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Sony PCG-V505EX and UT2004

post #1 of 18
3/12/04 at 7:28am
Thread Starter 
I downloaded the Unreal Tournament 2004 demo and installed it on my Sony PCG-V505EX. With the game resolution set to 1024x768 (16 bit) and most of the texture detail set to low I was getting at or above 30 FPS with the default GPU and memory clock settings!!! The 3D effects in the game have to be seen -incredible

I have Power Strip, but in my informal testing increasing the GPU clock just makes the air coming out of the case hotter -only about a 10% increase in frame rates. Not worth potentially killing the GPU for...

Pretty darn impressive for a laptop that weighs just 4.5 pounds

Editted to pull out my statement about increasing memory clock speeds -it really doesn't make much difference...
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post #2 of 18
3/12/04 at 12:37pm
I agree Dalantech. I'm running it at 800 x 600 x 32 and am shocked at how well it plays. Every other game too for that matter. I was concerned that having only 32MB of RAM would hurt but since you're limited to 1024 x 768 and can turn on texture compression in most games (or crank texture quality down a bit) it presents no problem at all.

What speeds did you bump the GPU up to during testing? Have you tried ATI stock speeds for the mobility 9200, i.e. 270/270?

Mario64
P.S. How's the review coming?
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post #3 of 18
3/12/04 at 12:43pm
Damn you two! Haha... cmon guys I want to see in-depth reviews. I like the notebook but want to see more of it, since I cant go see it in any local store.

For kick ass little notebooks. haha
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post #4 of 18
3/12/04 at 2:56pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by mario64
What speeds did you bump the GPU up to during testing? Have you tried ATI stock speeds for the mobility 9200, i.e. 270/270?

Mario64
P.S. How's the review coming?
I only went as high as 250/250 during testing. It did make some difference, but not enough to risk burning up the GPU and RAM. If I knew for sure that the VRAM was being actively cooled by the heat sink then I'd leave both at 250/250.

I'll probably start writing the review tomorrow
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post #5 of 18
3/12/04 at 5:06pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Enderet
Damn you two! Haha... cmon guys I want to see in-depth reviews. I like the notebook but want to see more of it, since I cant go see it in any local store.

For kick ass little notebooks. haha


WHere do you live at ??? They should have them at the following stores: Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Depot, Fry's Electronics, and Comp Usa.
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post #6 of 18
3/12/04 at 6:16pm
I live about 150 miles away from any Frys, Best Buy, Circuit City, all of those stores. Haha... I live 150 miles away from the San Diego area where all of these are found.
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post #7 of 18
3/13/04 at 7:56pm
Well I guess I spoke too soon.

I loaded up Beyond Good & Evil today and had to reduce resolution to 512 x 384 in order to get the game to run at all. It kept saying insufficient video memory. Unfortunately that game doesn't have many customizable graphics options so your only choice is to reduce resolution. Oh well, I guess you can't have everything. Unless of course you have $3,300 to spend on an IBM t41p. :-)

Mario64
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post #8 of 18
3/14/04 at 2:37pm
Thread Starter 
A lot of games use video RAM to cache textures, so 32MB of VRAM is gonna be a limitation on the 505
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post #9 of 18
3/14/04 at 4:21pm
Very true. I did finally discover that disabling "multi vertex stream" enabled me to move up to 640 x 480. Although a bit jaggy, it is perfectly playable at that resolution and looks beautiful. Interestingly, I loaded Halo last night and it runs well too. As well at least as it can considering the poor job Gearbox did coding it.

Mario64
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post #10 of 18
3/15/04 at 6:26am
Thread Starter 
Cool! I really didn't buy the 505 for gaming, but I like the way it's performing so far
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post #11 of 18
3/15/04 at 2:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dalantech
Cool! I really didn't buy the 505 for gaming, but I like the way it's performing so far
Hey, congradulations, Dalantech.I remember a couple of weeks ago saying you had ordered the v505.What's the specs on yours,mate?
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post #12 of 18
3/15/04 at 4:41pm
Whats up with the 1 year warranty on this machine? I'm seriously considering getting one, but the 1 year warranty and some of the quality issues I've been readin around the net have bugged me.
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post #13 of 18
3/15/04 at 5:31pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tc1unit
Whats up with the 1 year warranty on this machine? I'm seriously considering getting one, but the 1 year warranty and some of the quality issues I've been readin around the net have bugged me.
If you're talking about the touchpad issues that are going around I can assure you based on my experience with the v505 that they are absolutely untrue in fact it's probably one of the best touchpads I've ever used.
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post #14 of 18
3/15/04 at 5:55pm
I think the comments you viewed were probably for the older models which initialy shipped with P4s in them. None of the new reviews say anything about a bad touchpad.
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post #15 of 18
3/15/04 at 7:44pm
I haven't experienced any touchpad problems. What exactly was happening with them?

Mario64
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post #16 of 18
3/16/04 at 2:59am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by magickandre
Hey, congradulations, Dalantech.I remember a couple of weeks ago saying you had ordered the v505.What's the specs on yours,mate?
1.5 Ghz processor
512 MB RAM (I've already ordered two 512MB SODIMMS from Crucial to bring it up to a gig )
Radeon 9200 with 32MB RAM
60 GB hard drive
CDRW (24x) /DVD ROM (8x)
802.11 b and g
2 USB 2.0 ports
1 Type I/II PCMCIA slot

And it's turned out to be quite the little screamer!
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post #17 of 18
3/16/04 at 3:00am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tc1unit
Whats up with the 1 year warranty on this machine? I'm seriously considering getting one, but the 1 year warranty and some of the quality issues I've been readin around the net have bugged me.
As long as the initial warranty is still in effect you can extend it...
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post #18 of 18
3/16/04 at 3:01am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Enderet
I think the comments you viewed were probably for the older models which initialy shipped with P4s in them. None of the new reviews say anything about a bad touchpad.
The touch pad on the PCG-V505EX is the first touch pad I've actually enjoyed using!
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