Battlefield and all issues fixed.

I am finally running Battlefield 2, Far Cry, Doom 3, Half-Life 2 and the 3DMark programs on my Ferrari 4005 notebook... without artifacts, and with no crashes or other problems. This is after weeks of issues and attempts to use every driver and configuration known to man (and woman).

So, how did I fix it? I sent the notebook back and got a replacement. Acer confirmed the notebook was defective, and there was an issue with the GPU and the way the heatsink was placed. Nothing I could have done would have corrected the issue.

Why am I posting this? Well, there is a long thread about BF2 and other issues and I know a number of Ferrari owners have been having the same problems as me, and we've been looking all over for possible solutions. Turns out there really aren't any. This is crappy new for other having graphics and crashing problems, but thought I should share my experience asap.

What a difference a working unit can make! Thing is running perfectly. CHeck out these scores, all based on real gameplay for about 15 minutes each.

Half-Life 2:
- 1680X1050 True Widescreen
- All details to high
- Averaging about 70 FPS, dipping to 50 FPS during intense action.
- Textures and detail looks amazing

Battlefield 2:
- Running 1280X960
- All details to Medium
- World Detail to High
- Maximum draw distance
- Averaging about 50 FPS on the co-op mod largest map with 32 players. Dips to about 30 with lots of explosions going on, but bounces back very fast.

Unreal Tournament 2004
- Running 1680X1050 True Widescreen
- All details maxed out, though with less complex shadows and medium decal retention.
- Draw distance and weather effects maxed
- Running at an average of 80-90 FPS, with very few dips of about 5-10 frames during big firefights.

Needless to say, I am VERY pleased. This is using some brand new Catalyst 5.8 drivers, and using the SoundBlaster Audigy soundcard with EAX. Simulated surround works very well, allowing me to pinpoint enemy shots in BF2 very accurately. System also upgraded to 2 Gigs of ram, and now BF2 doesn't crash when too many bots are running around at once.

Will post Far Cry scores yet as I just intalled that, and will also run 3DMark and Aquamark sets as well.

I have to update the 3D mark versions I have, so bear with me on that. However, I was able to run Far Cry at 1280X960 with almost all details set to high (shadows lowe because I don't see the value). Average FPS on a 30 minute gaming session were holding around 50-60, and everything looked amazing. My previous unit would crash as soon as a level began, so it's nice to see it running cleanly.