Pushing your Computer's limits

[kawaiipikachu]

What i mean by the title is pushing your computer system to play certain games that have specs that is a bit beyond your system .

Lets start out by stating my Systems specs which is certainly no gaming system.

Originally Posted by My Pavi's Specs

Intel Celeron 566MHz CPU
256MB RAM
10GB HDD & 80 GB HDD
DVD Burner
Nvidia GeForce2 MX64 32MB

I've been managing to play the Sims 2 & Most of its expansion packs with it.
The main game says it needs 800MHz CPU & the expansions that i can run says it needs a 1.3GHz CPU but my little Pavi can run it fine.
Theres also one expansion pack that i bought yesterday that didn't work which is Apartment life which require a 1.8GHz CPU 64MB graphics card & 1GB of RAM.

Other than that the game runs allright. Not perfect but resonable enouth.

[Spore]

I run Batman: Arkham Asylum PhysX with an 8800GT as my dedicated PhysX card instead of the recommended 9800GTX. WOOOOOAH! Seriously though, nothing outside of Metro 2033 has recommended specs that can breach my build. :smug: Kind of expected this to be a thread on overclocking though.

[RetroNL]

Originally Posted by kawaiipikachu

What i mean by the title is pushing your computer system to play certain games that have specs that is a bit beyond your system .

Lets start out by stating my Systems specs which is certainly no gaming system.

I've been managing to play the Sims 2 & Most of its expansion packs with it.
The main game says it needs 800MHz CPU & the expansions that i can run says it needs a 1.3GHz CPU but my little Pavi can run it fine.
Theres also one expansion pack that i bought yesterday that didn't work which is Apartment life which require a 1.8GHz CPU 64MB graphics card & 1GB of RAM.

Other than that the game runs allright. Not perfect but resonable enouth.

Wow, thats an old pc, I think our first pc back in 1999 had those stats or a bit less. Cant you go for a cheap dual core there or something ? I mean I think even standard programs like virus scans will be too heavy soon.

[SlurmNator]

My computer can run any game made atm with overclocking it

but i can't run games like GTAIV on the highest detail.

[Spore]

Originally Posted by SlurmNator

My computer can run any game made atm with overclocking it

but i can't run games like GTAIV on the highest detail.

I don't think there even is a computer capable of that feat yet. My goodness does that game look more than beautiful with the right mods applied though. Totally worth the slideshow just to see the images slowly flash of the city.

[PoisonRamune]

I try not to run below minimum requirements... Which is good for me since my PC barely makes the cut on most games out in the last 2-3 years... And all the recent stuff that comes out just goes to my 360 or PS3 anyhow (aside from genre specific games, since I won't be assed to play an RTS with a gamepad).

[SlurmNator]

Originally Posted by Spore

I don't think there even is a computer capable of that feat yet. My goodness does that game look more than beautiful with the right mods applied though. Totally worth the slideshow just to see the images slowly flash of the city.

Alot of the computers can run any game fine.

well i can't play mac only games and stuff but all the top notch pc games i can play.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

I pushed my computer's limits by embarrassing it in public. It didn't speak to me for days afterwards.

[Spore]

Originally Posted by SlurmNator

Alot of the computers can run any game fine.

well i can't play mac only games and stuff but all the top notch pc games i can play.

I just say that because GTA4 is notorious for being a bit poorly optimized.

[SlurmNator]

Originally Posted by Spore

I just say that because GTA4 is notorious for being a bit poorly optimized.

My computer onyl lags alittle when it's on highest detail and when i mean highest detail i meen everything on full

[Spore]

Originally Posted by SlurmNator

My computer onyl lags alittle when it's on highest detail and when i mean highest detail i meen everything on full

I'm going to have to ask how you did that considering you definitely do not have enough VRAM to push it up to full. You need in excess of 1.5GB for that. Are you sure you're cranking the draw distance slider and all that jazz up fully? Hell, your 5300 would be melting at those settings too. I mean, I guess if you're running the game at like, 320x240 it might be possible...

[Betagam7]

Even though it is allegedly gaming quality I don't try running games on my laptop due to my concerns over how hot it gets doing ordinary everyday type of stuff.

I have Monkey Island Special edition running fine on it but I wouldn't try anything graphically intense on it.

I really don't like playing games on the PC anyway. Give me my TV anyday.

[MasterGH]

Originally Posted by Betagam7

Even though it is allegedly gaming quality I don't try running games on my laptop due to my concerns over how hot it gets doing ordinary everyday type of stuff.

I know what you mean here. I've borrowed a few laptops in the past while away from home that I very quickly stopped trying to game on from fear of them burning up.

I really don't like playing games on the PC anyway. Give me my TV anyday.

I do like using 23" monitor, although if we had a nice big HD TV I'd be very tempted to hook my PC up to it for games.


edit: As for me here, I too thought this would be an OC thead. The most of that sort I've done with this computer was a reliable ~25% OC on my graphics card...that was only really just to see what it could do, though. I don't really need to stretch my system for anything.

My old system, on the other hand, was often tortured with games way beyond its capabilities. Poor thing.

