CoD4 on T500 or W500?

Can CoD4 be played at native resolution with decent fps on a T500 with the discrete graphics? If not, how about the W500?

 

I think it should work fine, but someone with a T500 and COD4 will need to verify for you.

The w500 will NOT be any better as the FireGL 5700 is just a Radeon3650 with OpenGL optimized drivers (CAD, Maya, et. al.). In fact, the w500 may even perform slightly worse in games than the T500 (optimized for DirectX).

 

Hmm, I thought with the extra 256mb the w500 would definitely perform better despite being a FireGL card. So T500 it is I guess, assuming someone with CoD4 (or someone near Williamsburg VA who is willing to meet up) says it will work.

 

Hey I've tried a few rounds of COD4 on my T500. I played at native resolution with most other settings off and I got a good ~50fps. This is also on Windows 7 so it might perform better on XP/Vista but I'm not 100% on that.

 

That's pretty sweet then, because with most of the settings off on my T60 with a v5200 I have to go down to 800x600 to get 50fps.

 

Same here. The 8510w I used to have had an Nvidia FX570m (8600m GT) which is almost as powerful as the HD3650. On native res. (WSXGA+), COD4 was practically unplayable, < 20 fps with medium settings. Of course, it did have an older processor, etc.

 

I'm a huge cod4 player and I frequently use the W500 w/ Vista x64 to game on instead of my desktop.

Here's a link for all graphic settings/filters to full at 1680 x 1050 res on the W500. Ouch, 14 fps.
http://files.getdropbox.com/u/1101364/New Folder/shot0001.jpg

Now this next one is at 1440 x 900 with graphics low, but textures set to extra high and model detail set to normal.
http://files.getdropbox.com/u/1101364/New Folder/shot0003.jpg

This third one shows FPS 122 at 960 x 600 res with all settings low but textures set to extra high and model detail at normal.
http://files.getdropbox.com/u/1101364/New Folder/shot0006.jpg

This one shows a nice 150+ FPS at 960 x 600 res with all settings to low, model detail also low, and textures set to extra high.
http://files.getdropbox.com/u/1101364/New Folder/shot0007.jpg

I do however use quite a few extra in-game commands to dumb down the graphics further such as removing decals on the walls and some of the lighting effects. It does kind of make it look a bit more dull but opponents show up much easier and performance is much better so I prefer it. Full graphic settings on this game include heat distortions from your own gun barrel which make it even harder to keep an eye on anyone.

Given those extra settings, I'm sure you could get great FPS on the T500 as well. Keep in mind that COD4: MW 2 is coming out really soon though, and I have no idea how either of these machines would perform then.

Game on.

 

Can someone with a T500 try 1440x900 with graphics low but texture set to extra high and model detail set to normal? I'm leaning T500 just because it looks like for gaming there is no difference between the cards, but I have a hard time making the purchase decision because I have a hard time believing wiht an extra 256mb of video ram the W500 doesn't game better.

What in-game command do you use to dumb down lighting effects? On my T60 I've already stripped decals, and I did some other command I can't remember that cut down how far out it draws static objects like grass and tree branches - really helped out my fps on the grassy maps.

 

i have finished both COD4 and COD5 on my T500 with some decent setting. Never felt a lag,i don't remember the settings. but i do remember that compared to the COD5 , COD4 is pretty easy to run

 

any chance you could pop into a CoD4 multiplayer server on your T500, type in in-console (press ~ - which is next to the 1 key - to get in console) /cg_drawfps 1 and tell me what fps you get (and also let me know what resolution you're running at)?

 

The 256mb of memory don't give that great of a performance increase because the rest of the card is still exactly the same, and as far as I know, the size of video memory only helps you play at higher resolutions, but doesn't really improve how well the rest of the card functions. The nitty-gritty of this isn't all that complex I just can't remember off the top of my head which exact arguments come into play.

The W500 GPU however could easily outperform the T500's GPU if you go ahead and use modded 3650 drivers which will make your FireGL V5700 think it's a regular ATI graphics card meant for gaming and direct X, however, you lose the ability to toggle switchable graphics while running windows. Instead, you have to change the setting in the BIOS whenever you'd want to use the integrated instead of the discrete graphics.

I don't recall all of the settings I'm using at the moment, however they are all saved in the config_mp.cfg file, which you can dl here and try for yourself:
http://files.getdropbox.com/u/1101364/config_mp.cfg (Backup your old one first)

Once you've got the file, browse to this location:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Activision\Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare\players\profiles\your current active profile
and replace the current config_mp.cfg with this newly downloaded one.

The next time you run the game, a window will pop-up before entering the game asking if you want to reset some your settings to be optimized for your hardware, and you must select NO on this for it to work properly. You can go ahead and adjust the graphic settings however you like once you're inside the game, namely the resolution, but try it out as is first and see what you get.

 

Hmmm, I run my T60 with a v5200 card with a radeon driver (or at least, I did back when I was using Vista, on XP it doesn't make a difference so I just use the factory driver), so I'm comfortable cracking the driver on a W500...

Such a hard decision. I wish they would just offer a better radeon card.

 

Ah, then it should be fairly easy to do a second time. The full instructions on how to go about doing this are posted on the lenovo forums-- I'll find a link if you're interested.

I also wish my card was a bit stronger but then again my primary reason for buying this machine wasn't the gaming. The cards they offer are still pretty good considering the price. Most true laptop gaming cards are quite expensive, however maybe you should look into that IF gaming is going to be your primary function on your new laptop.

XoticPC.com actually has a really decent selection which will end up being a few hundred more than a W500 but will be much better suited for gaming. (Although in the end, even that will be a laptop card, and there is really only so much juice those things will put out if you're spending less than 2 grand. If you check out their site, you'll see the good ones start around 1500 and easily work their way up to 2500+)

 

Well, it won't be primarily for gaming, I just want it to be able to game. I like Thinkpads for the:
customer service
over-engineering of the out-of-sight things
quality/durability

It seems like you don't get that with ANYbody else.

 

Same here, that's what it came down to for me as well, and I went with the W500 because I was also in the market for something to handle pro graphics like CAD etc and also being available for occasional gaming.

The T500 should be fine for you if you're not looking for the professional graphics features. However, if you like the idea of making the W500 GPU into an ordinary gaming card for direct X at the cost of your switchable graphics, then the W500 will certainly not disappoint when it comes to gaming.

 

You're in the same boat I was in a few months back. I was very interested in a ThinkPad but I wanted to game some as well. I'm far from hardcore but I do enjoy to play the following games every now and again:

COD 4
COD WaW
DoD:Source
CSS:Source
L4D
TF2

All of these games mention run without a hitch @ native resolution on my T500. You'll have to adjust settings for YOUR optimal gaming experience but I can guarantee that at least with the games I listed - you'll have a very good gaming experience.

I too was looking at the W500 before purchasing because I saw the beefier graphics card, but I had asked around and was told it was for workstation applications and therefore the T500 would be better suited for gaming (I'm not a hardware/gaming expert)

If you want a portable machine that can handle business applications with ease and moderate gaming needs - you will not be disappointed with the T500.

 

I got curious and just tried out the 3650 drivers instead of the normal switchable graphics driver and the results are disappointing. Not only did I lose many of the widescreen resolutions that the V5700 is capable of but also the frames in COD4 were exactly the same if not less.

Optimized for CAD or not, those drivers still perform better on the W500 in my opinion.