So, first off anyone bought this yet?
I did this weekend but may have issues with my graphics card, any techy ppl out there.
Within the last month I\'ve bought a new pc from Dell, rang them up to discuss what I wanted the machine to do and specifically said that I didn\'t want a graphics card that would be out of date in six months.
They spec\'d a system and I bought it. [no nothing about pc spec, that\'s why I rang them, for advice]
The graphics card, AMD Radeon HD 6450, is struggling, even on the games lowest settings.
Looked up this card - doesn\'t seem very good, anyone know?
Some sites refer to it as \'entry level\'
Anyway emailed Dell to see what they have to say.
I suspect the card isn\'t really good enough, that right?
Looks an top game, hope I get the opportunity to play it without the lag.
John
http://uk.geforce.com/games-applications/pc-games/battlefield-3/gpu-analyzer
http://bf3blog.com/battlefield-3-system-requirements/
You considered buying a console mate? You\'d not have to worry about anything like this again. I can\'t offer any help with your actualy question mind, just my thought :)
I reckon Lacey will be along shortly to give advice!
Quote from: B.Martin;796728You considered buying a console mate? You\'d not have to worry about anything like this again. I can\'t offer any help with your actualy question mind, just my thought :)
this is what i would say, however to reap the benefits of computer game at its full potential you must play it on a PC
Lacey is the woman for this qustion though, as she is a PC gamer super geek:Ladys-man:Thumbsup!
Depends on your budget to what card you would want to buy in order to upgrade your PC to be able to run Battlefield 3, but I strongly recommend you follow the link M1tch posted here, http://bf3blog.com/battlefield-3-system-requirements/
Or just read this. This is the MINIMUM requirements for Battlefield 3, if you do not meet these, you will have a lot of trouble running the game on it\'s lowest settings.
- OS: Windows Vista or Windows 7
- Processor: Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or Althon X2 2.7 GHz
- RAM: 2GB
- Graphic card: DirectX 10 or 11 compatible Nvidia or AMD ATI card, ATI Radeon 3870 or higher, Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT or higher.
- Graphics card memory: 512 MB
- Sound card: DirectX compatible sound card
- Hard drive: 15 GB for disc version or 10 GB for digital version
According to the minimum specs you have a competent graphics card that \'should\' run the game on low spec, but how much RAM do you have in comparison to the required specs? Is it DDR2 or DDR3? What processor do you have? According to the minimum specs your graphics card should be more than competent, so it\'s likely that it\'s the rest of your system letting down your gameplay.
What\'s your processor? Dual core or quad core? Do you know which one it is?
What RAM do you have? And is it DDR2 or DDR3?
Your graphic card should be plenty capable of running Battlefield 3 judging by the required specs, so it\'s more than likely another component that you may need to look at upgrading.
Or, as Ben said, buy a suXbox and you won\'t have to worry about upgrading hardware etc to be able to play games, but honestly, for a first-person shooter, keyboard/mouse is far superior to an xbox controller, more precise etc, I hate shooter games on console, that\'s what I have a PC for, but having a PC capable of running the current market of games can be somewhat costly. I spent about £550 odd on my last set of upgrades, which was a new quad-core, new graphics card, new motherboard and new ram, and a new monitor and 3D glasses.
It all depends on what you want to spend, and what you want to get out of it.
Okay a follow up.
Radeon cards aren\'t my forté and I don\'t know much about them, I\'m an Nvidia girl, but other half is a Radeon aficionado and says minimum to run BF3 if you want to stay on a Radeon card you\'d want at least a 6790 (about £100) and that\'s to run it on low spec. A 6850 which would run it easier is about £120.
If you want to go with Nvidia (which is my personal choice) my card, the GTX460 is about the same price and will run BF3 quite easily, or the GTX480 would run it even better, but as you may guess is more expensive.
So you may want to look at upgrading your graphics card after all. Sorry for the wrong impression in the previous post, turns out I know less about Radeon\'s than I thought, but then I havn\'t used one since the early 2000\'s.....
