What games WONT run on Intel "Extreme" Integrated Graphics

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by child of Thor
I'm getting very tempted myself..............

Yessssss, join usssssss. You know you want to.

[child of Thor]

ah - you misunderstand me

The PC i'm feeling like throwing away is my new one - the one that was going to let me join you(or get halfway to doing so)

My P166 has no problems with anything(other than running Medieval!), even installing my new graphics card no problem,and i would be mad to throw it out imho

My new machine has reached the last-chance saloon.

none of the 9 pages of advice i compiled did any good. So now i've got various editions of new Bios software to update the Bios with. If this doesnt come up with a Bios option to let my new PCI card take over properly(the one 'USE ADD-ON VGA' option causes it to not boot up, which in turn can only be fixed by taking out the new PCI card and rebooting), then it may well go to the charity shop or worse be forced to join the network at work.

[Asher]

Originally posted by Spaced Cowboy
My bad, I meant 9200SE

http://www.newegg.com/app/manufact.asp?catalog=48&DEPA=1

Here's a bunch of them.

NEVER BUY AN "SE" CARD.

Crippled and a ripoff.

[lord of the mark]

at least i had the sense not to buy Packard Bell

[child of Thor]

well most of the help advice i got was for a Hewlet Packard as the PackardBell website didnt even have any references to disableing the on board i810extreme. As mine is a pretty old(new) pc you might find your generation of on-board chip will not give you these troubles

I've also got my problem pc's motherboard pdf file to read through - a joyfull 48 pages worth

One article i was reading at tomshardware, ended up with a choice line, something like "I now fail to see what the 'extreme' tag can be reference too, unless its for extremely slow"

[DrSpike]

It's because you have to be extremely stupid to buy one.

[lord of the mark]

But note, his problem wasnt running non graphics intensive games on the extreme chipset. He had 'wisely' allowed room to upgrade by getting a machine with a PCI slot (for which he paid a premium over bargain basement?) and now hes having trouble with the UPGRADE. Which says 1. Get a discrete video chip to begin with BUT if youre not going to, you might as well go cheapo and get integrated only.

What am I missing?

[lord of the mark]

wait im confused COT - youre saying the Packard Bell is your NEW machine? But didnt PB go out of business some years ago?

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
But note, his problem wasnt running non graphics intensive games on the extreme chipset. He had 'wisely' allowed room to upgrade by getting a machine with a PCI slot (for which he paid a premium over bargain basement?) and now hes having trouble with the UPGRADE. Which says 1. Get a discrete video chip to begin with BUT if youre not going to, you might as well go cheapo and get integrated only.

What am I missing?

I think the moral is buy a decent system and dodge the lame-o-hassle (TM). It needn't be composed of top of the range (and expensive) parts.

Even if you don't want to upgrade your graphics card the conclusion still holds........you save a bit in the short term by buying lame-o-hassle technology, but then when the **** hits the fan (or you want to change something) you have hassle.

Go the route I advocated before of buying for the future by getting a cheap but decent system. You can replace parts more easily, and if you see a motherboard/CPU combo for a ridiculous price you can grab it, or get more RAM, or bung in a better graphics card when you want it and can afford it.

Sooooo the way forward.

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
wait im confused COT - youre saying the Packard Bell is your NEW machine?

When did you get this new one CoT?

[DrSpike]

Originally posted by DrSpike


I think the moral is buy a decent system and dodge the lame-o-hassle (TM). It needn't be composed of top of the range (and expensive) parts.

Even if you don't want to upgrade your graphics card the conclusion still holds........you save a bit in the short term by buying lame-o-hassle technology, but then when the **** hits the fan (or you want to change something) you have hassle.

Go the route I advocated before of buying for the future by getting a cheap but decent system. You can replace parts more easily, and if you see a motherboard/CPU combo for a ridiculous price you can grab it, or get more RAM, or bung in a better graphics card when you want it and can afford it.

Sooooo the way forward.

Crass to quote your own posts but I just reread the thread.

LotM I see you are in fact worried about building for the future, but have concluded you can get this machine now and buy a decent one later. I don't think you appreciate how much easier (and cheaper!) it is to upgrade. I have built 3 systems in my life for personal use, a P2-400 with Voodoo3 graphics (this kicked severe ass when I built it), a 1.2 Ghz Athlon with Hercules with great budget card graphics (this kicked less ass in relative terms, but was a cheap upgrade) and my current 2Ghz with 9800 Pro (kicked most ass when built, but cost a nasty amount of cash all in as I upgraded most at once this time).

Each system has fed into the next. I have 2 systems from the 3 I built (ie one with old components entirely). I still use my monitor, keyboard and floppy drive from my first machine! The old mobo, cpu, hard drive, and graphics card are in my spare machine.

Other stuff I sold to get money for upgrade.

Consider it.

P.S I agree with the post I quoted. That guy makes a lot of sense.

[child of Thor]

Originally posted by lord of the mark
wait im confused COT - youre saying the Packard Bell is your NEW machine? But didnt PB go out of business some years ago?

Yes my new PC(I've had it for a couple of months Dr.Spike), is a PB9533 with the on-board i810e graphics chip and 3xPCI expansion slots(no AGP).

Its old, but not as old as my main gaming PC - a rather cool and versitle P166 that runs all my fav games(from Civ2 and CTP2 to Xcom and EU2) - this one has a rubbish 2MB Cirrus logic graphics card, but can atleast accept this new Geforce2 MX i've bought recently.

I was hopeing with this new PC(the PB), that i could atlast play Medieval Total War and Thief 2 at home(i've played them on the work computers before). Sadly neither games will work on my 'new' PIII 533(PB) as they dont like the on-board i810e chip.

