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Half Life 2 Runs Like Butter on MBP

Octobot

Octobot

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 30, 2006
234
0
MPx12
For those who are interested to know..

After going through the lengthy install process of partitioning through Boot Camp, installing Windows, Nvidia Forceware Drivers and then The Orange Box.. I have to say it runs super smooth.

Specs:
MBP 2.6 / 4GB / 7200 RPM
Windows XP, SP2 (20 GB Partition)
NVidia ForceWare Driver 163.75 http://www.laptopvideo2go.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=15381

Deliciously smooth..
 
Twe Foju

Twe Foju

macrumors 6502
Dec 20, 2007
396
0
Jakarta
how about with MBP 2.4 GHz 4Gig Ram / 5400 RPM ?

you think it can run as smooth as with the 2.6 ones ?

cause i basically think that it shouldn't be a large difference between 2.4 and 2.6 and with 7200 rpm
 
D

DaLurker

macrumors 6502
Mar 30, 2006
364
0
Twe Foju said:
how about with MBP 2.4 GHz 4Gig Ram / 5400 RPM ?

you think it can run as smooth as with the 2.6 ones ?

cause i basically think that it shouldn't be a large difference between 2.4 and 2.6 and with 7200 rpm
Click to expand...

Most of the performance will be from the Video card and seeing that both of you probably have 256mb, should be fine.

I'm going to try Half Life 2 now on my 2.2 with 128mb. I'll report back later with results.

PS. What sort of resolution and quality are you running?
 
S

Stopsignguy

macrumors member
Jul 31, 2007
48
0
NJ
Why are you people worrying about running Half-Life 2 on a new system? Half- Life 2 came out in 2004, so running a 3 year old game on a new computer should not be a problem.

I have a 2.2Ghz MBP stock, and I am able to run HL2 at full native (1440X900) resolution and everything on high with relatively steady FPS; usually between a low of around 35 to a high of 60 (its probably capped). However, I think performance will have something to do with your driver version, because when I initially installed HL I don't believe I had as good FPS. I can even play Call of Duty 4 smoothly at 1400X900 on a mix of highs and mediums, and even Gears of War with everything High.

So as long as you stay up to date, you should not have problems playing HL2 or most recent games released.
 
Twe Foju

Twe Foju

macrumors 6502
Dec 20, 2007
396
0
Jakarta
Stopsignguy said:
Why are you people worrying about running Half-Life 2 on a new system? Half- Life 2 came out in 2004, so running a 3 year old game on a new computer should not be a problem.

I have a 2.2Ghz MBP stock, and I am able to run HL2 at full native (1440X900) resolution and everything on high with relatively steady FPS; usually between a low of around 35 to a high of 60 (its probably capped). However, I think performance will have something to do with your driver version, because when I initially installed HL I don't believe I had as good FPS. I can even play Call of Duty 4 smoothly at 1400X900 on a mix of highs and mediums, and even Gears of War with everything High.

So as long as you stay up to date, you should not have problems playing HL2 or most recent games released.
Click to expand...

so you think Assasin's Creed gonna runs as smooth as COD4? :D

cause i fear not, okay, we're talking about HL2 which are around 2-3 years old

but Assasin;s creed are on a different level IMO :D

though i cant say much yet as the game itself is not released for PC yet
 
Octobot

Octobot

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 30, 2006
234
0
MPx12
to Stopsignguy: Not worried.. just impressed. I realized it ain't Crysis, though I was still pleasantly surprised.

Half-life, although it does have pretty good gfx, still is largely billed as an excellent game because of its story-line and gameplay.

I've been wanting to play HL2 ever since I went Mac.. Last time I played was HL1 on a PC eight, nine years ago. Back then I didn't have a top of the line computer, hence some extra joy to see it run so smooth now.

On a side note.. I realized that there are real similarities between the "power suit" you wear in Crysis and HL2.. anyways..

HL2's Gravity gun is a blast btw.. :D

Ya my setting are all at full.
Maybe flies like butter? ;)
 
Eidorian

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
Octobot said:
to Stopsignguy: Not worried.. just impressed. I realized it ain't Crysis, though I was still pleasantly surprised.

Half-life, although it does have pretty good gfx, still is largely billed as an excellent game because of its story-line and gameplay.

I've been wanting to play HL2 ever since I went Mac.. Last time I played was HL1 on a PC eight, nine years ago. Back then I didn't have a top of the line computer, hence some extra joy to see it run so smooth now.

On a side note.. I realized that there are real similarities between the "power suit" you wear in Crysis and HL2.. anyways..

HL2's Gravity gun is a blast btw.. :D

Ya my setting are all at full.
Maybe flies like butter? ;)
Click to expand...
I think someone got there a tad bit earlier.

stroopers.jpg


Half Life 2 scales well when you have at least DirectX 9 capable hardware.​
 
S

Stopsignguy

macrumors member
Jul 31, 2007
48
0
NJ
I actually installed the demo version of Crysis on my 2.2 MBP and was able to run mostly Medium (with some High, such as texture) at 1280X800 with pretty good frame rates, that usually ranged between 18 or so at its lowest to around 20-30ish. Keep in mine this is a stock 2.2Ghz, 2GB Ram, 128Mb 8600Gt, 120GB 5400RPM HD, which is pretty surprising.

I think it all comes down to how well the developer optimizes the game. Look at Gears of War, which looks much better than how Crysis looks for me (at my settings) in addition to running consistently smooth (20+ atleast).

I did not know that Assassin's Creed was coming out for PC though....I wonder how that will do.

I have a lot of recent games, so if any wants to know how they run, please feel free to ask.
 
Twe Foju

Twe Foju

macrumors 6502
Dec 20, 2007
396
0
Jakarta
according to wiki, the PC ver for Assasin's Creed should be out on 15 Feb 2008

still a long time

but i feel the Penryn Processor should be able to play the game smoothly
 
B

benpatient

macrumors 68000
Nov 4, 2003
1,870
0
TSE said:
Does it or are you making a joke?
Click to expand...

HL2 ran very well on my old 1.2 ghz Athlon's onboard graphics card. That machine had 512 mb of RAM. I would hope it does well on dual 2.6 core 2 with all of that RAM and ANY modern graphics card.

and to the guy speculating that it might be capped at 60fps, that's Doom 3, not HL2. My main machine runs HL2 over 150 fps in most places...
 
B

Bad Cyborg

macrumors newbie
Jan 9, 2006
16
0
Stopsignguy said:
I actually installed the demo version of Crysis on my 2.2 MBP and was able to run mostly Medium (with some High, such as texture) at 1280X800 with pretty good frame rates, that usually ranged between 18 or so at its lowest to around 20-30ish. Keep in mine this is a stock 2.2Ghz, 2GB Ram, 128Mb 8600Gt, 120GB 5400RPM HD, which is pretty surprising.
Click to expand...
Have you tried this? You should.
 
T

theman

macrumors 6502a
Jul 26, 2007
738
0
I have a stock 2.2ghz, 2gb ram, 8600Mgt 128mb, 5400rpm hdd.

Just played through HL2 Ep2 at 1440x900 all settings on high (not "Very High") with 2xAA and 2xAF and it ran perfectly. Loading times were a bit long though, probably because of the HDD. Make sure to turn on Vertical Sync. If not, you can get some tearing. The graphics in that game a pretty incredible...
 
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