Either way, knowing your RAM and CPU would also be a bonus to solving the issue of why it won\'t run :)
Just read all of what Lacey put there and understood nothing. Might as well be in Latin.
One of the graphics card mentioned though I run in my laptop ;)
I bet you look great Lacey sat there in your 3D glasses playing computer games. Lol
Quote from: Grant Monkhouse;796770I bet you look great Lacey sat there in your 3D glasses playing computer games. Lol
Oh yeah, I\'m as cool as Guadalajara!!
I play COD on the ps3 and never have much trouble, but then I\'ve been using that controller since erm... When did psone come out? :Giggle
Sounds like Lacey knows her Shiz though!
Thanks for the info.
My main point is that this pc is brand new and when Dell spec\'d it I made a point of pc gaming.
I\'m thinking they put together a system \'not fit for the purpose\'
I don\'t want to run on low settings, I asked for a competent graphics card.
I\'ll let you know what they say to my email.
always played games on pc, I always feel that on a console the player stands still and the background moves.
Also use a pc for work, don\'t want to buy another piece of kit just for occasional gaming
Waited a long time to afford a decent spec pc and I\'m disappointed to say the least.
John
Give me a write-up of the full spec of your PC and how much you paid for it and I\'ll let you know what you\'ve \'actually\' bought in comparison to what it was sold to you as, also let me know whether it\'s still in warranty, how long ago you bought it, and whether it\'s still within the X days returns policy.
I think a word with the shop that sold you it John and if you dont get anywhere then just mention "not fit for purpose" and "consumer protection" should do the trick.
Quote from: steve garbutt;796785I think a word with the shop that sold you it John and if you dont get anywhere then just mention "not fit for purpose" and "consumer protection" should do the trick.
Sorry my mistake i ment to say "a phone call to dell" not "to the shop" :2Confused
Sorry to hear of your troubles John. I don\'t know much about PC\'s but it seems like yours was underspeced for what you need.
Not that it\'ll make you feel any better but mine works fine on my PS3 :)
Are you running the most up to date Catalyst drivers ?? They have released ones specifically for this game (and Rage, Arkham City etc) that where updates.
Im running a Geforce GT570 graphics card (not very cheap) and it seems to be more than manly for the job. Runs Crysis 2 at 1080p with Directx11 and High detail mode at about 30-35fps. Runs Arkham Asylum at 60fps at 1080p with everything at max, with normal PhysX.
What you should find the Gaming PC is more than man to do all your work stuff.
Shaun
Can you guys please refrain from speaking Latin, more commonly known as geek speak. ;) :D
Quote from: johnf;796780I don\'t want to run on low settings, I asked for a competent graphics card.
The HD 6450 is a "budget" gaming card which can be purchased for about £30-£35. Bearing in mind graphics cards range in price from ~£25 to ~£600, I wouldn\'t expect much from it.
If you LOOK AT THESE BENCHMARKS (http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2011-gaming-graphics-charts/Enthusiast-Index,2674.html) you\'ll note your card is almost at the bottom of the list on this gaming benchmark test.
Don\'t get me wrong, the card does very well for the money, but it doesn\'t cost a lot :)
I think you may have grounds to complain to Dell and get an upgrade, but they\'ll probably sting you on price as all Dell "after sales" parts are horrendously expensive in my experience.
BTW, I\'m with Lacey and Shaun, preferring nVidia graphics cards.
Quote from: johnf;796685The graphics card, AMD Radeon HD 6450, is struggling, even on the games lowest settings.
That\'s a bit strange - I\'d expect that card to deliver OK with on game\'s low detail settings, just not to deliver at the high detail end.
As Lacey said, we really need to know a minimum of;
Processor type
RAM (type and amount)
to know if there is a performance "bottleneck" eslewhere in your PC. If you are runing less than 4Gb RAM, then you won\'t get the best form Windows 7.
Spec of the pc..
