Windows Experience Index and gaming

Forums › Microsoft Windows › Windows Experience Index and gaming

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
80646 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 41030

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#87084 19-Jul-2011 15:50

I have just sold a HP dv6 laptop with an Intel Core2 Duo, ATI Mobility Radeon HD4650 with 1GB RAM and a WEI 5.5. The "Gaming Graphics" index was 6.0, and the whole thing was down because of the processor at 5.5.

Even so, it is a great gaming machine. L4D, Borderlands, etc could all be played with the highest settings, and play was smooth.

I now have a Lenovo desktop with a quad-core processor showing 7.3, and a built-in ATI Radeon HD 3000 showing 5.0.

The processor is a lot faster than the previous one on the laptop, and the graphics card is not that far behind. But games just don't play smoothly at all, with lots of lag and frame drops.

I know that if I want to play games at some point I will have to get a better GFX, but really, since the difference is only 0.5 shouldn't it be a bit better?

Any opinions, ideas?

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Support Geekzone by subscribing (browse ads-free), or making a one-off or recurring donation through PressPatron.

1 | 2

Geek of Coastguard
14115 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4574

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#495339 19-Jul-2011 16:14

Is it dedicated memory for the video or shared ? If shared, probably find thats the biggest bottleneck. Go find a real gfx card :)

XPD / Gavin

LinkTree

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
80646 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 41030

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#495340 19-Jul-2011 16:15

Yes, probably shared, seeing it's not a discreet card. Will add a new GFX at some time.

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Support Geekzone by subscribing (browse ads-free), or making a one-off or recurring donation through PressPatron.

billgates

4705 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 671

Trusted

#495342 19-Jul-2011 16:17

If the memory is shared, check the BIOS. You can increase/decrease the video memory there.

Do whatever you want to do man.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
80646 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 41030

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#495343 19-Jul-2011 16:19

Just weird the Experience Index doesn't reflect this... Saying "Gaming Experience = 5.0" is a bit deceiving.

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Support Geekzone by subscribing (browse ads-free), or making a one-off or recurring donation through PressPatron.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
80646 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 41030

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#495352 19-Jul-2011 16:49

Changed setup to use 512MB RAM... But really only usable in lower resolutions. Perhaps because there are two LCDs on this desktop, and a builtin GFX. Yep, going for an additional card soon.

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Support Geekzone by subscribing (browse ads-free), or making a one-off or recurring donation through PressPatron.

Ragnor

8279 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 585

Trusted

#495355 19-Jul-2011 17:06

There's about 2 years between 3000 and 4000 series, basically a massive difference in performance between them.

Current series is 6000 so modern-ish games on the 3000, 3 generations behind struggling is not surprising.

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

xpd

Geek of Coastguard
14115 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 4574

Retired Mod

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#495381 19-Jul-2011 18:21

Yet all the ATI based boards recently released have the 3000 series on them. :(

XPD / Gavin

LinkTree

blakamin

4431 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1306
Inactive user

#495383 19-Jul-2011 18:34

+ ATI sux (from personal experience)
I have always had better gaming experience with nvidia GPUs (no idea why as I don't care either way as long as they work!)

Ragnor

8279 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 585

Trusted

#496048 21-Jul-2011 01:03

blakamin: + ATI sux (from personal experience)
I have always had better gaming experience with nvidia GPUs (no idea why as I don't care either way as long as they work!)

Not my experience, I've owned plenty of both ATI and Nvidia cards.

Normally if you look at each price point eg: $250, 400 etc... performance is practically the same.

Ragnor

8279 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 585

Trusted

#496049 21-Jul-2011 01:15

xpd: Yet all the ATI based boards recently released have the 3000 series on them. :(

You mean like these laptops?
http://shopap.lenovo.com/nz/en/notebooks/thinkpad/edge-series/e520/

Where 3/4 come with Radeon 6000 series and only the cheapest one that comes with integrated intel graphics...

Hmm... actually Mauricio did you get a model with Intel HD 3000, because I don't see any current Lenovo models with a Radeon 3000?

If so you've just blown your gamer geek cred

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
80646 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 41030

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#496087 21-Jul-2011 08:56

No, it's actually a Lenovo m75e quad core desktop, with 12GB RAM, based on AMD Fusion. It came with dual LCD. Details at http://www1.partnerinfo.lenovo.com/us/en/m75eamd.shtml.

It's a business machine, so the built-in ATI HD3000 will suit that use ok. But seeing it's replacing a laptop with an ATI HD4650 1GB RAM that had no problem playing any games I put in, I will be tempted to add a second graphics card.

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Support Geekzone by subscribing (browse ads-free), or making a one-off or recurring donation through PressPatron.

HP

Shop now for HP laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

dclegg

2806 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 810

Trusted

#496100 21-Jul-2011 09:30

Ragnor:
blakamin: + ATI sux (from personal experience)
I have always had better gaming experience with nvidia GPUs (no idea why as I don't care either way as long as they work!)

Not my experience, I've owned plenty of both ATI and Nvidia cards.

My previous laptop (Dell 1535) had an ATI card. I used to run this laptop with an external monitor attached. With Vista's Aero feature enabled, my laptop would BSOD. Daily. Apparently this is a very common problem with ATI graphics chips in laptops. Thankfully I didn't actually need that feature, and was able to resolve the situation by disabling it, but it took over a year (and multiple MOBO replacements by Dell tech support) to discover this.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
80646 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 41030

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#496115 21-Jul-2011 09:51

Interesting. On my previous HP dv6 I have the LCD, an external VGA monitor and a MIMO USB monitor. Never had problems.

On my Media Center (Dell Zino HD) I run HDMI and never had problems.

Currently running the Lenovo m75e with one DVI monitor (primary), one VGA monitor (secondary), and the MIMO USB monitor, with no problems.

All those running ATI cards...

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Support Geekzone by subscribing (browse ads-free), or making a one-off or recurring donation through PressPatron.

dclegg

2806 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 810

Trusted

#496126 21-Jul-2011 10:16

freitasm: Interesting. On my previous HP dv6 I have the LCD, an external VGA monitor and a MIMO USB monitor. Never had problems.

On my Media Center (Dell Zino HD) I run HDMI and never had problems.

Currently running the Lenovo m75e with one DVI monitor (primary), one VGA monitor (secondary), and the MIMO USB monitor, with no problems.

All those running ATI cards...

Was this on Vista or Windows 7, and did you have Aero enabled?

I can't attest as to whether the problem was fixed under Windows 7, as I didn't have the patience to re-enable Aero once I upgraded. I can't recall the exact model of the chips at fault, but I did have the problem on two separate ATI chip models (Dell at one stage sent me a new laptop from the next gen Studio range to try and fix the problem).

After 12 months of Dell being unable to resolve the problem (including my support case going cold twice; the second time only having it re-opened after emailing Michael Dell), I found it was a common problem experienced with ATI chips across a broad range of laptop makes and models.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
80646 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 41030

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#496128 21-Jul-2011 10:21

Always Windows 7, and Aero enabled.

And yes, I have a special plaque here from Microsoft celebrating Windows Vista launch (I went to the US at the time), but that should be forgotten...

Referral links: Quic Broadband (free setup code: R587125ERQ6VE) | Samsung | AliExpress | Wise | Sharesies

Support Geekzone by subscribing (browse ads-free), or making a one-off or recurring donation through PressPatron.

1 | 2