Gaming What games can my computer handle

kiel379

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i have a advent desktop with a nvidia gforce 9500 gs, 2gb ram, windows 7 64bit. could anyone recommend any good games my computer could handle, i use steam for my pc games and have stuck to TF2 and CS:source just coz their quite old and my old computer could handle them. (also really pissed than condition zero doesn't work on windows 7).
 

legendofphil

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I would need more information like processor, what res monitor you use.
9500 GT is a low end card from 3 years ago so it won't do tremendously well in modern games.

And Condition Zero does work in Windows 7.
 

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legendofphil said:
I would need more information like processor, what res monitor you use.
9500 GT is a low end card from 3 years ago so it won't do tremendously well in modern games.

And Condition Zero does work in Windows 7.
its a intel celeron thing, res is 1280x1024, and i don't think CZ can run on 64 bit, i did some research and found lots of other people had the same problem, if their was a fix that would be great, i tried messing with compatibility mode on it but still no success. also if anyone knows, (i was looking at the driver info and stuff and got into the 3d section), do i just need the nvidia glasses if i wanted to mess arround with 3d or do i need a 3d screen as well?
 

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kiel379 said:
legendofphil said:
I would need more information like processor, what res monitor you use.
9500 GT is a low end card from 3 years ago so it won't do tremendously well in modern games.

And Condition Zero does work in Windows 7.
its a intel celeron thing, res is 1280x1024, and i don't think CZ can run on 64 bit, i did some research and found lots of other people had the same problem, if their was a fix that would be great, i tried messing with compatibility mode on it but still no success. also if anyone knows, (i was looking at the driver info and stuff and got into the 3d section), do i just need the nvidia glasses if i wanted to mess arround with 3d or do i need a 3d screen as well?


To use nvidia 3D vision you will need a 3D screen too, it's also worth pointing out that displaying in 3D needs better graphics than playing a game normally, for example on my laptop I can play TF2 with high settings in 1080p fine, but with 3D on the FPS take a noticeable hit and find it better dropping the resolution on it to maintain a good FPS.
 

Originality

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To use a dirty analogy, adding 3D to games doubles the required graphical processing power, because for every frame it has to create a second, dithered frame for the second eye. It'll probably also require the monitor to display at 120Hz instead of 59 or 60Hz. This isn't entirely accurate, but should be easy enough to understand what 3D requires.
 

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Originality said:
To use a dirty analogy, adding 3D to games doubles the required graphical processing power, because for every frame it has to create a second, dithered frame for the second eye. It'll probably also require the monitor to display at 120Hz instead of 59 or 60Hz. This isn't entirely accurate, but should be easy enough to understand what 3D requires.

Nvidia have it as a requirement to use a 120Hz monitor (even though when setting it up it gives you the option to use the monitor at 100Hz in case your lights cause a flicker effect), 3D monitors also have a super bright backlight when in 3D mode to compensate for the darkening effect of wearing the active shutter glasses.

I was thinking of using the same analogy, but decided against it
tongue.gif
Though it is probably the best way to visualise the increased requirements.
 

Originality

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You obviously know/care more about it than me ;p

3D is a gimmick, and unfortunately it's one that people are making more fuss over than it's actually worth. In a few years everything will be 3D - I just hope that in that time, 3D becomes kinder to the eyes.
 

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kiel379 said:
legendofphil said:
I would need more information like processor, what res monitor you use.
9500 GT is a low end card from 3 years ago so it won't do tremendously well in modern games.

And Condition Zero does work in Windows 7.
its a intel celeron thing, res is 1280x1024, and i don't think CZ can run on 64 bit, i did some research and found lots of other people had the same problem, if their was a fix that would be great, i tried messing with compatibility mode on it but still no success. also if anyone knows, (i was looking at the driver info and stuff and got into the 3d section), do i just need the nvidia glasses if i wanted to mess arround with 3d or do i need a 3d screen as well?
A 64bit Windows OS can also run 32bit executables. CZ is a 32bit executable.
 

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Depravo said:
+1 on this

All you have to do is decide on which game you're interested in & look it up.
The site then tests your laptop/pc & then tells you (if anything) where you may have problems (i.e memory/processor/graphics etc) NB you need to use a browser that allows ActiveX or Java

It'll give you a better idea if your PC can run the game or not
 

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CannonFoddr said:
Depravo said:
+1 on this

All you have to do is decide on which game you're interested in & look it up.
The site then tests your laptop/pc & then tells you (if anything) where you may have problems (i.e memory/processor/graphics etc) NB you need to use a browser that allows ActiveX or Java

It'll give you a better idea if your PC can run the game or not

I just tried that site and and it showed this:
"CPU Speed
Recommended: 3 GHz
You Have: 2.0 GHz Performance Rated at: 5 GHz"

How is the rated at 5GHz part worked out?

(it's an i7-2630QM btw)
 

legendofphil

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jamesaa said:
I just tried that site and and it showed this:
"CPU Speed
Recommended: 3 GHz
You Have: 2.0 GHz Performance Rated at: 5 GHz"

How is the rated at 5GHz part worked out?

(it's an i7-2630QM btw)

Intel boards/chip generally under clock themselves when there is little load on them. My i7 2600k goes a low as 1.6Ghz when its idling, 3.4Ghz is the stock pre-turbo, 3.8Ghz is the stock turbo mode and I have it currently sat at 4.3Ghz in turbo (not finished my build yet else it would be closer to 5Ghz)

Your processor's stock is 4 core 8 thread, 2GHz normal and 2.9/2.8/2.6 GHz turbo according to Wikipedia, something to do about multiple turbo modes on mobile chipsets.
 