Vostro 460 : Standard Base 1 S
Processor : Intel Core I5-2500 (3.3GHz, 6MB) 1 S
Resource DVD : Vostro 460 MT Diagnostics and Drivers 1 S
Memory : 4096MB (2x2048) 1333MHz 1 S
Hard Drive : 500GB (7200RPM) 1 S
Optical Drive : 16X DVD +/-RW Drive 1 S
Optical Drive : Roxio Creator 10.3 Software 1 S
Power Cord : UK 2M 1 S
Display : 23in E2311H UK/Irish Black Wide E-series LED (1920x1080) TCO5.0 DVI-D 1 S
Graphics : 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6450 1 S
Speakers : External Dell AX210CR Black USB 1 S
Mice : Dell Optical (Not Wireless), Scroll USB (3 buttons scroll) Black Mouse 1 S
Keyboard : UK/Irish (QWERTY) Dell KB212-B QuietKey USB Keyboard Black 1 S
Operating System : English Genuine Windows 7 SP1 Professional (64 BIT) with Recovery DVD 1 S
Software : Microsoft Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook 1 S
Dell Support Center 3.0 1 S
AntiVirus : Trend Micro Worry Free Business Security 3.5 (15 month) Software MUI 1 S
Software : Adobe Reader - Multi Language 1 S
Base Warranty 1 S
1 Year Collect and Return 1 S
3Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day 1 S
Declined Pro Support 1 S
INFO 1Yr Basic Warranty - Next Business Day 1 S
^^ Processor and RAM should be fine for gaming, so it seems the major bottleneck is most likely the graphics card. Still surprised if Battlefield 3 won\'t run well on the low detail settings though, which might suggest you have other processes/services/programs running in the background, hogging resource? Dell PCs used to have a reputation for being delivered with pre-installed "crapware" - things like 30 day trials of loads of rubbish......not sure if that\'s still the case.
Your security software will also have an impact on performance. My personal preference is for AVG, and my pet hate is McAfee. All the others fall somewhere in between.
I have same processor and its been fine.
Here is a spec list for that game !
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/323859/build-a-pc-for-battlefield-3-nvidia-shows-you-how/
Shaun
Plus have a gander at :
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/battlefield-3-graphics-performance,review-32308.html
Shaun
Looks like it is just your graphics card from thw write-up but to be perfectly honest the Vostro is NOT a \'gaming\' pc, its not from Dell\'s Gaming systems range, it\'s more of a Low-End consumer product that\'s not really built for modern gaming at high spec.
To be perfectly honest when you\'re looking at pre-built computers (full bundles with tower, monitor and all peripherals) if it costs less than £1000 (pre built ready to go) then it\'s not a gaming machine in the slightest.
You can build a hell of a lot better yourself if you know how for a lot less, my pc is as follows,
AMD 3.2 Phenom-II Quad Core
8gb DDR3 Corsair ram
NVidia GTX460OC
Asus Motherboard
LG 3D Monitor
NVidia 3DVision
All of the above costs at most £650 to put together and is more than capable of playing ANY game currently on the market at MEDIUM spec at the very least, custom builds are far cheaper than buying pre-built machines, or if you\'re going to buy pre-built, buy from a specialist like Novatech, not a generic place like Dell, PC World, Dixons, Curry\'s etc
Quotethe Vostro is NOT a \'gaming\' pc
This machine was primarily bought as a \'work\' machine.
Large Photoshop. Illustrator, Corel files etc.
However back to my original post where I asked for a spec from Dell that would handle the above and play the latest games with a decent graphics card.
I am coming to the conclusion that this may not be good enough.
Still waiting for feed back from Dell.
I\'d simply swap out the the GFX card for something with some guts John.
To put it in comparison, I game a lot and also use the computer for work. I\'m considering upgrading my GFX card (from HD5870 to HD6690 or GTX590) at them moment and my current card is rated ~ 10x more powerful than the one in your PC!
As others said, everything else looks ok.
What resolution are you running at on your PC ? I\'ve found the GT570 more than man enough for anything at 1080p.
