Aja on 3/2/2009 at 05:58
I checked canUrunIT.org or whatever that site is, it says my computer checks out (apart from Windows 7, which is an automatic fail), but here's the specs anyway:
Core2 Duo T8100 @ 2.10GHz
Geforce 8600M GT (the good version with GDDR3)
4GB ram (not sure of the speed)
and a 7200rpm hard disk.
Point is, you never know till you try. I want to run Mass Effect at 1280x800, anti-aliasing not necessary but stuff like shadows, film grain, high-detail models etc, are. Obviously it all has to be at a reasonable framerate (like 20fps or higher at all but the most intense parts).
I could always just play it on Xbox but the PC interface looks nice, and I love buying games on steam (say what you will, I reformatted and forgot to back up my games, but steam remembers them!). Plus it's cheaper.
So, how'm I looking?l
Sulphur on 4/2/2009 at 15:50
Sorry Aja, I don't have an 8600M GT, but this benchmark might help if you haven't seen it yet: (
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-charts-q3-2008/Mass-Effect,771.html) Mass Effect, 1280x1024, 0xAA, Ultra Quality, Trilinear Texture filtering. I don't know what CPU they used for the tests, but I'm guessing it was the fastest one available at the time (Q3 2008).
According to that, an 8600GT gets ~25 FPS, so it's just about teetering on the edge of decent. That's the desktop version, however. Your laptop is bound to do a fair bit worse, I'm afraid, unless you lower the details.
Aja on 5/2/2009 at 00:59
Hmm, that isn't promising. Strange though, since I can run Bioshock on high settings and it usually hovers around 30-40fps, and Mirror's Edge with graphics on highest and textures on medium (visually there's hardly a difference) never drops below 30fps (and both of these games are UE3-based).
I'll see what I can do about "demoing" Mass Effect first... but man these downloads are slow and finicky. I'm anxious to just sit back and let Steam take care of it, but if doesn't run well, then what's the point, eh?
Ostriig on 5/2/2009 at 02:04
Quote Posted by Aja
Hmm, that isn't promising. Strange though, since I can run Bioshock on high settings and it usually hovers around 30-40fps, and Mirror's Edge with graphics on highest and textures on medium (visually there's hardly a difference) never drops below 30fps (and both of these games are UE3-based).
Yeah, this is a bit of an issue I also had with my desktop 8600GT and UE3. Bioshock would run quite fine at 30-40 up until I came around water effects where it would plummet to <20. All this while UT3 run flawlessly in the 40-50 range.
That aside, as usual, if you're having trouble with a game's performance, it's always worth checking if Tweak Guides can help. In this case, they have an (
http://www.tweakguides.com/ME_1.html) article up, so you might want to give it a skim.
Aja on 5/2/2009 at 02:14
Actually the only time Bioshock seems to drop frames is when there's a firefight that involves a lot of motion blurring (like getting attacked by a big daddy). It's still playable though.
I'll have a look at the guide, though I still want to try this game before I spend anything.
Aja on 5/2/2009 at 05:24
hmm, this plan is not working; i might just have to wing it and hope for the best
Sulphur on 5/2/2009 at 06:53
Bioshock played pretty well on my 7600 GT with pretty much everything on high detail. The UE3 engine's quite scalable in that respect.
Thing is, that THG Benchmark I linked to had the settings on Ultra Quality (textures on Ultra High, etc.) - so if you don't mind taking things like texture detail down a notch or two, you should be okay.
Aja on 5/2/2009 at 06:57
basically I just want it to look as good as the Xbox version :cheeky:
So maybe you're right. Worst case scenario: I buy the game, and if it runs horribly then I play the Xbox copy I borrowed from a friend, and not feel bad about it. But I certainly don't mind playing with textures on high or medium, so long as the aliens' heads are still shiny and bumpy.
EvaUnit02 on 5/2/2009 at 08:00
Ya know the UE3.0 quirk where LoD textures "pop-up" due to caching? It affected Mass Effect for 360 quite severely, I found it to be a big immersion breaker in such a cinematic game.
Apparently installing ME on the 360's HDD mostly eliminates the issue, but I played the game several months before NXE's release so I couldn't tell you TBH.
Aja on 5/2/2009 at 08:26
Yeah, it used to really bother me, but it seems most of the games I play are UE3, so I'm sort of accustomed to it :erg:
I did play Mass Effect on the hard drive for five or six hours last month before Fallout sidetracked me, and it's true that I didn't notice much pop-in (still happened occasionally).
