But that said, you would ideally want an average fps of about 35, to allow for dips in intensive situations.

Newer games are a no-go for the most part, although new games in the genre of MMO or RTS are more likely to work, Command and Conquer 3 works fine for example. FPS games, new ones, will not work, full stop, even going back a few years in some cases. I couldn't get Doom 3 or Far Cry, both old games, to run at playable levels.

Lunabu

Thanks, Havoc, you've been really helpful.
Couldn't find drivers on the Vaio site last night but will check the Intel one later on.
Also, from what I read on the link you provided, there's no guarantee that a game will play even if it's supposed to? And other games that are not supposed to play might play?
Where's the best place to check for compatibility (at least as a guideline), on the Intel site?

TerrorFirmer

The GMA950 can technically take up to 224mb of memory, but don't use that as a guideline for determining whether a game will work. For example, some games that require 32mb video memory run terrible on the GMA, while others requiring 64mb work great. Just an example, so you don't look at boxes and think 'Oh it only needs 64/128mb video card, I'm sorted' - not the case.

It does a lot of processes that most cards do via hardware on the card through software, putting extra load on the CPU, and is why many games run terribly. You'll find any game that doesn't not need hardware transform and lighting will work great - but those games would all be very old.

As I said, it's just hit and miss, and you'll have to work it out for yourself, but trust me when I say no modern demanding FPS game will work, FEAR, Battlefield 2, Team Fortress 2, Call of duty, all those games are completely out the window.

RTS games are a little more forgiving, with titles like Dawn of War, Command and Conquer 3 etc running relatively OK on lower settings.

There's an Intel list here, but its very limited to the more mainstream titles. But don't take it too seriously - in my tests, I found that their claims were in many cases totally wrong.

For example, they state that FEAR works fine, and Half Life 2 does not work at all. In contrast to that, I found FEAR totally unplayable even on the lowest possible settings, while Half Life 2 was completely playable on lowest settings.

Lunabu

Thanks again. Well, I don't play games as much as you do, but I do have another PC which is only about 2 years old. It has Windows XP and games have always run well on it. If the Vaio doesn't play a game, I can always try that one.

Have checked the Intel website and thought I'd found a nice graphics driver to install, but after downloading it, I was told I couldn't install it and that I should check back with my hardware vendor.
Nothing on the Vaio site yet, but I'll keep checking back.:(