The GT580 seemed like very little for 100quid more. The GT590 is a very noisy card too, a lot of people water cool them. Hate to think the size of the radiator needed. My GT570 runs on a Zalman Tower and (x2) 360mm Radiators !
Shaun
Quote from: Lacey;796875...... to be perfectly honest the Vostro is NOT a \'gaming\' pc.....
Having personally built more than a 1000 custom built PC\'s during the period 1998-2009, I always had long discussions with customers about their intended usage before deciding the spec. Budget v performance was always a trade-off and "gaming" to one customer was not the same as "gaming" to another. Some customers just wanted to play "simple", non-graphic intensive games, others wanted to play fully 3D immersive games. The price range from one "gaming" PC to another could easily be a ratio of 1 to 3 (eg £400 to £1200). My point being, it\'s extemely hard to define a "gaming" PC, as it\'s a continium of products.
I agree with Lacey, the Vostro "chassis" is essentially aimed at a "home & business use" cutomer. Dell have added a better graphics card to compensate which, for the "light" gaming end of the market, could be deemed as acceptable. The XPS and "Alienware" chassis are the main Dell "serious" gaming machine platforms, but consequently cost more.
I\'d class Battlefield 3 at the "serious" end of the gaming spectrum as it generates an immersive 3D environment.
I reckon, as others have said, that if you buy a better graphics card then this should improve things considerably. One thing that hasn\'t been mentioned is that a better graphics card may have a much higher power consumption. Dell were never very generous with spare PSU capacity. I\'d always put a good quality 600W+ PSU into a serioud gaming PC, but I wouldn\'t be surprised if the Vostro had more than 400W, so it MAY (stress MAY) cause the PSU to run hotter and shorten it\'s life.
Quote from: Casey;796947I wouldn\'t be surprised if the Vostro had more than 400W, so it MAY (stress MAY) cause the PSU to run hotter and shorten it\'s life.
That\'s a very very good point. Having an over-specced power supply is one of the best ways to keep temps down and prolong PC life.
One old PC had a 450W PSU, I swapped it for a 1000W PSU and saw an immediate 20C drop in internal temps. It solved the issues I was having with instability and overheating.
Quote from: shaunwil;796937The GT590 is a very noisy card too, a lot of people water cool them.
That said the Nvidia cards are way quieter than the equivalent ATI ones!
The HD6990 is very very loud under full load. I\'d definately consider adding extra cooling to any card but even when pressed my system runs at ~45C case temps, CPU runs a bit cooler due to a very large lump of aluminium.
I still go back to my point that I told the guy from Dell I wanted to play the current games, including the soon to be launched BF3
The last phone call I had with him was following an on line system check I did for BF3 that said my spec wasn\'t good enough - he disagreed and said it would, so I bought it.
Not answering his emails so I\'ll phone him tomorrow.
So what resolution should I be running at.
In the game options I have everything set \'low\' and the mouse sight still lags behind the movement enough to make playing poor.
How can I check what else may running in the background, slowing thing up?
As you say, buy a better graphics card but I paid Dell what they asked for to do what I want to do. It was all explained to them.
ctl + alt + del - you can see all programs etc running with that ;)
If you asked for a PC that would run BF3 and that\'s what you were sold then you certainly have the grounds for a complaint as with the card it has, it\'s not capable of running the game you bought it to play (work and photoshop projects aside), so if you were sold that on the misconception that it would play BF3 then technically it\'s an item that\'s been mis-sold and should surely fall under the Trades Descriptions Act?
/\\ That\'s what I genuinely think /\\
I didn\'t beat the price down just paid what they asked.
Yeah, the item seems to have been mis-sold to you under false-pretences so you should have the relevant grounds for a full complaint and refunt, and if I were you I\'d shop elsewhere at a company who are actually reliable, try looking at Novatech.co.uk\'s gaming range pc\'s, I\'m willing to bet they\'re a hell of a lot better and at least 1/3 cheaper than ordering a \'spec\'d\' pc directly from Dell.