Thus i got hold of the Geforce2 MX - its the only PCI compatible card i've seen in the shops localy(i dont buy over the net yet), and it works fine in the P166. Sadly even in that pc the p166 cant run Medieval or Thief2.

So i spent the last few days trawling the web for info/advice on disableing the on-board chip so i can run the Geforce2 MX one instead, as this would mean i can run those two games at home.

Nothings worked so far, but this weekend i'll have a go at flashing the Bios, as the main problem is that with the current Bios options i've got, i dont seem to have enough options to fix my problem. If this isn't the answer then possibly it could be due to the power supply not having enough juice(its got a 150W one).

I might of course just kill the PB, but at the momment the only games that i'll lose out on are PatricianIII and Hardwar.........so i've decided the risk is worth it.

I got the PB PC for free, so its been more agrivating than anything else, so dont feel too sorry for me - i didn't have to starve to get the PC

You have an on-board pc dont you? Have you tried yet to put in a better graphics card? anyway if not then maybe when you do, and if you get problems then this part of the thread may help out a little - especially if i can get mine sorted

[Locutus]

I worked for PB (well, not for PB itself but for an external company that was contracted by PB) for several years. My first advice to anyone would be: never EVER EVER buy a PB pc. You WILL regret it.

If you want to buy a brand, buy Dell. It's expensive but, in my experience, worth it (that is, if you're not pc savvy enough to build your own pc).

Originally posted by lord of the mark
wait im confused COT - youre saying the Packard Bell is your NEW machine? But didnt PB go out of business some years ago?

No, they're still around. They were bought up by NEC though, maybe you're confused with that?

Nothings worked so far, but this weekend i'll have a go at flashing the Bios, as the main problem is that with the current Bios options i've got, i dont seem to have enough options to fix my problem. If this isn't the answer then possibly it could be due to the power supply not having enough juice(its got a 150W one).

Of all the thousands of PB systems I've worked with, I've only seen 1 or 2 systems where onboard stuff could not be turned off, and I'm fairly certain none of them were i810 systems. Certainly a BIOS option or jumper should be present. It might be that it doesn't work, but it should be present. And if it doesn't work, a BIOS upgrade is indeed the way to go (though you might first want to simply try using a different slot, sometimes that solves the problem as well), though make sure you get the right version as PB mobos are not always standard editions. Get it from the PB website rather than the Mobo manufacturor, if at all possible. PM/IM/email me your serial number and I may be able to help you.

[child of Thor]

Cheers for the offer - you may well here from me next week sometime

Originally posted by Locutus
Of all the thousands of PB systems I've worked with, I've only seen 1 or 2 systems where onboard stuff could not be turned off, and I'm fairly certain none of them were i810 systems. 1. Certainly a BIOS option should be present, especially if it's the system less than 5 years old. It might be that the option doesn't work, but it should be present. And if it doesn't work, a BIOS upgrade is indeed the way to go. 2. (though you might first want to simply try using a different slot, sometimes that solves the problem as well), though make sure you. 3. get the right version as PB mobos are not always standard editions. Get it from the PB website rather than the Mobo manufacturor, if at all possible. PM/IM/email me your serial number and I may be able to help you.

ref bold point 1.

well the only thing that looks like it might be relevent in the current Bios are two options:

1. is you can choose either 'On-board VGA' or 'Add-on board VGA'

2. is a 'PCI snooping thingy' 'on' or 'off'

i've played with both sets of options and either i get the Geforce as an extra monitor in the display manager settings box(in this case if the monitor is plugged into the new cards port you get a display saying something like 'this card is properly configured and recognised - to access it plug your monitor back into the monitor port and change the settings within the Display Manager dialog boxes' - but its only ever a second monitor, even after unchecking the 'exits in hardware mode' boxes for the current main card(i810e or VGA standard) etc), or it doesnt even boot up.

The pc makes one beep sound, then nothing - no monitor light or anything(with the monitor plugged into either the new cards port or the origonal port on the pc case) although the power-on light on the pc is on, but no hard-drive noise etc.

ref bold point 2.

I've tried all three of the PCI slots - but i just the same issues as above(i've taken out all the modems etc, to free up all the PCI slots).

ref bold point 3.

Ok this sounds like a good idea - i did get the Bios from the motherboard manufacturer(its a Gigabyte GA-6WMM by the way). So i'll go check the PB website and see what i can find although i think i couldn't even find my exact model of PC on their site - i guess its too old? well there was the 'iWork' range that sounded pretty close? I'll go check anyway.

If i can get this PC to run with the new graphics card then i'll have my mid-range games pc sorted(circa 1995-2000ish).

The plan has been to have 3 home PCs that i can cover the gaming spectrum with(from the 80's through to present day).

The last PC, which i've yet to get, is going to be the one that costs me money rather than just time, and one i'm sure Dr.Spike will approve off

Thanks again for the offer of help Locutus

[Locutus]

Originally posted by child of Thor
1. is you can choose either 'On-board VGA' or 'Add-on board VGA'

This is the one you should use.

So i'll go check the PB website and see what i can find although i think i couldn't even find my exact model of PC on their site - i guess its too old? well there was the 'iWork' range that sounded pretty close? I'll go check anyway.

If you get the serial number (it's on the back of the casing, starts with "S/N: " and then 9 or 10 digits), you can get detailed specs and custom downloads for your system from the PB website.

See here: http://support.packardbell.com/uk/ (I see they even added an automatic tool for determining the serial number now; nice to know they finally listened to my repeated requests -- 9 months after I left the company )