Running games on Highest settings

Hi all,

First time poster here. I'm a college student, going to school for software development. In my spare time I'm a gamer, and tend to tote some pretty graphic intense games.

My question to all of you: I'm considering purchasing an Alienware MX14, and I'm wondering what kind of video settings this beast will support. Specs:

i72630 QM 2.0ghz
8 gigs DDR3
3.0Gig DDR 3 Nvidia Geforce GT 555m

I'm planning on getting Battlefield 3 when it comes out and I'm hoping that this build will be able to support highest video settings. At $1500, I would ecstatic if this rig would be able to perform as such! I'm currently on an ASUS gaming laptop, and it's running a Core 2 Duo 2.8, 6 gigs DDR3, and a Nvidia Geforce 350m GPU. I'm rather disappointed by it due to it's only about 14 months old, and it barely holds up on *SOME* medium settings for Battlefield Bad Company 2. A lot of the texture settings are set to low, and I still find I get some video lag during intense graphic processing scenarios.

Can anyone offer any insight as to what kind of settings I can expect from either Bad Company 2, or Battlefield 3?

Thanks,
Skizz

 

NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M - Notebookcheck.net Tech
scroll to the bottom of the link it will show you, these numbers may be higher after gpu overclock

 

BC2 should play pretty well, since it plays high settings on an R2 at 1366x768. Word of advice. Screw the 3.0GB card. It won't help AT ALL unless you are out putting through HDMI at 2560x1650, and thats not a good idea with this system.

 

^^ Agree. M14x just game on the small screen. You want big screen gaming, you get a desktop.

 

Also, save on the RAM upgrade. Get ~$80 1333 8GB (2x4GB) RAM off newegg and possibly sell the 4GB stock RAM since your processor is a 2630 and will not run the RAM at 1600 but instead at 1333. Better than the $200 4GB>8GB upgrade. Upgrading RAM is one of the easiest things to do with a laptop.

 

Nah, you won't be maxing BF3 on the GT 555M.

 

How come he won't? It maxes on the MX11, and the M14 has quite a bit more go under the hood.

 

It dosent max on m11x.

 

Battlefield 3 isn't out yet, and the GPU of the M11x (540M or 335M) will be below the minimum GPU requirement.

 

BF3 Minimum System Requirements
Processor: Dual Core
Memory: 2 GB
Hard Drive: 15 GB for Digital Version, 10 GB for Disc Version
Video Memory: 256 MB
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: 10

BF3 Recommended System Requirements
Processor: Quadcore Processor
Memory: 4 GB
Hard Drive: 15 GB for Digital Version, 10 GB for Disc Version
Video Memory: 512 MB
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: 11

It complies with minimum and even recomended req. Maybe it will not maxout but completely playable.IMO...

 

Nanias -- Where did you get those from please? I have been looking for system reqs.

Thanks,

StevenX

 

Do those really look like officially released requirements to you?

They look generic enough for the answer to be pretty easily ascertained.

 

@Kevin - Assume positive intent please sir. Innocent until proven guilty.

 

Visit to the site it looks pretty close to what will be (edited) to me, but who knows...

Steven I found it here Battlefield 3 Minimum Requirements

 

From that site:

It's total conjecture.

 

I agree but I don't think they will make a game that will req. more than a quad... maybe the Vram of 512 is a little low but will not be more than 1GB which M11x has... So I think it will be plaable, as I said probably not maxedout....

 

Amounts of RAM mean very little, though. A 512MB 8800/9800 GT, which is what I expect to see for the Min. GPU, is about equal to the GT 555M.

 

You really think the minimum GPU will be that high?

With two cores and a GT 540M the M11x R3 doesn't have a prayer in that case...

 

Sk3tch - Do you mean the GT 540m? The m11xr3 has the 540m.

 

Yup...typo...thanks!

 

I'm not sure I believe that. my desktop rig is running a 9800GT and I run BC2 on the highest settings. I expect to run BF3 on medium.

If you're saying a 555M is = to a 9800, then I'll be pleased with running on medium settings with BF3 and High settings with BC2.

 

But maxing at what resolution?

I look at this:



The 9800 GT doesn't look so hot. The GT 555M has no hope @ 1080p.

 

Most xbox and ps3 games run at 30 fps.

If you can achieve a constant 30 frames, that's not bad.
And it has AA enabled which is a major frame killer and not that necessary at higher resolutions like 1080p.

 

I dont know what others consider the "desktop" equiv is of the 555m GT, I believe it's the nvidia 440 oem. So that's the benchmarks I look for. The problem with Vanilla high and benchmarks is that it enables that crud hbao or whatever and you have to unable it to get decent play on any video card. So I would ask them to re-run those benches, minus HbAO and then see what is acceptable. My guess is that the 9800 would hit 40fps fine.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/alienware-m14x/572630-m14x-compared-m15x-performance.html

bThis shows my avg between 41-48 with HSAO enabled. If you want I can run a bench on high, minus hbao to see what the averages are?

I really do think it's neat that ATI used the desktop 5770 for the notebook 5850/5870. Slightly lower clocks but the same.

 

I think M14x won't have a problem since it is not meant to be a full res. machine... So again M14x at its res. of 720p will certainly be played maybe even @high... Not max tough...

 

^
This. I know I won't be attempting crysis maxed @ 1600x900 on a 14 inch screen

 

Here is BFBC2, m15x, 5850 stock clocks, all high, no HBAO, no vsync, 4xAA and 4xAF. 1600x900p

2011-04-26 20:39:00 - BFBC2Game (Rush game, 32 man)
Frames: 7427 - Time: 129326ms - Avg: 57.429 - Min: 38 - Max: 103

Here is another rush game, 32 man same as before except 1280x720
2011-04-26 21:15:38 - BFBC2Game
Frames: 18139 - Time: 285865ms - Avg: 63.453 - Min: 34 - Max: 108

 

I know we are talking about the 555 so with that in mind.. I just wish I had some desktop 440 oem figures to look at. Only a few benchmark and youtube videos.

BW, StevenX

 

Yes. It's damned possible. Crysis 2's minimum requirement is an 8800GT/9800GT.

Still, this is all just speculation. It's unlikely to be any higher than an 8800GT at minimum as it is a multi-console release; if a console can run it, then any GPU that's more powerful than an 8800GT should also be able to. Hopefully.

 

Is an HD5730 more powerful than the 555?

 

HD 5730

555m

It looks like the 555m performs better in most games. They don't say what resolutions were used, though.

 

Interesting. The 5730 is the GPU offered in the x15. I would imagine it would be more powerful.

 

The 5730 is the basic M15 GPU. They also used to offer an upgrade to a better one, but they can't get them fast enough anymore, so they stopped. I think it was the 460m. If you look on Alienware's site, there are still pages where it pretends to offer that card.
As it is now, the M14x is more powerful than the M15x.

 

i found this video: YouTube - Alienware M14x - Crysis 2 Gameplay

 

Lol, yeah... 5730 may be the only option atm for the M15x in some countries, in other regions the 460m and 5850 are still available. If they keep selling the M15x the 5850 will probably come back as an option, but I guess unfortunately they will discontinue the M15x in the near future.

You can't really compare the M15x to the M14x... M15x compared to M17x R3 would be more accurate... in terms of power, dimensions and weight.

 

No, it'll be 30% slower than the 555M, at a minimum.