Video Card Help

[ARMYguy]

I know this isnt exactly doom related, but i really need some help on an ATI based v card. I very recently bought an alienware lap top, which came with the 9600 moble chip. So far, it hasnt worked very well for me, even with drivers i got from alienware. When playing command and conquer generals, the game totally hangs the computer when the mouse is moved. Kinda makes me sad, especially after purchasing a computer that cost more than my car did...:( There are also many other Graphical problems associated with games. If you guys need full system specs ill post them. Thanks a ton in advance.

[dd_133]

This should be in Rants & raves, but i'll help anyway. Full system specs would help a bunch. But, have you gotton ATI's driver for the mobile 9600 chip? Try that and see how it works. Also, you may have to adjust some settings ingame for some things to work. Some graphics may conflict with your video card and the game. So adjust those, and if that doesn't help, go get ATI's driver.

BTW, i got 9600 too... :D

[Rellik_jmd]

Uhg ATI, best of luck Army. Try fiddling with the acceleration settings and go to the game sites. They usually have forums where you can maybe get some specific info.

[ARMYguy]

The Specs of the Lap top are as follows:


3-Year AlienCare Toll-Free 24/7 Phone Support with Depot Service
Microsoft® Windows® XP Professional
Area-51m Case with 16.1" UltraXGA 1600x1200 LCD Display - Saucer Silver
Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology 3.2GHz 800MHz FSB w/ 512KB Cache
SiS648FX + SiS963L AGP8X Chipset
1024MB DDR PC-3200 - 2x512 SO-DIMMs
AREA-51M ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 PRO Module with 128MB DDR
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy® 2 NX USB External
Hitachi 60GB 7200 RPM ATA100 with 8MB Cache
Additional Storage 40GB 5400rpm Hard drive
4x2x8x DVD+RW / 16x10x24x CD-RW Combo w/Software
Integrated 10/100Mb Ethernet NIC
56K Modem with V.92 Technology
Built-In Wireless 802.11a/b/g miniPCI Card
Area-51m Multi-function Infrared Remote control
USB Floppy Drive
Additional Primary Lithium-Ion Smart Battery Pack
Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 - USB - Saucer Silver
Verbatim DataLifePlus CD-R 52x 80 Minute 50-Pack Spindle
Belkin K100 Security Key Lock
AlienAdrenaline: Video Performance Optimizer
Free Alienware® T-Shirt - Black
AlienAutopsy: Automated Technical Support Request System

As you know Relik, i am an Nvidia buff, but the 9600 moble was rated quite a bit faster than the nvidia 5600 go, little did i know it doesnt work out of the box, something i am used to from nvidia products. But i am determined to make sense of this, and get on with gaming anywhere... er Legacy anywhere ! :)

[Doom_Dude]

I have an ATI card and I'm very happy with it. Do you have the latest drivers for you card and are you up to date with DirectX?

[Aliotroph?]

I've had a laptop with an ATI card for a year and a half and I can almost never get it working perfectly. I've had cases where the driver upgrades would fix one bug and introduce four more. At one point the upgrade was crashing my laptop because it needed a file found only in a keyboard driver upgrade.*bug*

[Doom_Dude]

What does this 'Mobility' bit tagged on the Radeon name mean anyways?

[Planky]

Think 'laptop' of video cards. They have been designed to use less power, usually run cooler and not as fast as the normal card.

[Hurdler]

It seems you forgot the price in the spec of your laptop...

[Doom_Dude]

Think 'laptop' of video cards. They have been designed to use less power, usually run cooler and not as fast as the normal card.

Ahh okay, that makes sense. Methinks id be bitching at Alienware if I bought a laptop and it was choking on games.

[Cyric's Legionare]

Have you dudes seen their prices, man. ARMYguy seems to be upgrading for Doom III it seems to me.

[ARMYguy]

Cyric's Legionare:

Actually, no. This computer is for me to go to college and have a computer that is easier to bring back and forth from home to school. Plus the campus is wireless, and i like the freedom of working almost anywhere on campus, something my huge rig can't do. My main gaming rig is at my house while im at school, it has the Nvidia based 5900 ultra, which is faster in dx8 games than the moble 9600, but actually slower in games like Halo that are dx9. Hopefuly Nvidia's next one won't be lackluster in the dx9 or perhaps 10 category.

Hurdler:

The price was 4,621 $, including tax and free shiping.. lol

Doom Dude:

I have all the correct and current drivers installed. The thing is it is only C and C Generals that is making me have issues, the rest of the games run very nicely. The bad part is, aside from DooM, C and C Generals is the game i play the most :( it just always seems to happen that way, doesn't it. Oh well, im still tryn my luck. Thanks for the replies all.

[Shakadi]

From what I heard from a friend, C&C Generals run's Very slow, even on his Big Rig with a Radeon 9700 pro 2.6 ghz processor (or something like that.) I believe that there is a patch that helps speed up the game if I am not mistaken.

[ARMYguy]

The game doesnt run as fast as my 5900 ultra at home, but it isn't unplayibly slow, prolly cause of the 3.2 ghz p4 behind it. The problem with patches is that since it is a moble processor, it can't use the same patches as regular cards.

[Tyberious]

yeah, nvidia hardware isn't as effecient when ti coems to DirectX 9.0 because they are trying to push their piece of sh*t Cg code. I can't wait till they get their gear together which they will. Sad but true, maybe ill pull up an article when I get the time. Good luck ARMY, by the way, don't sweat the graphics card problem you have a damn good card in there and they support self installed graphics cards. Mind you teh creators of laptops and those who build them have to follow regulations to insure stability, theys why its slower but, try jacking down the resolution a bit and lowering AA and AF. Maybe that might help. I would recommend using DNA drivers but, tehy don't support mobile graphics cards.

P.S.
ARMYguy, you might want to try out the StarStorm drivers from www.guru3d.com they promise more performance and quality but, are not offically supported by NVidia but work the same, please be careful, these drivers are really enhanced and I blew out my poor (and weak) Geforce 2 MX 200 pci card's memory out (they had ramsinks too! but, they sucked). Your card is muct stronger but, I thought I should warn ya.

[The Undertaker]

Time to get the mobile 9700. Just kidding, its only another faster clocked 9600 (like the turbo pro didn't sound fast enough), still only 4 pipes.

[Tyberious]

oh, I found out ages ago taht my card (GeForce 2 MX 200 Pci 32MB) works fine, its just my sisters motherboard (which is a really crappy engineering sample, mind you a server board). I just put on better memory sinks (using artic silver non conductive epoxy) (the other ones were super glued to the chip with a mixture of the silicon white paste, yeah I was young and stupid back then) Also You can try the omega drivers.

Too bad taht laptops can't use a 4x2 pipeline (if they are going ot stick with 4 pipes) instead of 4x1. Maybe in the future they will incorperate the nano fans that will be used inside processors of the future (I have the article, I just need to type it out).

[The Undertaker]

The GF 4200 Go did but was a power hog. it wased only used in one Dell laptop.

[Tyberious]

ok now my Geforce 2 MX 200 died.... damn thermally conductive epoxy *burn*

Now I can't fix my 9600 Pro, oh well I guess this gives me an excuse to upgrade to a 9800 Pro :p

[Tyberious]

im still waiting on a new PCI card to "reflash" my 9600 Pro card as teh clock rate is too high for the core. I also have to get a enw motherboard because somehow its now KIA but I am not mad, stuff happens and you just have to accept that, atleast I saved myself alot of money down the road.