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a list of games that will run smoothly with i8600.

post #1 of 20
11/22/04 at 12:07am
Thread Starter 
hi. before purchasing my i8600, i was skeptical i could run many games as that would influence my decision to purchase it, given that i'm quite an avid gamer... but after receiving some help from people on these boards, i purchased it and tested a few games out. this list is to help people that helped me out as to what games will run on your i8600.

specs tested with...

i8600 1.6 PM
512 mb ram
7200 rpm hitachi hard drive
128 mb radeon 9600 pro


doom 3 - slight drop in fps, during intensive scenes but quite playable and nice, even at the highest resolution.

rome: total war - with many units, a slight drop in fps, though fully playable, may want to turn off anti-aliasing and some other detail settings.

cs: source - game runs fine, no drop in fps. easy.

guild wars - can play at the highest settings with no issue.

world of warcraft - runs smoothly at the highest settings. problems may occur when you have large pvp battles and i get a decrease in fps during gryphon and hyppogryf rides... though that's really a non-gameplay issue.

bloodrayne 2 - not possible to play at highest resolution, plays well. smooth!

children of the nile - plays fine. not heavy graphics.

warhammer: dawn of war - plays great.


please add more people!
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post #2 of 20
11/22/04 at 3:23pm

Good idea

I just received my 8600 with specs identical to yours on Friday and was hoping to find a thread like this. My 8600 is to replace my old non-gaming laptop, and my gaming PC. So I'm hoping I'll be able to play most games released in the last 2 years decently, though I'm not holding out great hope for games released in the next year.

The only thing I've tried so far is FarCry. Runs really good at 1280x800, and a mix of med and high settings. However, Im finding the fps takes a nasty hit indoors. Strange, since the draw distance indoors should be much less. I think it has to do with the dynamic lighthing inside.
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post #3 of 20
11/22/04 at 7:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by theorist
hi. before purchasing my i8600, i was skeptical i could run many games as that would influence my decision to purchase it, given that i'm quite an avid gamer... but after receiving some help from people on these boards, i purchased it and tested a few games out. this list is to help people that helped me out as to what games will run on your i8600.

specs tested with...

i8600 1.6 PM
512 mb ram
7200 rpm hitachi hard drive
128 mb radeon 9600 pro


doom 3 - slight drop in fps, during intensive scenes but quite playable and nice, even at the highest resolution.

rome: total war - with many units, a slight drop in fps, though fully playable, may want to turn off anti-aliasing and some other detail settings.

cs: source - game runs fine, no drop in fps. easy.

guild wars - can play at the highest settings with no issue.

world of warcraft - runs smoothly at the highest settings. problems may occur when you have large pvp battles and i get a decrease in fps during gryphon and hyppogryf rides... though that's really a non-gameplay issue.

bloodrayne 2 - not possible to play at highest resolution, plays well. smooth!

children of the nile - plays fine. not heavy graphics.

warhammer: dawn of war - plays great.


please add more people!

How about City of Heroes? Anyone have first hand experience playing that on an 8600? I know it will work, because my Wife's crappy computer plays it. Question is, how well willl it play, and how high can the settings be turned up?
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post #4 of 20
11/22/04 at 8:32pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Saberj
How about City of Heroes? Anyone have first hand experience playing that on an 8600? I know it will work, because my Wife's crappy computer plays it. Question is, how well willl it play, and how high can the settings be turned up?
I fired it up very briefly last night. I had it running at 1680x1050 (or whatever WSXGA is) and it looked beautiful. However, something was terribly wrong with my wireless network and/or firewall and my connection was horrible. So it was hard to get a feel for how it played.

I'm going to try to troubleshoot the connection tonight and see if I can get it working.
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post #5 of 20
11/22/04 at 9:38pm
Currently playing:

Half Life 2:

KOTOR: (just started it but so far, so good)

Evil Genius:

Homeworld 2:

Combat Mission: Barbarossa to Berlin:

All running well but I am not that far into KOTOR or Evil Genius as yet.
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post #6 of 20
11/22/04 at 9:42pm
I can play Halo, FarCry, and Half-Life 2 with no problems. The only time I have problems with Counter-Strike: Source is when a grenade blasts a buch of stuff around the room; then it lags a bit.
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post #7 of 20
11/26/04 at 4:32am
wow, that's great news that half life 2 runs well on the i8600.
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post #8 of 20
11/26/04 at 4:43am
Sim City 4 runs well on high detail (although it's a RAM hog so I would say 768MB+ recommended for those settings)

Star Wars Battlefront runs incredibly well on high detail

GTA3 runs well, turn down AA though

Neverwinter Nights also runs great at 1280 x 800 on high.


theorist: Hope you don't take issue with it but I upped the text size back to normal in your post, was a little small for comfort.

