I was playing on emp_frost and suddenly this happened: The funny thing was that even after this hapening I didnt crash and could still play (com was spamming targets thank god) and hear everything fine. I'm not exactly sure if this was a problem with empires or a hardware problem but imput would be nice. -update- This happened again while I was playing glycen city. it seems to happen very slowly, the first 15 or 20 minutes of gameplay is normal, but after the graphics seem to slowly glitch out until it looks like the above screenshot
I had a similar when my graphics card burnt out [literally, an Nvidea MX 440 playing garrysmod 9 all the time, poor thing didn't stand a chance]
I would say your graphiccard is getting old and overheats. I had the same issue with a radeon 9800 pro after about 1 year of usage.
ah, that sucks. Oh well I'm saving up for an Alienware laptop anyways. (my computer is 4 years old with a 3 year old GPU) I'll test it with other games to see if I get the same problem and post an update.
BTW don't buy laptop for games. Laptops don't deal well with heat. (yes, I have a laptop and I know something about it)
If you wanna buy a laptop for games instead buy 500 laptop that is awesomely fine for word processing/fapping/whatever and spend the other 1500 on a pimp desktop. Processors have gotten to the point its not really a big deal going from mid/bottom to top of the line unless you are using for very CPU intensive stuff. My laptop is a dell buisness laptop cheapest one they have and it runs all my stuff fine, plays DVDs. Sure it might take a few seconds to open something if I already have alot going but meh.
well the main reason I wanted an alienware laptop is because I have 2 houses (long story) and I'll be moving in about a year and would like to take my computer with me. If it werent for that I wouldn't even consider getting a laptop
Most likely the problem is your graphic card is starting to overheat, but not to the critical crash point yet. Anyway I would open you computer up and blow all the dust off the fans and heatsink ASAP before it really messes up your comp.
lol I'd have suitcase that's solely my desktop, I could get away with buying a desktop now and be fine because I mainly stay in one house but when I move it's just going to be too hard to take a desktop with me, let alone the monitor (I would probably have to buy a new one too) anyways, I figured if I bought a good laptop cooler it might be sufficient, what do you guys think?
No. It's pretty much impossible to dissipate a lot of heat from such a small box so you'll end up with crappy graphics card/CPUs. And you can't change them at all.
I had trouble with my NVIDIA 6600GT on that map. dropped it down to 800 x 600 and got by.. It seemed to be all of the white....
Well if you do get a labtop, just don't expect to play the latest games at the max settings that the same card in a desktop can get. Turn down the graphics and a cooler is a must and does help alot. I can play empires on my labtop with it's Intel x3100 graphic card with occasional slowdown, so an Alienware would do fine.
well after the comments in this thread I'll just go for an alienware desktop instead and then just buy a new monitor + everything else when I move I guess (and move the desktop im using now to the 2nd house)
I agree I have a 1.6 core duo and it gets to 78C in Mass effect and a X1400 which goes to 80c! But in newer laptops you can change gpu and cpu
1. Laptop CPUs cost a lot. I remember reading an article that said they changed the CPU. It cost like $500. And computer didn't gain a single point in CPUmark. CPU was slowing down because of either voltage or heat. 2. Laptop graphics cards are shit in comparison with desktop graphics cards. And similar models for laptops cost more. 3. Desktops have quad core CPUs laptops have only dual core CPUs. 4. Usually if you change something like CPU or graphics card you lose warranty. 5. Laptops generally cost a lot. You can buy 2 good desktops for 1 good laptop's price.
Also, I'd compare specs with other vendors before buying Alienware. From what I can remember you tend to pay a premium for the brand. It's owned by dell now, anyway.
