Abysmal Performance in HL2 / CSS with Mobile 9700. Help!

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Nobi125

[H]ard|Gawd
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Jun 7, 2005
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After seeing how fun the Source based games are running on my computer, a buddy of mine decided to pick these games up.

His Comp: Dell Inspiron 9100

P4 Prescott 3.2 ghz
512mb ram
Mobility 9700 64mb

I figured his computer should run it somewhat decently since it's ATI based.

So I get on his computer, eliminate a bunch of his bloatware boot services (thanks Dell), cleaned out 3 viruses, 4 trojans, and loads of spyware. Now that it runs Wndows decently we install the game.

The game runs like crap at every possible settings combo I can come up with. Sub 20 fps in all cases.

The best I managed to get in CSS Stress Test at 1024x768 (medium settings) was 36 fps, which is kinda playable since he isn't picky. But the problem is that if you try to run the test again at the same settings the FPS will drop in every subsequent test. So it isn't keeping any sort of consistant performance.

I tried the lastest mobility drivers from ATI's site (Proper Uninstallation with Driver cleaner). No luck.

I tried the lastest Omega's with the same uninstallation process. Performance went up a bit, but no real luck.

I tried lowering quality settings in the driver. I tried turning off Catalst AI.

Another strange issue is that when I go into the device manager, it shows that he has 5 or so monitors being used.......after uninstalling each one, or disabling them, they come back after each new boot. Even after they are gone on the current boot, the problem isn't fixed.

I'm running out of options here and his $50 spent on games is looking like a waste.

My other friend's computer with a P4 3.0 and a Geforce 2 is running the game faster..... :confused:

Is there something I don't know about these mobility cards? The Mobile 9700 in my Apple Laptop runs games on all high, so I'm kinda lost.

I'm contemplating a reformat on it, but I'd rather not have to.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
Your mobile GPU is crap basically no help is needed because you need more power.

ATI in my experience on the laptops I have available to me can't run games worth a penny I would stay away from those lappys if you want to play some games besides solitaire.

The only recent ATI mobiles I played with have been the X700's and they still are crappy.

Sad but true in this case.
 
Humble_Magii said:
Your mobile GPU is crap basically no help is needed because you need more power.

ATI in my experience on the laptops I have available to me can't run games worth a penny I would stay away from those lappys if you want to play some games besides solitaire.

The only recent ATI mobiles I played with have been the X700's and they still are crappy.

Sad but true in this case.
Click to expand...

Seems to be doing alright in this review http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=1957&p=8
 
laptops sometimes lower the cpu speed in order to conserve power..try disabling it. i don't have a laptop so i duno how to go about this...
 
Humble_Magii said:
Your mobile GPU is crap basically no help is needed because you need more power.

ATI in my experience on the laptops I have available to me can't run games worth a penny I would stay away from those lappys if you want to play some games besides solitaire.
Click to expand...
Wow, just wow. :rolleyes:

----
nobi125: The Mobility 9700 is just a faster version of the Mobility 9600, both have the same 4 pipeline cores. I used to have the Mobility 9600 Pro Turbo 128MB in my old Dell 8600. HL2 and CS:S played decently at 1024x768: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1026880921&postcount=1 . Only 64MB video memory might be hurting his performance.
 
Humble_Magii said:
Your mobile GPU is crap basically no help is needed because you need more power.

ATI in my experience on the laptops I have available to me can't run games worth a penny I would stay away from those lappys if you want to play some games besides solitaire.

The only recent ATI mobiles I played with have been the X700's and they still are crappy.

Sad but true in this case.
Click to expand...

Dude, get clue. My li'l brother's emachines m6805 with a mobile 9600 ran HL2 at 1024x768 just fine. Something's obviously causing these problems, and it's not because all laptops are teh sux0rs.
 
RoffleCopter said:
laptops sometimes lower the cpu speed in order to conserve power..try disabling it. i don't have a laptop so i duno how to go about this...
Click to expand...

I tried that, I went in and locked the power settings for the CPU and GPU at Optimal Performance. Still no luck.
 
Yeah I have a Dell 9100, 2.8 P4, 512, 9700\64meg and source games run very well on it. Something is definitly wrong here. Try installing the latest OMEGA drivers for the videocard. You can always reformat.

EDIT: I see you already tried OMEGA. Try to reformat.
 
Anyone else have any ideas before I give the go ahead on the reformat?
 
i don't think you are going to get anything extra out of a reformat, it might be choking on hte 64megs of VC memory, and the random results could due to your video card choking in certain instances

i know source isn't a very demanding game, how ever i would think it take advantage of more then 64megs of memory
 
Reformat. Like I stated before, I have the exact laptop and I run it on high settings and it runs very well. Don't listen to anyone else that says maybe it can't take it because it can. Their is something wrong and a reformat should cure it. I would reformat, install latest drivers, install Steam first, and then try it. Don't forget to back any crucial data. Oh and back up steam and CS:S to DVD.
 
They make the mobility 9800 for your PC. It uses the R420 core ;) pipe unlocking can be done if you have a specific core week. I saw a guy hit 5k in 3DMark05 with a MR9800 ;)

Not saying your PC is bad, but the MR9700 is crap.
 
I could have posted a more politically correct response the the OP however his solution is subpar and can't be helped much if at all. I am sure you might be able to get HL2 or similar based game to load for you but it's going to be near unplayable if at all.

My facts are based upon WoW, FEAR, SW Battlefront 2, Quake 4, COD2 and a couple more. The most common solution for ATI the past year has been a x700 which is subpar as well it's ATI they just don't have any mobile GPU's out that can play games worth a damn. Especially in a desktop replacement lappy or more professional laptop.

I have a couple older lappys with ATI's and used to have a Acer ferrari which was nice but gaming wise they just weren't able to cut it ;).
 
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