Stu
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post #9 of 20
11/26/04 at 5:09am
How about The Sims 2? I find a lot of slowdowns especially in detailed houses on max (high) settings.
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post #10 of 20
11/26/04 at 6:47am
Enemy Territory runs splendid on the 8600 as well
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post #11 of 20
11/26/04 at 8:12am
awesome to hear.... I'm thinking of getting hl 2 and world of warcraft....

every other games except doom 3 runs fine on my 8600
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post #12 of 20
11/26/04 at 11:03am
Also add to the list MOH Pacific Assault as well as Painkiller,all play great at highest settings, even with my older 128Mb 5650FxGo............................

Specs 8600 1.7
128Nvidia 5650FxGo
768Mb 333DDR
15.4 WSXGA+
60 Gig Hd
1300 Wireless
4XDVDR+RW
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post #13 of 20
11/26/04 at 3:05pm
If you are an avid gamer, I wouldn't get the 8600. It has seen its better days. If you can afford it, u prob should get a laptop with the latest ATI or nvidia card.
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post #14 of 20
11/26/04 at 3:09pm
I have an 8600 and play all these games no problem with max detail

Battlefield 1942 / Desert Combat
Batllefield Vietnam
Call of Duty
Call of Duty United Offensive
Americas Army
Unreal Tournement 2004
Pacific Assault
And did play doom 3 without any problems also farcry

cheese
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post #15 of 20
11/26/04 at 3:13pm
The 8600 is the best deal out there for an inexpensive laptop that can play games.

If you want something better, you'll pay through the nose for it and spend over 2k.

I play a lot of games and the best games are the ones that don't require high video requirements. HL2 plays perfectly fine. This means the half of the games that will run on the source engine in the next few years will work well too.

Smart developers also develop with a low required spec in mind so they can sell to as many people as possible. Doom3 might've sold a million but that's that; its graphics hurt it sales; it woudl sell more if it had lower requirements. Blizzard sells the most games of any computer maker and its requirements are usually pretty low for a game to look great.
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post #16 of 20
1/18/05 at 5:32pm
Has Anyone tried sports games such as NBA Live 2005 or Need For Speed Underground 2 on the 8600? Live 2005 lags slightly for some reason???? Underground 2 runs fine at near max settings on my 8600 with ATI 9600 PT.
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post #17 of 20
1/18/05 at 7:14pm
IMO this list isn't really interesting today, at least not for those with MR 9600. Every game out there runs smoothly...
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post #18 of 20
1/19/05 at 4:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Greeneemer
IMO this list isn't really interesting today, at least not for those with MR 9600. Every game out there runs smoothly...
yup, this has been my experience also.
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post #19 of 20
1/19/05 at 4:54am

8600 rocks!

With a 2ghz Dothan, 2 gig of ram (swap file disabled), and the venerable ATI 9600, I can play every AAA title on the market right now with acceptable frame rates, and almost all features enabled... (took it to quakecon last year, it was awesome)

Considering it's battery life, weight, port replicator support (currently typing this with two 21.3 monitors sitting in front of me), and awesome 15.4 inch WUXGA screen at 1920x1200, this laptop simply will not be surpassed until either the i6000 gets a massive upgrade to the video card, or if the 9300 surprisingly has a port replicator.. Otherwise, the 8600 will continue to be king in my book... (and I'll wait, possibly for an apple g5 laptop)

www.ryan.dietrich.net/quest.htm for more of my rantings ;-)

cheers,

dextius
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post #20 of 20
1/19/05 at 5:51pm

Gaming on i8600 exceeded expectations

I must admit that advances in notebook technology have exceeded my expectations. I could play almost nothing on my previous notebook and now I can play everything on my i8600. Didn't expect to game much on the notebook now am currently playing on it:
Half-life 2
Doom 3
Sid Meier's Pirates
Riven IV
Call of Duty: United Offensive

Have played:
KOTOR
Far Cry
GTA Vice City
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2004

It has played everything that I've thrown at it.
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