# How's ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 for gaming?



## robawalsh (Jan 1, 1970)

I'm thinking of buyinga laptop with it in. 

I don't mean hardcore top-graphic gaming, just occasional gaming. I need it to be able to play new games like COD4, SWAT4 etc. but i don't need top-quality graphics - so long as it plays it i'm fine. 

Also, i would like it to be smooth - not jumpy - is this down to the graphics card or the computer's RAM/Precessor speed?


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## crjdriver (Jan 2, 2001)

First of all, laptops are NOT for gaming. While you can probably run the games you want, you will be in somewhat reduced settings for the game. Whether it plays smoothly or not, is another matter.

If you want to game with a laptop, then checkout some that are really made to do so; ie alienware, etc.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

You already have this thread going: http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/771875-would-laptop-good-all-round.html SO why start a new one?

Gaming performance is always a combination of the graphics card, processor, and RAM. I posted a link where the Radeon x1150 ranks for gaming cards in your other post, near the very bottom.


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## robawalsh (Jan 1, 1970)

crjdriver said:


> First of all, laptops are NOT for gaming.


Laptops are fine for gaming - so long as you're not a hardcore gamer seeking top-qualty settings. 
Read this:
http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39030093,49273226,00.htm



> If you want to game with a laptop, then checkout some that are really made to do so; ie alienware, etc.


I have a budget of less than £300, and I found a great Dell with 2GB RAM, 1.86Ghz processor and windows preinstalled within my budget - but the graphics card is ATI Radeon Xpess 1150. 
For my budget, Alienware is not an option.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

Well you can either satisfy your gaming desire or your budget - but that laptop won't do both in what would be a satisfactory manner. There's nothing great about that laptop; budget processor and budget graphics.


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## robawalsh (Jan 1, 1970)

Triple6 said:


> You already have this thread going: http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/771875-would-laptop-good-all-round.html SO why start a new one?
> 
> Gaming performance is always a combination of the graphics card, processor, and RAM. I posted a link where the Radeon x1150 ranks for gaming cards in your other post, near the very bottom.


Thanks. I think I will buy this laptop.



http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=302231 said:


> The GeForce Go6150 and Radeon X200M are very similar in performance, while the X1150 improves on them by about 30% in terms of overall performance.
> IGPs have no memory of their own  they borrow it from the main system memory. Some IGPs, such as the Radeon X200M/X1150 can have some dedicated memory (64-128MB max.), but that is not common.


So the X1150 has some dedicated memory, and the laptop i'm looking to buy has 2GB of RAM and a 1.86Ghz processor. So I think the laptop will be fine for me - i'm looking to game occasionally, but I have a budget and don't need high settings.


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## crjdriver (Jan 2, 2001)

As posted you cannot have it both ways; cheap laptop that will run games well. You need to decide what you want. The video chip that laptop has will most likely run games however with detail turned way down, etc.
BTW that uses system ram so you would NOT have 2gig available for the os, etc. Some system ram is used to run the video.


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## Triple6 (Dec 26, 2002)

I doubt that Dell provides any dedicated video memory for the GPU.


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## robawalsh (Jan 1, 1970)

crjdriver said:


> BTW that uses system ram so you would NOT have 2gig available for the os, etc. Some system ram is used to run the video.


How much system RAM (approx, on average) do most integrated GPU's use? And if you know, how much does the ATI Radeon X1150 use?


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## crjdriver (Jan 2, 2001)

robawalsh said:


> How much system RAM (approx, on average) do most integrated GPU's use? And if you know, how much does the ATI Radeon X1150 use?


That is a bios setting. You can set whatever you want ie 512, 256, etc [within the limits of the bios]


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## robawalsh (Jan 1, 1970)

So does that mean that I can set the ATI Radeon Xpress 1150 to use 512mb ram from the system ram?
How much should i set for a 2GB RAM notebook with 2.0GHz processor before it starts to slow down?


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## crjdriver (Jan 2, 2001)

How long is a rope?

Any ram you use for video will slow down the system. It is just a matter of how *much* you want to slow down the system. This is why laptops are not made for gaming [unless you buy something like an alienware, etc]


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