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Older Processors.
The "Intel Pentium 4" 2.26ghz processor scores 288.

Newer Processors.
The "Intel Core 2 Duo P7350" 2.00ghz processor scores 1,318.

So it's 100% possible for a processor with LESS ghz to be better. More ghz does not mean the processor is better in every case. Only when comparing two of the SAME processor.

Ghz is like RPM in cars. It describes how fast it's cycling. How much it does per cycle, however, varies between processor models, like it depends on what gear you're in in a car.

Let's say you have two cars, both in second gear, doing 4000 RPM. One of the cars accelerates up to 6000 RPM, in the same gear. It is now going faster than it was previously.
If the second car kept accelerating to the point that it changed gears and dropped down to 3000 RPM, it would appear to be going slower (if you only compare RPM values), but it's going faster than the first car.

The reason people think that a higher ghz rating means a processor is faster is because of this. If you raise the ghz, the processor will be going aster than it was previously. However, when comparing two different processors, you cannot compare them by just ghz.

That's how processors are. If a processor can do more per cycle, then it can cycle less, while still doing the same amount or, or more work. The advantage of a processor cycling less is that less heat is generated, and less power is used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megahertz_Myth

Modern processors which have multiple cores are newer than older ones which have a single core. The newer ones are more efficient, generally doubly or more. People have looked at newer processors, thinking that GHZ is everything, and wondered why a 2ghz processor beats a 3ghz one, see that the 2ghz one is dual-core, and assume that was the reason, when in reality it's because the dual-core was newer and more efficient.
 

sweenish

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i don't see what misconception you're trying to clear up. this whole moar MHz thing was shown to be wrong way back when amd first launched their athlon chips. a bit over ten years ago.
 

Rydian

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sweenish said:
i don't see what misconception you're trying to clear up. this whole moar MHz thing was shown to be wrong way back when amd first launched their athlon chips. a bit over ten years ago.
In case you haven't noticed most people still think it's true.

Just like there's still tons of people that think Macs use different processors.
 

Quietlyawesome94

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Rydian said:
Older Processors.
The "Intel Pentium 4" 2.26ghz processor scores 288.

Newer Processors.
The "Intel Core 2 Duo P7350" 2.00ghz processor scores 1,318.

So it's 100% possible for a processor with LESS ghz to be better. More ghz does not mean the processor is better in every case. Only when comparing two of the SAME processor.

Ghz is like RPM in cars. It describes how fast it's cycling. How much it does per cycle, however, varies between processor models, like it depends on what gear you're in in a car.

Let's say you have two cars, both in second gear, doing 4000 RPM. One of the cars accelerates up to 6000 RPM, in the same gear. It is now going faster than it was previously.
If the second car kept accelerating to the point that it changed gears and dropped down to 3000 RPM, it would appear to be going slower (if you only compare RPM values), but it's going faster than the first car.

The reason people think that a higher ghz rating means a processor is faster is because of this. If you raise the ghz, the processor will be going aster than it was previously. However, when comparing two different processors, you cannot compare them by just ghz.

That's how processors are. If a processor can do more per cycle, then it can cycle less, while still doing the same amount or, or more work. The advantage of a processor cycling less is that less heat is generated, and less power is used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megahertz_Myth

Modern processors which have multiple cores are newer than older ones which have a single core. The newer ones are more efficient, generally doubly or more. People have looked at newer processors, thinking that GHZ is everything, and wondered why a 2ghz processor beats a 3ghz one, see that the 2ghz one is dual-core, and assume that was the reason, when in reality it's because the dual-core was newer and more efficient.

Thanks, very useful post. Thats going into my "CoolStufftoRemember.txt" file.
yay.gif
 

sweenish

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Rydian said:
sweenish said:
i don't see what misconception you're trying to clear up. this whole moar MHz thing was shown to be wrong way back when amd first launched their athlon chips. a bit over ten years ago.
In case you haven't noticed most people still think it's true.

Just like there's still tons of people that think Macs use different processors.

the thing of it is, it didn't come up in this thread.

at all.
 

Rydian

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sweenish said:
the thing of it is, it didn't come up in this thread.

at all.It was discussed right before I posted.

QUOTE(jamesaa @ Aug 28 2011, 02:00 PM) I just tried that site and and it showed this:
"CPU Speed
Recommended: 3 GHz
You Have: 2.0 GHz Performance Rated at: 5 GHz"

How is the rated at 5GHz part worked out?

(it's an i7-2630QM btw)
 

sweenish

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What you're referencing:
legendofphil said:
jamesaa said:
I just tried that site and and it showed this:
"CPU Speed
Recommended: 3 GHz
You Have: 2.0 GHz Performance Rated at: 5 GHz"

How is the rated at 5GHz part worked out?

(it's an i7-2630QM btw)

Intel boards/chip generally under clock themselves when there is little load on them. My i7 2600k goes a low as 1.6Ghz when its idling, 3.4Ghz is the stock pre-turbo, 3.8Ghz is the stock turbo mode and I have it currently sat at 4.3Ghz in turbo (not finished my build yet else it would be closer to 5Ghz)

Your processor's stock is 4 core 8 thread, 2GHz normal and 2.9/2.8/2.6 GHz turbo according to Wikipedia, something to do about multiple turbo modes on mobile chipsets.



QUOTE(Rydian @ Aug 31 2011, 07:29 PM)
It was discussed right before I posted.

so, no. it wasn't. there was no confusion about clock speeds or architecture efficiencies or anything like that. all that's happening is a basic description of intel's power management system for the cpu. your post, while informative, came out of the blue.
 

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