Hi Fellas,


I just downloaded the last version of nQuake and loaded my cfg and command line in a bat file. However it is a shit using my laptop

I have a Sony Vaio i5
Model Name: VPCEB18FD

The screen is 15.5 if I am not wrong.

Solution:
I want to improve the performance should I use some specific commands that are not set on my config?

sys_yieldcpu 0
sys_highpriority 1
r_dynamic 0

Thats kinda it, turn off 24bit textures on world

actually I have to be honest I hate to play quake without some good basics graphics and with this laptop with a fucking awesome intel core 5 (i5) I cannot play with it. So just set to use "fastest" on the graphics its so ugly but its PLAYABLE.

http://alt.quakeworld.nu/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3639

With this config you can get pretty high fps - as well as having colored light around quad and such necessities. I use this config, with my own modifications - such luxuries as tracer tails for rockets and grenades - on my laptop, with adequate performance. Remember to set cl_maxfps to a specific (stable) number - you do not want varying fps, as this might mess up your timing for shots and dodging.

These settings will make the simple textures purple and turquoise, with red lava, green slime and light blue sky: Very purdy

If you want textures on, you might get higher stable fps with gl_texturemode gl_nearest and the vars gl_miptexlevel or gl_max_size set to something higher than 0. There's lots and lots of other stuff too, look at the annotated config I linked to on the top. Good luck with the tweaking!

I may have a solution for you...

I have just ordered an ExpressCard adapter to allow me to run a PCIe 16x desktop graphics card on my laptop. I will let you know how it goes.

You can take the expensive route and do it with a ViDock:

http://www.villageinstruments.com/tiki-index.php?page=ViDock

I will be doing it the DIY method using one of these:

http://www.hwtools.net/adapter/pe4h.html

Only other thing I will need is a Power Supply. You can use a PC ATX power supply but it also has an AC adapter port so preferably I will use that if I can find the right one.

The only problem with this is that the ExpressCard slot only has 2.5G bandwidth but this is only a problem when you are initially loading textures etc. If you get a graphics card which has enough ram to store all of the maps textures then this won't be a problem.

I am going to get the Club3D GeForce GTX 550Ti which has 3G RAM instead of the regular 1G... It's pretty fast (way faster than my GeForce 9500M GS (SLI Laptops Graphics) which currently does 300fps @ 1024x768 and all graphics turned down). This will easily be enough for maximum graphics in QW.... Not sure about newer games however but I would like to play Rage single player so I guess I will see how it goes.

Update:

I got the adapter and tried it with a spare PCIe video card. Success - detected in windows.

Today I ordered the remaining parts for this project:

Club3D GeForce GTX 550Ti (3GB) € 118.75
Dolphix Micro ATX HTPC Power Supply €28.95
PE4H ExpressCard to PCIe Adapter €63.82

Total: €211.52

This would work on any laptop with an ExpressCard slot. You can also use mPCIe instead if you have a spare slot. I believe on my Laptop I will be able to play pretty much any modern game. Hopefully I can play Rage. Will let you know the performance tomorrow when the Video Card and Power Supply arrive.

Also I purchased a 4G DDR3 RAM SODIMM to up my ram from 4 to 6GB which was €20.68.
I found out I was losing some of my RAM to the laptops internal graphics.

this is interesting, keep us informed!

I should have some results by tomorrow or saturday. All the parts should be delivered by then.

I'm hoping its good enough to play Rage.

Good Post.

But the majority of people would like to play with graphics using any laptop without spending. thats a key rule in market.

Unfortunately most laptops just don't cut it.

My laptop was the fastest 13" laptop available in 2009. Has GeForce 9500M SLI and Intel Dual Core 2.66Ghz. Still its not that great for 3d games beyond QW at low res and no DVI output.

What I am putting together will upgrade the graphics on any Laptop with an ExpressCard slot.... for very little monies... Also you can just move it from laptop to laptop.

Yes I know

Anyway put all the photos of your invention when it is running smoothly so we are going to know how to replicate that if we want!

I will give you Step-by-Step. It's pretty easy.

Well this didn't turn out as successful as I had planned. I ran in to a couple of issues:

- Turns out the MicroATX power supply I ordered doesn't have a PCIe power connector so I had to individually connect the 12v and ground wires from the Power Supply to the Video Card. The card would detect but I would get heaps of artefacts on the screen and when I rebooted using the card as the primary display all sorts of shit would come up on the screen. I dont know if I connected the power wrong or something else is going on. Today I am going to test the video card in a desktop computer to confirm it is OK.

- I have since found out that both the ViDock and this product have the issue where if you have more than 2GB RAM then Windows cannot assign enough memory space to the ExpressCard slot to run the Video Card. The options are to remove RAM so you only have 2GB or run this DOS or Linux utility to rearrange your memory allocation so you can use more than 2GB. I first went for the utility option but wasn't able to get the utility to detect the PCIe adapter. I then went for removing 4GB of RAM so I only had 2GB of RAM and I still got the same issues with the artefacts as listed above.

