New Laptop

[ALthered]

Hi.At long last i have splashed out on a brand new HP omnibook.I won`t actually get my hands on it until about Tues/Weds but i was wondering if i can ecpect CMBB (or CMBO for that matter)to run on it.

Spec

1.2 ghz Intel Celeron

256 mb ram

30gig hd

Graphics card - S3 Savage4.(Twister)

I know the basic spec should be fine,but i was wondering if the graphic card will be up to it.

Cheers Al.

[Schrullenhaft]

The S3 Savage Twister may work with CMBO if the desktop versions of the chipset are any indication. I'm fairly certain that it won't support fog and it's very questionable on transparency/alpha functions. With CMBB it may be even more questionable, but I'd guess that it would work.

Admittedly performance won't be that great since this particular video setup is using shared memory (16-32Mb), which really reduces memory performance for both the video and CPU.

This thread about the ProSavage DDR may have some implications for you. The chipset in the HP Omnibook that you're getting is the PL133T (VT8065), which has the Savage 4 core in it. The latest ProSavage drivers from S3 are probably very similiar in many respects to what this person is seeing (flashing roofs and possibly other graphical anomalies).

[ September 14, 2002, 07:23 PM: Message edited by: Schrullenhaft ]

[ALthered]

Originally posted by Schrullenhaft:

[QB] With CMBB it may be even more questionable, but I'd guess that it would work.QB]

Well,i can`t say i`m encouraged by your response but i will have to wait and see.Of course i only bought the notebook for work and i never expected it to be a games machine,but when i saw the specs.........

I assume map type games like strategic command and Civ 3 should be ok.

Al.

[Schrullenhaft]

Unfortunately the S3 graphics drivers are just that - questionable. While their graphics chips in the past have been fairly decent, their driver support has been lacking more so than ATI's. The S3 Graphics Division is now a subsidiary of VIA (the chipset manufacturer). They've dropped all of their 'dedicated' desktop graphics chips (Diamond Multimedia used to be their subsidiary at one point) and instead have been concentrating on 'integrated video' chipsets for desktops and laptops. They're supposedly working on a new high performance desktop 3D graphics chip that was slate for release sometime by the middle of next year, but it may never see the light of day.

The 2D - Isometric view games that you mention should generally should be OK with the S3. I don't know the exact details of the driver compatibility (there can always be one annoying bug or another), but those sorts of games tend to require less feature support from the graphics chip/driver than the 3D games.

I highly suggest looking at the thread I posted, since that person's experiences may be quite similar to what you'll see (though they don't explicitly mention everything that they see).

[ September 15, 2002, 01:31 PM: Message edited by: Schrullenhaft ]

[ALthered]

Ok,cheers.

Al.

[ALthered]

Well,the Notebook arrived last night and i must say i am very happy with it so far.As predicted SC worked like a charm and it was with great expectations that i loaded the CMBB demo.It loaded up very quickly and runs without problems.The graphics look ok and all in all the game is stable.Ok,there is a bit of pixelization (is that a word? ),but smoke is clearly visible and tracer rounds fly about everywhere.The cooling fan did not run at all during 30 mins of play and the battery drained at an acceptable rate,i therefore deduct that the processor/graphic card is not overstressed.No more boring lunch hours for me.

Al