Gaming on my new 17" MBP

[fightingbum]

So I just got my new 17" MBP and have installed xp through bootcamp and have got some games running. What are the best settings to run these games on my computer? I have the new MBP with 2.5ghz processor, 8600gt 512mb, 4gb of ram, and hi res of 1920x1200. The games I have and will be playing are Hitman Blood Money, css, team fortress 2, bioshock, and crysis. So what is the best res? 1920x1200 is quite a bit and will probably cause some lag, so what is a good substitute. Another thing I noticed is when on xp, when I right click my computer and go to properties my, specs are shown as Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9300 @ 2.50GHz 2.49 GHz, 2.98 GB of RAM. I know I ordered it with 4 GB of ram yet it is showing as only 2.98 GB. Anyone have this problem or know a solution?

[kabunaru]

I know I ordered it with 4 GB of ram yet it is showing as only 2.98 GB. Anyone have this problem or know a solution?

Do you have Vista 32-bit or XP 32-bit? 32-bit versions of Windows see 3GB of RAM I think. In order to see and use all 4GB of RAM, you need 64-bit version of Windows XP or Vista.

[Stridder44]

So I just got my new 17" MBP and have installed xp through bootcamp and have got some games running. What are the best settings to run these games on my computer? I have the new MBP with 2.5ghz processor, 8600gt 512mb, 4gb of ram, and hi res of 1920x1200. The games I have and will be playing are Hitman Blood Money, css, team fortress 2, bioshock, and crysis. So what is the best res? 1920x1200 is quite a bit and will probably cause some lag, so what is a good substitute. Another thing I noticed is when on xp, when I right click my computer and go to properties my, specs are shown as Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T9300 @ 2.50GHz 2.49 GHz, 2.98 GB of RAM. I know I ordered it with 4 GB of ram yet it is showing as only 2.98 GB. Anyone have this problem or know a solution?


A 32-bit OS (like XP for example, which a vast majority of people have) can only address up to 4 GBs of RAM, and about 500 MB - 1 GB of that is saved for other stuff. A 64-bit OS doesn't have these limitations. XP is dead anyway man. It's a dinosaur. I'd highly recommend Vista 64. Apps and games work perfectly fine with it, and it's very stable and speedy. Been running it since SP1 came out (February) and it's been nothing but awesome.

(note: there is XP 64, but it's useless).

[fightingbum]

So can I upgrade my 32bit xp to 64bit xp or vista without reformatting? If I go to 64bit vista am I going to notice a loss in fps because of vista, or will I see an increase because of the 4GB of rams being properly used? Also what is the best res if the game is too graphic intensive for 1920x1200 resolution?

[iMpathetic]

1680x1050 should be a good res for you.

To put it shortly:

- No, I don't think you can upgrade without reformatting.
- The ram may give you an increase in performance, but I doubt it'll be huge

Hope this helps. :)

[Digital Skunk]

Agreed, the ram won't give you much a performance boost while playing games, since most games are graphics dependent.

And at 3GB of ram, XP should run just fine.

[fightingbum]

So overall I can keep it how I am with xp 32bit and it will be fine? And if I do decide to upgrade go for xp64bit or vista64bit? Also the windows portion of my MBP will be for gaming if that helps.