If the Video Card is successful in my friends Desktop computer I am actually buying it off him for a discount rate and will sell my gaming Laptop. Otherwise I will return the VideoCard and try again.

Q: How to improve graphics using a laptop?
A: Sell a laptop and buy a desktop.

Well, not so fast... Appears the Video Card was DOA. Same issues in a Desktop PC

Well amazingly... it actually works! Once I had the faulty Video Card replaced it was pretty easy to install. I didnt need to fuck around with any memory addressing shite, it just installed and worked.

See pics below. Just for testing I have used a shoebox with cut-out holes for ports and fans etc. Next step would be to get a small micro atx 'shuttle' style case and just screw everything straight in.

One thing to note, with it only being PCIe 1x instead of 16x you loose a lot of horse power in the Video Card. I got a current model, mid-range NVidia (GeForce GTX 550Ti 3GB RAM) and if I did it again would have got something better, maybe 560 or higher... If I want to be ambitious I could remove my Wifi card and connect another cable in to the mPCIe port and it would be then 2x instead of 1x...

now for the pics.

Finished product:

And some numbers please?

Qw @ fullhd @ 1001 fps?

Unfortunately not. Because I am using a PCIe x16 card and the external port is only PCIe x1 I lose a fair bit of performance. The graphics card I got was also pretty cheap. Now that I have it working however I will be looking at connecting a second connection to the card using an mPCIe card which will get me PCIe x2 but it will be a bit harder than connecting the ExpressCard.

Running 1680x1050 with minimal graphics (by choice, I prefer it that way) and get stable 240fps (120Hz refresh).
The internal graphics card is a GeForce 9500M and it was only able to get 1024x768 @ 240fps (60Hz refresh).

I am not sure I would recommend this solution to everyone. Every time you shut down your computer you have to do the following to get it working again:

1. Disconnect external graphics (but leave it powered on).
2. Power up and Boot laptop in to Windows
3. Connect external graphics (this will cause USB mouse and keyboard to stop working during the detection process. Built in trackpad and keyboard still work).
4. Once it has finished detecting right click the graphics card in device manager and Uninstall drives (including removing files).
5. Disconnect external graphics.
6. Reconnect external graphics and let it detect as Standard VGA graphics.
7. Update drivers using manual path: C:\NVIDIA\DisplayDriver\285.62\WinVista_Win7_64\International\Display.Driver
8. Reboot - Now you are good to go.

Once it is working you can reboot your computer as many times as you like etc... but once you power down the laptop you have to go through this painful procedure again. Before you shutdown, if you uninstall the card in device manager, Step 4 (not remove the whole nvidia software), then you wouldn't need to do Steps 5 and 6.

From my research, these steps are also required on commercially made external graphics products such as the ViDock.

Wow, that sucks pretty bad if you have to do that each time.

Yeah its not the greatest but it will do for now.

I've been doing some benchmarks and strangely no matter what graphics settings i use 512x384 or 1680x1050, gl_max_size 1 or gl_max_size default.... I always get the same FPS on timedemos.

I also cant seem to enable to the NVidia Coolbits to overclock the card on Windows 7 64-bit and 285.62 drivers. Anyone know how?

I guess you get the same timedemo fps because connection is choke-point of this setup and it limits efficiency, so 240 fps is max it can achieve. Using mPCIe card as second connection should give you fps boost if that's the case.

(or you have maxfps set to 240 and forgot about it, lol)

I'd be interested to know whether Linux would make the shutdown procedure less painful.

On the very first picture I posted you can see 4 ports below the video card. Each of those represent an additional PCIe connector so if your laptop allows for it you can connect all 4.

My laptop has 1x ExpressCard and 3x mPCIe connectors. I am going to order an mPCIe adapter to connect a second one. I will have to remove my built in 3G mPCIe card but I don't use it anyway. Connecting this mPCIe connector will be a little bit more tricky as I will have to cut a hole in the bottom plate of my laptop for the cord to come out.

http://www.harmonicinversion.com/products/manufacturer/hit.html?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage-ask.tpl&product_id=198&category_id=25

Just get a small formfactor desktop instead? This is getting ridiculous

No need, it works The second connector to hopefully increase the speed is only USD$20. I'm living abroad and i have a fast laptop... for me this is the best option as it is one less thing (desktop computer) that I have to lug around next time i move.

I'd have to agree with dimman -- a small form factor desktop is approximately the size of a shoe box anyway.

Laptop, shoebox, cables, external mouse i assume.. Sounds like about as much as an iMac then, then you get both screen and computer in one?

it's pretty interesting if nothing else. go max it out