[kawaiipikachu]

Originally Posted by RetroNL

Wow, thats an old pc, I think our first pc back in 1999 had those stats or a bit less. Cant you go for a cheap dual core there or something ? I mean I think even standard programs like virus scans will be too heavy soon.

Well it was cheap & i wanted it to browse the web instead of my Wii or use my borrowing the household computer which is quite often taken up.
I was able to use the spare monitor we had & i found a working mouse lying on the road the same day that i bought my computer for $5 .
So i got it mostly for the Internet but gaming was only a secondary option.

I might look into A&R one day to get a blank box PC which is a case CPU motherboard & power supply only & then build a simple gaming system from there on the cheap but for the moment my Little Pavi here shall do me fine.

[Spore]

Originally Posted by kawaiipikachu

I might look into A&R one day to get a blank box PC which is a case CPU motherboard & power supply only & then build a simple gaming system from there on the cheap but for the moment my Little Pavi here shall do me fine.

I would despise you a little less if you did that.

[kawaiipikachu]

Originally Posted by Spore

I would despise you a little less if you did that.

Why would that be?

[Spore]

Originally Posted by kawaiipikachu

Why would that be?

Because I embrace anybody trying to enter PC gaming. You know that.

[SlurmNator]

Originally Posted by Spore

I'm going to have to ask how you did that considering you definitely do not have enough VRAM to push it up to full. You need in excess of 1.5GB for that. Are you sure you're cranking the draw distance slider and all that jazz up fully? Hell, your 5300 would be melting at those settings too. I mean, I guess if you're running the game at like, 320x240 it might be possible...

It runs fines unless it on full full full detail and i don't play on full full full detail so it's all good and i play on 1600x900

[Bades]

I play all my games on my laptop. It's not really made for gaming but it works out pretty well for me with minimal lag. I can play most games fine on the highest but had some difficulty getting Half-Life 2 ep 2 working until recently on the highest settings. I don't buy many newer games on PC, just those that slip past consoles or are much better on PC such as the orange box.

[Mickeymac]

Most modern games tend to overclock my PC, though that tends to be because I have a video card that no one really supports.

[MasterGH]

Originally Posted by Mickeymac

Most modern games tend to overclock my PC, though that tends to be because I have a video card that no one really supports.

That's sad to hear man (a computer I used had a Kyro II at some point, so I know how it feels :P), but I just thought I'd clarify that overclocking is when you adjust your hardware's settings, either through your BIOS or OS, to make it run beyond standard specifications. For instance, you might work towards increasing your CPU's clockspeed. Modern hardware usually has quite a bit of room for overclocking without bothering with replacing reference coolers (as long as your PC is well ventilated to start with), but extreme stuff will need a much better setup.

[Mickeymac]

Originally Posted by MasterGH

That's sad to hear man (a computer I used had a Kyro II at some point, so I know how it feels :P), but I just thought I'd clarify that overclocking is when you adjust your hardware's settings, either through your BIOS or OS, to make it run beyond standard specifications. For instance, you might work towards increasing your CPU's clockspeed. Modern hardware usually has quite a bit of room for overclocking without bothering with replacing reference coolers (as long as your PC is well ventilated to start with), but extreme stuff will need a much better setup.

Ah, I'll have to look that up, thanks. Maybe I could use that to play Fallout 3 without it stuttering every 5 minutes?

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Indeed. Some companies now advertise a species of built-in overclocking, as in this web copy from Apple re: the Intel i5 and i7 processors:

Originally Posted by Apple

Intel Core i5 and Core i7 processors also feature Turbo Boost. If you’re using processor-intensive applications like Aperture 3 or Final Cut Pro that would benefit from an extra performance kick, Turbo Boost dynamically increases the speed of one or both cores, taking a 2.66GHz MacBook Pro all the way up to 3.33GHz.

[MasterGH]

Originally Posted by Mickeymac

Ah, I'll have to look that up, thanks. Maybe I could use that to play Fallout 3 without it stuttering every 5 minutes?

I honestly wouldn't recommend it for you. Firstly, you have a Dell computer (and not one of the more expensive ones, at that) so I doubt your motherboard would support much in the way of overclocking and the case probably isn't built with the airflow needed in mind. Secondly, you're just not going to get much out of that 8300GS graphics card of yours.

How much memory have you got, and what is your power supply? You might be able to fairly cheaply upgrade your RAM or graphics card to get much better results.

Originally Posted by Jogurt the Yogurt

Indeed. Some companies now advertise a species of built-in overclocking, as in this web copy from Apple re: the Intel i5 and i7 processors:

Yep, on my Core i7 it works quite well. In my case, I have 4 cores with hyperthreading, so 8 threads in total. If something uses all, or nearly all, of those threads, the overclock isn't all that much, but if it's just a single thread it can go from 2.8GHz to 3.46 GHz automatically. With a little effort you can get a much better overclock over all your cores, but it's great that Intel now has something that works pretty well that doesn't void your warranty

[kawaiipikachu]

Originally Posted by Mickeymac

Ah, I'll have to look that up, thanks. Maybe I could use that to play Fallout 3 without it stuttering every 5 minutes?

You think you got it bad.
Me with my Sims 2 with some Households the frame rate tend to be sluggish & even at one point I ended up having to remove an ice rink because it took up so much resources.