Here\'s a few other PC\'s from Novatech starting at the £550 mark and ascending in price, not sure how much you paid for your Vostro but ordering straight from Dell I\'m guessing it was far from cheap.
Might give you an idea of what you can get for your money if you shop around and don\'t go directly to a mainstream distributor. :)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/revolution.html
http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/iconquer.html
http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/irushpro.html
http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/destroyer.html
http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/ireign.html
http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/iforce.html
Finally had a response from Dell.
This is the email.
I can confirm having spoken with your Sales rep Mr Shah that the graphics card purchased with your Dell Vostro 460 is suitable for playing standard computer games. Battlefield 3 is considered a high end game and requires a higher specification graphics card.
We propose the following solution by way of goodwill, that Dell provide you with a 512 md ATI Radeon HD 4550 at a cost less the price you have already paid for the current AMD Radeon. The cost to you is £102.95 + VAT.
Two things, I still don\'t think this card would be good enough and searching the net seems I could buy one for around £60.00.
doesn\'t sound like an reasonable offer to me, anyone have any opinions.
Tell them your not happy, give them the damn computer back, get your money back and go somewhere where you will get what you asked for?
Definitely not a better option, if anything a 4550 is 2 generations old and not even as gutsy as the one you have already.
If you really want to put the scare into them, then mention the consumer sales act (that the right one?) that you\'ve been mis-sold the item, you no longer trust the company top provide a reasonable solution and demand to return the goods for a full refund for being misled by the sales rep, or you\'ll be taking legal action against the sales rep and dell themselves for mis-selling their products.
That\'ll put the scare into them to offer you a better solution.
They\'re trying to sell you an old, 2008/2009 graphics card from old stock to save themselves a bit of money, considering the sales rep guaranteed the machine you bought would play battlefield 3 then you definitely have grounds to hold a court case against the sales rep himself if nothing else.
Having replied to Dell they have now offered me a full refund which I will accept.
Where to go and what to buy now?
Budget of £650 excluding vat
Work with corel, Photoshop, Illustrator etc with big files.
And a good graphics card.
Any advice
Thanks
John
John, this one is worth a look; £700 (tower, no monitor). I\'m sure others will have suggestions too;
Zoostorm PC (http://www.ebuyer.com/283728-zoostorm-gaming-desktop-pc-7873-0268)
Intel Core i5-2400 3.1GHz
8GB RAM DDR3 1600MHz
1TB HDD
DVD Writer
NVIDIA GeForce GTX560 with 1Gb RAM
Windows 7 Home Premium 64
Coolermaster High Air Flow Case
Coolermaster 500W PSU
Quote from: johnf;799855Where to go and what to buy now?
Budget of £650 excluding vat
http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/revolution.html
http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/iconquer.html
http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/irushpro.html
iRush Pro is the best in your price range, price for that is INC VAT but doesn\'t come with monitor and other peripherals which you can order yourself to suit your own tastes from the same site in a single order.
Either that or go with one of the cheaper options of the 3, I can personally vouch for Novatech being a good company with excellent customer service as I use them very regularly when building a PC from scratch with parts or just upgrading a system with newer hardware.
Options are with no OS installed, the iRushPro with Windows 7 Home is £699 (£583 excl VAT)
I thought about creating a new thread but i\'ll try and get away with posting here,
Who has battlefield 3 on the PS3? would be nice to get a game on with people here :)
Radeon 6450 is not a gaming card in any way! I use them for building home theatre PCs only.
I\'ve got a 5850 which is a coupe of years old now but still more than capable of 1080p on BF3. You can get them on Ebay for less than a £100 second hand. 5750/70 or the later equivalents would just about cope at that res with less details.
Quote from: Kamatari;803082I thought about creating a new thread but i\'ll try and get away with posting here,
Who has battlefield 3 on the PS3? would be nice to get a game on with people here :)
Best starting a new thread for this mate. I am on this for the PS3, add me same name as on here.
Ade
Did you get a rig sorted john?