Do Gaming Companies Test Their PC games on ATI Cards?

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johnrutter

51 posts

Master Geek

#58107 8-Mar-2010 09:24

Hi Guys,

I was wondering if gaming companies (e.g. EA, Activision) test their games on ATI Cards. I purchased a laptop with an ATI Card ( HD 3650) last year in June. I researched about the specific graphics card and was told that the graphics card could handle games well without any problems.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/ATI-Mobility-Radeon-HD-3650.8839.0.html

I've had problems with these games regarding frame rate issues (even after frame rate issues):

The Sabateur
Need For Speed - Shift
Operation Flashpoint - Dragon Rising
GTA IV

and so on....

Am I better off buying a laptop or desktop with a NVIDIA graphics card than an ATI graphics card in the future?

What are your opinions on the ATI vs. NVIDIA card?

Here are my specs:

HP dv5-1209ax
2.1 AMD Athlon x2 Duo Core Processor
4GB Ram
ATI HD 3650 (512MB dedicated graphics)
Windows 7 Professional

Cheers

zCelicaDude

171 posts

Master Geek

#305348 8-Mar-2010 10:26

Hi,

For a start, you can't really fault ATI cards here, as laptops will never play games as well as normal desktop computers,

But, from the spec's, I would say the CPU in that laptop would be the biggest bottleneck in terms of performance/gaming.

Have you gone to HP's website, typed in the model (service tag on bottom of your notebook), update the to the latest bios, graphics drivers etc.

But other than that, there's not much you can do to improve performance in laptops.

(It is possible to swap the CPU to a faster CPU in laptops)

But... HP's are a mission to do this, you have to remove almost everything just to get to the CPU...

There's an Acer laptop which just got released, it has the new core i5 processor, a ATI HD 5650... 4gb ddr3 ram, 500gb hdd, and it comes with 3d (120hz screen).... and its priced about $1830.00 incl GST NZD.

Note: Where are you located? I pull apart/fix HP/Compaq's all the time, and swapping CPU's is right up my alley, if you would like, You could bring it around and I could have a tinker with it, checking bios/drivers, making sure you have no viruses/spyware causing slowdowns etc.

(I build custom built gaming computers, fix/repair/upgrade computers and laptops from home)

I recommend Acer laptops, as the new models anyways, allow easy access to the main components, one cover, then you have the CPU/Ram/HDD and "Graphics card" which can all be swapped out for different/high performance parts. Acer use the MXM graphics slots, and you can purchase MXM gaming cards from eBay :)

johnrutter

51 posts

Master Geek

#305369 8-Mar-2010 11:20

Cheers. I've sent you an email regarding the matter

Also - The link for my laptop on the HP Site:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=au&lang=en&product=3879869

eXDee

4032 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#305425 8-Mar-2010 15:21

zCelicaDude: I recommend Acer laptops, as the new models anyways, allow easy access to the main components, one cover, then you have the CPU/Ram/HDD and "Graphics card" which can all be swapped out for different/high performance parts. Acer use the MXM graphics slots, and you can purchase MXM gaming cards from eBay :)

Wow. Most people i see tell others to stay away from acer.
I see lots of faulty ones, but i suppose this upgradibility is an advantage.

zCelicaDude

171 posts

Master Geek

#305441 8-Mar-2010 15:50

Yup, Well Acer has come along way. About 2 years ago? Acer was horrible.

But now they're producing good solid notebooks, I have been using an acer since my HP burnt its self out 2 weeks after the 1 year warrenty....

Like everything, brands are damaged, and then they fix themselves, (For example: Telecom's ADSL Broadband)

Telecom used to have a bad rep for slow broadband etc, but now they're very popular again amongst gamers etc... so again, Acer has lifted there game now.

Scott

Ragnor

8219 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#305462 8-Mar-2010 16:43

Laptop gaming is hit an miss.

- Need 4 Speed Shift had a big patch and driver release to bring ATI performance on par with Nvidia, are you sure you're running the latest patch and drivers?

- GTA IV is a console port with horrible performance on pretty much everything, not surprised that an older (3000 series is circa 2006/07 vintage) laptop gpu would struggle.

I don't have anything specific to add about the other games but there are some games that are partially funded by Nvidia's "The Way It's Meant To be Played" program which tend to be optimised for Nvidia cards.

Edit: The Sabetour is a TWIMTBP game.

johnrutter

51 posts

Master Geek

#305507 8-Mar-2010 19:44

Hi zCelicaDude,

I found two booklets regarding my HP DV5-1209ax notebook.

One is a notebook essentials booklet containing instructions to the laptop and a Limited Warranty and Technical Support booklet.

I couldn't find anything relating to service and maintainence guide.

Just to confirm it is a HP Pavilion DV5-1209ax Notebook

Cheers.