ATI 3200 vs 4250?

Chaotic_Forces

Both are laptop, I have the 3200 at the moment, I'll be getting a 4250 in a few days methinks.

Assuming both have 3gb of RAM, and the 3200 is working with a single AMD core a 2.1GHz and the 4250 will have a dual core p32 at 2.1GHz, would I see much of an improvement at all?

Solitaire

The i3 GPU is bad, the HD4250 worse and the HD3200 abysmal! It really is HD5650 or bust for mid-range laptop gaming I'm afraid!

Chaotic_Forces

So the 4250 would a lot better than what I have now? I'm. Or really expecting much gaming power at all but know I can kind of run oblivion now... on a single core. So I was hopping better card plus dual core/i3 = better performance: D
I. Know I won't have mass effect 2 on it or anything but I'm fairly happy with the 3200 so if the improvement is a lot (even though it's low end) I'd be fairly happy.

I'm not exactly looking for high end gaming but oblivion and fallout 3 would be great. When I played them now they just seem to need a bit more power so I thought dual core plus slightly better card = smooth play.
Please tell me I'm Right.:o

Solitaire

Both the i3-330 and the C2D+HD4250 are a fair bit better than the stock HD3200 let alone on a single core CPU! :o But as articles have proved you will have to content yourself with dreadful performance in any case. The i3's GPU is a lot more potent than the HD4250 on paper but in practice it suffers from poor 3D optimisation and very sporadic driver support for games; some titles may run as fast as on a weak discrete card, others will be unplayable despite the relative power of the GPU

Chaotic_Forces

Solitaire wrote: »

Both the i3-330 and the C2D+HD4250 are a fair bit better than the stock HD3200 let alone on a single core CPU! :o But as articles have proved you will have to content yourself with dreadful performance in any case. The i3's GPU is a lot more potent than the HD4250 on paper but in practice it suffers from poor 3D optimisation and very sporadic driver support for games; some titles may run as fast as on a weak discrete card, others will be unplayable despite the relative power of the GPU

Well I mean I got something like 5-15fps on the rig I have now (single core, 3200, 3gb ram) when I played oblivion or fallout 3 (on low settings, resolution at 1024 x 768).

So do you reckon (I'm not saying if you're guess is wrong I'm going to go hunting you for vengeance :P) I'd had a playable game with the C2D or i3 with a HD4250?

Solitaire

Depends on what you mean by "playable" If "playable" constitutes 30fps @ 768p with low-medium settings, then yes. But Oblivion is the least taxing game out of your selection; even Fallout will be barely playable and look like vomit And you could run DAO @ 768p but it'd look like a game from 2002 :eek:

You might be able to withstand that but I couldn't, and I'd wait until a i3+HD5650 lappy was in range or get a desktop instead

Chaotic_Forces

Solitaire wrote: »

Depends on what you mean by "playable" If "playable" constitutes 30fps @ 768p with low-medium settings, then yes. But Oblivion is the least taxing game out of your selection; even Fallout will be barely playable and look like vomit And you could run DAO @ 768p but it'd look like a game from 2002 :eek:

You might be able to withstand that but I couldn't, and I'd wait until a i3+HD5650 lappy was in range or get a desktop instead

I'm not exactly bothered getting a desktop TBH, it's just they don't feckin' deliver and I live up about 3 flights of stairs so yeah :P

I like Deus Ex and think the graphics are good and that was in 2000 it came out
I have Oblivion and Fallout pn the Xbox and I doubt it would look as good as that. I just want somewhat decent graphics. Even if both games look horrible but have good view/draw distance I'm happy.
I'll talk to the manager and see how long he can actually give me.
If I'm getting a desktop could you give me any advice of what are the things I should ask to see if it's upgradable or not?

I haven't said it yet but thanks for your help.

Skerries

have a look here at the 4250 http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Radeon-HD-4250.29664.0.html
it comes 177th in the laptop gpu chart, so not very good

Chaotic_Forces

Skerries wrote: »

have a look here at the 4250 http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Radeon-HD-4250.29664.0.html
it comes 177th in the laptop gpu chart, so not very good

I was looking at that site, I think the 3200 is 201st.

But on the other hand... it apparently runs startcraft 2 in low so I'm not really sure.

Solitaire

15fps @ 640*480 Low settings? :pac:

Chaotic_Forces

Solitaire wrote: »

15fps @ 640*480 Low settings? :pac:

so no... 1024x768? :rolleyes:

I don't mind window mod, it's the feckin' black background that bothers the Hell outta me in full screen mode.
So I'm pretty much screwed for either full screen with black background or window mode with worse frame rates?

I'm not really sure of the fps... in morrowind I have it set at 15 fps and it works fine (I have a max limit using a 3rd party program) and it seems like i'm not missing anything. So what's the difference between 15/30/60? Is it just visual quality or is it more? I mean does 15 fps go as fast as 60 fps, just it looks worse?

Solitaire

It looks worse and more stilted (and causes more eyestrain!) as Average FPS drops. As Minimum FPS drops you'll get severe jerking, stalling and screen tearing due to sudden changes in FPS, and this is the big problem you'll have with such weak graphics as soon as you get a bit of action going on the screen! :(

Chaotic_Forces

Solitaire wrote: »

It looks worse and more stilted (and causes more eyestrain!) as Average FPS drops. As Minimum FPS drops you'll get severe jerking, stalling and screen tearing due to sudden changes in FPS, and this is the big problem you'll have with such weak graphics as soon as you get a bit of action going on the screen! :(

I've seen lower FPS that causes the stalling and whatnot (LAG! :P) but if we can avoid that then YAY!
I mean I don't give a damn what graphics I have so long as it runs well. Less thant 800 x 600 is just a joke though. So 1024 x 768 (through some miracle) is great.

cherryghost

If you're on a budget, the 4250 can be oc'ed to match 4270 speeds :P Though it's still piss poor.

So... what's your budget?

Solitaire

cherryghost wrote: »

If you're on a budget, the 4250 can be oc'ed to match 4270 speeds :P

Not on a laptop it can't!

cherryghost

Ah it can, easily!

Chaotic_Forces

Assuming I can OC... will it damage my laptop? (I'd only be gaming with the charger plugged in and for long periods at a time.

And I have about 600 euro to spend.

cherryghost

Not trying to advertise here but terrorfirmers laptop here is great for 400 euro which he's asking. It's a great processor with a very good GPU under it, it'll handle any game you throw at it.

Top things off with the fact he was an ex moderator :pac:

Chaotic_Forces

cherryghost wrote: »

Not trying to advertise here but terrorfirmers laptop here is great for 400 euro which he's asking. It's a great processor with a very good GPU under it, it'll handle any game you throw at it.

Top things off with the fact he was an ex moderator :pac:

I hate my life :P

The problem is that the laptop I bought from PC world is being returned and I'm getting a new one and the cover plan is going onto the new laptop too. There were too many problems so I'm getting a new one. I don't want to get a laptop without the cover plan (since I can't actually get the money on the cover plan back).
Son of a bitch my luck though.:D