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Game Forum / Action Games / Half Life / May 2006Integrated Intel graphics card with Half Life 2?
Hi I'm new to this group, but I'm thinking of buying a Dell Dimension 3100 PC, but it only has an integrated Graphic Media Accelerator 900 graphic card - any idea whether I'm going to be able to run Half Life 2 on it with any success. I've got it on my current (crap) machine and the graphics are just horrible and it runs really jerkily, although the jerkiness is a memory thing I think. Any help much appreciated. Thanks Mando > Hi > [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > Any help much appreciated. Hi Mando, According to the Dell website I just looked at the 3100 is an entry level PC with 256MB of RAM, a monitor with 450:1 contrast ratio (no good on shadows - you get these in most games) and an Intel 2800 CPU (which is the speed of the CPU I've had for several years now - can't wait to upgrade). Can you wait and save a little longer? - this PC is not going to make you a happy gamer. Ref your specific question I'd say the important consideration (if that's the only PC you can afford) is to find out whether it has a slot (AGP or PCI-E - note the E on the end) to add a decent graphics card afterwards when you do have the cash. You are unlikely to be happy with any integrated graphics card and games. >I'm new to this group, but I'm thinking of buying a Dell Dimension 3100 >PC, but it only has an integrated Graphic Media Accelerator 900 graphic >card - any idea whether I'm going to be able to run Half Life 2 on it >with any success. I've got it on my current (crap) machine and the >graphics are just horrible and it runs really jerkily, although the >jerkiness is a memory thing I think. The bottom end Dell machines are aimed squarely at people who want a basic desktop PC. They are awful for gaming.  SignatureAndrew, contact via http://interpleb.googlepages.com Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards, please don't top post. Trim replies to quote only relevant text. Check groups.google.com before asking an obvious question. Thanks for the fast responses. There are a few versions of the 3100 and the one I'm thinking of going for has 512 mb of DDR2 RAM and a Celeron D 3.2 processor. I know it's not great, but I was really just hoping to find out whether it would run the game at a reasonable level until I can afford a new graphics card. My current machine has a Geforce2 MX 400 card which is nowhere near good enough. Would the Graphic Media Accelerator 900 be much better? Cheers Mando >can afford a new graphics card. My current machine has a Geforce2 MX >400 card which is nowhere near good enough. Would the Graphic Media >Accelerator 900 be much better? If you want a gaming PC, then buy a gaming PC. Don't expect a cheap POS to do everything you want it to do. SignatureAndrew, contact via http://interpleb.googlepages.com Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards, please don't top post. Trim replies to quote only relevant text. Check groups.google.com before asking an obvious question. Thanks for the response Andrew, but it was a bit vague - will this machine let me play Half Life 2 and display the graphics reasonably well? > Thanks for the response Andrew, but it was a bit vague - will this > machine let me play Half Life 2 and display the graphics reasonably > well? It'll let you mess around in HL2 and it'll display the scenery Allthough I'd rather prefer HL1 graphics ... - Peter SignatureHi! I'm a .signature *virus*! Copy me into your ~/.signature to help me spread! > Thanks for the response Andrew, but it was a bit vague - will this > machine let me play Half Life 2 and display the graphics reasonably > well? Build your own, for the same price, you will get a much better machine, you can use your old parts to begin with too, usually you'll just need to get a mobo / cpu / memory. Get a decent machine for £400 no problems. > Build your own, for the same price, you will get a much better machine, > you > can use your old parts to begin with too, usually you'll just need to get > a > mobo / cpu / memory. Get a decent machine for £400 no problems. That is quite possibly the most useless bit of advice to someone who knows nothing about computers. > > Build your own, for the same price, you will get a much better machine, > > you [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > That is quite possibly the most useless bit of advice to someone who knows > nothing about computers. So ask someone who DOES know about them to build it for ya. It's the best piece of advice, actually, as someone who knows f.ck all about computers ends up buying dell shite, instead of a real machine. >> That is quite possibly the most useless bit of advice to someone who >> knows [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > piece of advice, actually, as someone who knows f.ck all about computers > ends up buying dell shite, instead of a real machine. And so who ends up supporting this 'real' machine? The person who had to build it. If someone knows absolutely nothing about computers then they are probably best advised to go with someone like Dell. The price saving for building your own one these days is not really all that big at all. > >> That is quite possibly the most useless bit of advice to someone who > >> knows [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > And so who ends up supporting this 'real' machine? The person who had to > build it. :) I have built PC's for lots of people, I tend to get them to watch so they know whats happening. Besides which, most support problems tend to be software, not hardware, and they are easy to fix, even for a noob. Plus most noobs to pc hardware have semblance of a clue in regards to software, they know what they use, and how to use it, in most cases. > If someone knows absolutely nothing about computers then they are probably > best advised to go with someone like Dell. Dells are horrible, I'd advise someone to shave their nuts before advising them to buy Dell. >The price saving for building > your own one these days is not really all that big at all. The price difference is irrelevant. Its the quality which IS a big difference. Dell suck, pre-built in general, suck. Build your own = teh win. Its worth it even with the problems you mention. > :) I have built PC's for lots of people, I tend to get them to watch so > they know whats happening. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > how > to use it, in most cases. Not counting my immediate family I have built two PC's for people. The first one was about four years ago and he still asks me for support advice. >> If someone knows absolutely nothing about computers then they are >> probably >> best advised to go with someone like Dell. > > Dells are horrible, I'd advise someone to shave their nuts before advising > them to buy Dell. Elitist rubbish. >>The price saving for building >> your own one these days is not really all that big at all. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Dell suck, pre-built in general, suck. More elitist rubbish. > Build your own = teh win. Its worth > it even with the problems you mention. And how does someone who does not know anything about hardware build their own...? If anyone asked me to build them a computer now I would tell them to buy a Dell or someone else. It saves me the hassle of giving them prices, ordering the parts, building it, sending faulty parts back and then spending more time on it. Not to mention the ongoing problems and questions I would have to deal with. > > :) I have built PC's for lots of people, I tend to get them to watch so > > they know whats happening. [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > Not counting my immediate family I have built two PC's for people. The > first one was about four years ago and he still asks me for support advice. What, every day? :) > >> If someone knows absolutely nothing about computers then they are > >> probably [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Elitist rubbish. Explain. Its not elitist. Its a fact. Saying 'Elitist rubbish' without going on to prove your point is a fairly weak argument imo. > >>The price saving for building > >> your own one these days is not really all that big at all. [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > > More elitist rubbish. Again, explain, as I believe you are speaking out of your arse, and you know it. > > Build your own = teh win. Its worth > > it even with the problems you mention. > > And how does someone who does not know anything about hardware build their > own...? ... Read the above posts..... > If anyone asked me to build them a computer now I would tell them to buy a > Dell or someone else. It saves me the hassle of giving them prices, > ordering the parts, building it, sending faulty parts back and then spending > more time on it. Not to mention the ongoing problems and questions I would > have to deal with. So basically, your main reason to recommend someone wastes their money on shite, is that you are lazy? Just say that in the first place, there is nothing wrong with it, and sure, having to do constant support can be a pain occasionally, but as most of these people are my friends, and do stuff for me, I have no issues with it overall. But then again, we are not talking about you, are we? Personal opinions are irrelevant to most, as everyone's situation is different, not everyone has lazy friends, like you. :) My way is better, yours is a cop out. End of. >> More elitist rubbish. > > Again, explain, as I believe you are speaking out of your arse, and you > know > it. And exactly why do you think that Dell and all other OEMS are rubbish? You can get some very good specs for good prices from them. I know it is fashionable for some people to say that the parts are crap and that they are poorly put together but that is just nonsense for the most part. You will get the sh.t companies like Time and Tiny, but that is true for any area of commerce. There are some 15,000 IBM (a mixture of desktops, CAD-style workstations, laptops and tablets) machines deployed in the company I work for and we don't have any chronic hardware problems with them. The company did a Home Computer Initiative for it's employees with Fujitsu-Siemens and there have not been a multitude of problems - in fact I am very happy with the laptop that I got from them. I have also worked with Dell, Compaq and Insight built OEMS over the years for various companies and clients and not had major issues with them. >> > Build your own = teh win. Its worth >> > it even with the problems you mention. [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Read the above posts..... All you have said is that they can get someone else to do it - that is not BYO. > So basically, your main reason to recommend someone wastes their money on > shite, is that you are lazy? Just say that in the first place, there is [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > My way is better, yours is a cop out. End of. Erm, no it isn't. Can you please explain what is lazy about not wanting to do tech support for lots of people when I get home? I do IT support all day at work and so I do not really want to have to do it when I get home (even though I do). I like to have a life away from computers outside of work and I fail to see why you think this is in any way lazy. Is a mechanic lazy for not helping everyone who has a car problem? What starts out as a quick question soon ends up going down a long winding road of problems. >> :) I have built PC's for lots of people, I tend to get them to watch so >> they know whats happening. [quoted text clipped - 38 lines] > more time on it. Not to mention the ongoing problems and questions I would > have to deal with. I'm with you on this. I support PC's for a living and have built and rebuilt all PC's in my house (4) and for my Dad, brother. Now when my sister, who lives 1 hour drive away, wanted a new PC I told her to buy a Dell so I wouldn't have to drive all over supporting these things. SignatureJethro[AGHL] aka Phat_Pinger Reply Email: jethro86 (at) gmail (dot) com > I'm with you on this. I support PC's for a living and have built and > rebuilt all PC's in my house (4) and for my Dad, brother. > Now when my sister, who lives 1 hour drive away, wanted a new PC I told > her to buy a Dell so I wouldn't have to drive all over supporting these > things. Built one for my brother. Sat him next to me and showed him how to do it. Explained as we went along that this was a 'favour', favours are 'one-off' and are not supported. Get the occasional phone call when he cant find something through google but it's been fine and he's nearly as self-taught now as I am. Rather do this than have him buy a PC that would not do any of the things (including gaming) that he'd bought it for. > > I'm with you on this. I support PC's for a living and have built and > > rebuilt all PC's in my house (4) and for my Dad, brother. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > now as I am. Rather do this than have him buy a PC that would not do any of > the things (including gaming) that he'd bought it for. I guess it all depends on if you can be arsed to give the occasional bit of support or not.....most people I have built PC's for now have enough knowledge to sort themselves out, and they get a kickass PC which does everything they want it to do also :) >> > I'm with you on this. I support PC's for a living and have built and >> > rebuilt all PC's in my house (4) and for my Dad, brother. [quoted text clipped - 18 lines] > knowledge to sort themselves out, and they get a kickass PC which does > everything they want it to do also :) In his own (and others) interest to learn about their PC. Dont mind helping out if it's toward that end rather than me do everything for him while he just sits ignorantly back and then blindly goes cocking it up again afterward. Problem with some folk is they make the same stupid mistakes over and over again. Effective support for them would be to take the equipment away ;) >Thanks for the fast responses. There are a few versions of the 3100 and >the one I'm thinking of going for has 512 mb of DDR2 RAM and a Celeron [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >400 card which is nowhere near good enough. Would the Graphic Media >Accelerator 900 be much better? I wouldn't buy a Celeron...no matter what speed the processor runs at... You can buy cheapish P4s with crap graphics cards and you can upgrade later.... > My current machine has a Geforce2 MX > 400 card which is nowhere near good enough. Would the Graphic Media > Accelerator 900 be much better? In a word - no. It won't be much better that what you've got already. At your price range the #1 thing to avoid is integerated graphics (IGP), sometimes called onboard graphics, they share processing power and memory with your system, which unlike a graphics card, is not optimised for vector processing, so it will look awful. Bargins are out there, but they're probably not going to be found at dell.com A quick scout around tutns up possibilities like http://tinyurl.com/jvek6 and http://tinyurl.com/z62s4 both of which are reasonably cheap and lightyears ahead of what you're proposing. Civilian_Target > I'm new to this group, but I'm thinking of buying a Dell Dimension > 3100 PC, but it only has an integrated Graphic Media Accelerator 900 > graphic card - any idea whether I'm going to be able to run Half Life > 2 on it with any success. I have a Dell Inspiron 510 (laptop) with integrated graphics (intel) I must say that HL2 is indeed playable but imho not enjoyable The laptop runs with an Pentium M 2Ghz and 1 Gb mem > I've got it on my current (crap) machine > and the graphics are just horrible and it runs really jerkily, > although the jerkiness is a memory thing I think. You will not be better off with new machinery of the kind you have been looking at - Peter On 5/13/2006 6:47 AM Mando brightened our day with: > Hi > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > Look for a used computer, there's someone out there who has a couple year old, halfway decent, Athlon 2500/Radeon 9800/1 Gig RAM (or thereabouts), that will be willing to part with it for about the price of those low end Dells. If you're on a tight budget get secondhand parts. Sometimes you can get screwed, I buy and sell used stuff all the time and I've never had a problem and I've never screwed anyone over. You can always learn to put together your own machine. If you want play the newer games you either need to shell out the cash for a high end pre-put together system or build your own. SignatureShout for all the people who have nothing to say, 'cause we're only gone tomorrow and here today Steve ¤»Inglo«¤ www.inglostadt.com >Hi > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >Mando As others may have suggested, make sure you spend your hard earned cash on something that has a graphics card slot available. Then you can buy an ati 9800 pro or equivalent agp/pci ex card if you have no luck with the onboard graphics. - steve <AT> steveevans <DOT> org - > Hi Hi! > I'm new to this group, Welcome but I'm thinking of buying a Dell Dimension 3100 > PC, No, don't do it! - you have so much to live for! but it only has an integrated Graphic Media Accelerator 900 graphic > card - any idea whether I'm going to be able to run Half Life 2 on it > with any success. It will use the default Nvidia drivers so I'd imagine it would. But don't buy dell, they may be cheap but you're not getting a gaming PC and I'd guessing that you want the best from it? SignatureStri.tk People don't ask question when gods on their side - Dylan > Hi > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > Mando My system (not a Dell) also has that chipset on-board. I tried it once, just to see how it faired. HL2 was *just* playable. Might have been more-so had I reduced the resolution and quality a bit more. However, it failed to run the newer NFS:MW at all! So I would definately get a dedicated GFX card. SignatureCarl Waring http://getdigiguide.com/?p=1&r=1495 On a pleasant day while strolling in alt.games.half-life, a person by the name of Mando exclaimed: > Hi > > I'm new to this group, but I'm thinking of buying a Dell Dimension 3100 > PC, but it only has an integrated Graphic Media Accelerator 900 graphic Pretty bad. Maybe as bad as your current PC. But: if it has an AGP slot, you can then spend $50-100 more, and get a basic-but-decent video card, which will probably give you a reasonable system. > with any success. I've got it on my current (crap) machine and the > graphics are just horrible and it runs really jerkily, although the > jerkiness is a memory thing I think. You could consider upgrading memory and video card with what you've got - which is what? Signatureaaronl at consultant dot com For every expert, there is an equal and opposite expert. - Arthur C. Clarke |
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