Ferc Kast Posted May 8, 2011 Share Posted May 8, 2011 I am looking into getting a new laptop; I had a few questions about specs to look for. As a modder for KotOR, I want to still want to be able to mod/play KotOR I & II. What are some graphics card suggestions to look for in a new laptop? Would something like this be able to handle my gaming need? Or, do you know of relatively cheap, but updated (Windows 7) laptops that are good for that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 At this point, if you want a GPU that is guaranteed to play KotOR, Nvidia is pretty much the only game in town, but laptops with Nvidia GPUs can be expensive. Usually, Intel GPUs can run it after some tinkering, but it's become virtually impossible with AMD/ATI GPUs. The newest Intel mobile GPUs, which are packaged with the new mobile Sandy Bridge CPUs, are roughly 4x as powerful as the previous generation, so it might be worth waiting for cheap Sandy Bridge laptops to become available if you plan on doing any gaming on it. It's just a matter of waiting until the previous generation sells out. The Sandy Bridge CPU/GPUs have 4-digit model numbers (i.e. Core i3 2310M), verses 3-digits for the previous generation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferc Kast Posted May 10, 2011 Author Share Posted May 10, 2011 Thanks; I'll keep that in mind while browsing. I'm curious, though: How much tinkering would be involved to get it running on an Intel graphics card? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 Depends on the model. My laptop is 3 years old and has a GMA X3100 GPU. The only thing that I had to do, other than the normal installation tricks for running the game on Vista, was to set the "flipping policy" to "blit" in the graphics driver control panel, and the game ran fine. That option is no longer available in the drivers for newer Intel GPUs, and I can only recall a few people getting TSL to run on a GMA x4500M; the GPU that came out after mine. Since I don't have the hardware available to me, I'm having a hard time figuring out what's preventing TSL from running while KotOR1 seems to run fine. Someone else has managed to get it to run on GMA HD, which is the last GPU released before this latest one. Since the architecture of the 2 is very similar, it's a good bet that the games will run on the Sandy Bridge GPU as well, but, once again, it's impossible to be certain without the hardware sitting in front of me. The main problem with the Intel GPUs (and AMD/ATI ones, for that matter) is legacy OpenGL support. Workarounds have usually been found for Intel GPUs (like 3D Analyze), but things are looking progressively more bleak on the ATI/AMD front as newer drivers are released. Really, though, the ideal solution would be to find a laptop with an Nvidia GPU as cheaply as possible, because it WILL run KotOR with a minimum of fuss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferc Kast Posted May 10, 2011 Author Share Posted May 10, 2011 So, any NVidia gpu should work for running KotOR? If so, i think I found a couple options to consider. Or are there some NVidia gpus that don't work with KotOR? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RC-3556 Posted May 10, 2011 Share Posted May 10, 2011 I can run KotOR perfectly well with my laptops ATI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 ^What model GPU, and what driver version are you using? If it's a late model, I'd be very interested in learning how you got the game to run. Or are there some NVidia gpus that don't work with KotOR? Not that I'm aware of, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RC-3556 Posted May 16, 2011 Share Posted May 16, 2011 It's an ATI 4570HD, latest drivers and I just popped KotOR in and it worked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Q Posted May 18, 2011 Share Posted May 18, 2011 How about TSL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RC-3556 Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 Everything standard, model is a Sony Vaio PCG 5T1M, running catalyst control centre Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferc Kast Posted May 29, 2011 Author Share Posted May 29, 2011 Well, I found a couple laptops that could fit my needs. I had a question about one laptop that i found in my search: The model is the refurbished 2010 15" Intel i7 model of the MacBook Pro, It has 2 gpu's: Intel HD Graphics and NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M, which automatically switch graphics; After installing the drivers from the Mac OS disk for the MacBook Pro on Windows, should the automatic switching still occur when using KotOR I & II on a dual-booted Windows? I'd appreciate anyone that could help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pho3nix Posted May 29, 2011 Share Posted May 29, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Negative Sun Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 I know KotOR works with my Intel GMA X4500, dunno about TSL though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.