FFXI Laptop/Video Card (yes I know it will run but..)

[Elipse]

Okay here is the deal. I know FFXI will run on almost any new laptop these days as long as it has transform and lighting. So this isn't a "will it run" question. I'm looking specifically for what runs FFXI well.

My 2.5 year old laptop had AMD athlon 2.2ghz (not X2) and an ATI 200m 128m dedicated video. It "ran fine". Meaning, 22-23 fps out and about, maybe 10-15 while engaged/tanking/dynamis. Not perfect but did the job for a laptop.

When I bought my new laptop, I bought based on CPU. Since everyone always says this game is all CPU dependant, I figured it was more important to get a better CPU and that the video card wouldn't matter much. I got an Intel 2.0ghz Core 2 Duo with the Intel x3100 (integrated) card. Again, the game "runs fine". Its about the same as what my last laptop did around town with a lower FPS during event/alliance/dynamis.

Obviously my mistake for assuming that the game is "all CPU" as everyone says cause if it was, it should be running as well or better than before. I know laptops won't match a desktop for performance but just to put it in perspective, I'm pretty sure my old old desktop with 800mhz cpu and Geforce 2 ran ffxi the same as these laptops do.

What I'm looking for is to find a laptop that specifically runs FFXI better. I'm talking solid 29 frames a second in town and minimal lag during events/end game activity.

Now please don't just pick a laptop with some random Nvidia video card and say "There that will do it" if you don't have specific experience with it, cause while those laptops will play some newer games fairly well (much better than FFXI), there have been reports of drive issues causing lower frame rates in FFXI. So while the card might spec out to be 10x better than my current laptops X3100 card, it might not play it much better.

I even went so far as to take the FFXI Benchmark program on a USB key drive, into my local best buy and tested out a bunch of different laptops. I found one with a 256mb dedicated Nvidia 8400M that ran the benchmark 3x what my current laptop does, however once I got it home the actual in game experience was 6 frames a second because of those Nvidia driver issues. So I returned the laptop. This was before Nvidia updated the driver.

Questions I am really hoping to get answers to:
So does anyone have any specific experience with a laptop/laptop video card that had some solid FPS playing FFXI? (mostly 29fps unless under serious load).

Does anyone have specific experiences with the laptop Nvidia cards post updated driver and what FPS are you seeing in game? (please also post your CPU/Ram/integrated or dedicated)

Cool to know but not as important to me as the previous questions:
AMD and Intel CPU's. The AMD's are much cheaper than Intel chips atm. Will an AMD x2 chip perform/play FFXI as well as a Core 2 Duo if they have the same graphics card? Assume here that I'll be watching a DVD, browsing the web, talking on IM clients, while playing FFXI in windower.

I've heard AMD's run hotter than the Intel's. Anyone have any specific experience to say one way or another?

Again I'm not looking for "ran fine" or "It will run" but "Runs well". For such and old game, I'm really hoping that there is at least 1 laptop processor/video card combo these days that runs it really well.

Things to keep in mind:
1) I do need a laptop. Desktop is not an option, I'm on the go too much for a desktop.
2) I do not play any other laptop games. I want this for FFXI
3) Price. Obviously, I want the lowest price that hits my requirements. So if a $1300 laptop will do what I want, I don't want to buy a $2600 laptop. If a $2000 laptop is the only way to get what I want, I'll have to consider it.

If you need any more information, please let me know. Thank you in advance for taking the time to respond.

[Cephius]

You could buy a $4000 laptop and it still might not run FFXI well. People aren't wrong in saying that FFXI is processor dependent, because it is. The thing is, buying a new better processor isn't going to help you much because FFXI uses only a single core. Buying a dual or quad core processor might seem to be the obvious remedy, but all FFXI will do is max one core and give you roughly the same performance. It uses hardly any of the rendering power of your video card, so upgrading that won't help you much either.

You'd be hard pressed to find ANY laptop that could run dynamis at 30 fps. It just doesn't happen.

Bottom line: FFXI is an outdated application, it's based on outdated hardware, and the difference between running it on a 3 year old laptop and a brand new one will be minimal at best.

That being said, the best I've seen FFXI run was on a Pentium D processor and 6800 series video card. This was with shadows and footstep effects turned off. It still suffered a bit in dynamis but like I said, most anything will. I also played on a Dell Dual Core Inspiron E1505, 256 MB ATI video card and 1GB ram. Didn't see much of a difference.

You seem to think there's some magical processor/video card combination that will run FFXI at max settings at 1900x1200 with all effects and maintain a constant 30fps no matter what you do. I really don't think such a laptop exists and you should probably just be happy that FFXI is playable

[Shuemue]

Basically you're asking for us to find a $20k Alienware in a $2k box.

[Elipse]

Perhaps I wasn't clear.

Current: my laptop runs with 768x768 background resolution in FFXI, with shadows off, lowered settings all around etc. Runs 22-25fps in Jeuno, and drops anywhere else I go. I tanked ultima with 6fps.

To clarify: I want this game to run at 1024x1024, with shadows off, weather off, and run most things at normal speed 25-29fps. Normal means, running to and from events, around town (not AH), doing an assualt etc. Thats what I meant by "runs well". Dynamis? Sure lag on me, thats cool but should I be expecting a constant 10-15 frames or can I expect more?
What about just normal events? going to Ultima etc? Am I just hoping for too much here?

I am not talking about maxed registry tweaked settings with purely solid 29 fps in everything including dynamis. That I know is unreasonable.

So are you telling me with todays laptop hardware, that is impossible? Are you saying laptop processors are so far behind desktops that they can't even manage that on a 5 year old game? Why is it that I read posts and talk to friends on game that are running nearly 29fps every where they go, with purely maxed settings yet I bog down to 6fps tanking in sea with lowered background res?

I get that laptops aren't desktops. I just was under the impression that they were not light years behind desktops. Like I said, my old AMD 800 mhz with a Geforce 2 was running this game nearly the same as this laptop with an integrated card. So are they really that far behind that I can't expect anything more?

I'm sorry that I wasn't clear in what I was hoping for. "Runs well" was probably a bad choice of words if everyone has a different idea of what runs well means.


Here is an example of why i'm asking for specific experience with different video cards/settings:
From the Nvidia thread on advanced forum.

decided to roll back to XP, used the .17 driver, with the updated .inf file, still a no-go with my 8800GTS 512, getting framerates of about 15FPS in high populated areas whereas a friend of mine with the same computer specs, except that he has a 8600GT (using newest nvidia drivers), can get a full 29FPS everywhere he goes...dynamis, whitegate, etc etc.

sounds like an issue with the 8600GTS 512 only -_-

/annoyed.

Two cards, supposed to be same chipset on brand new machines, one is suffering 15fps, the other is getting 29fps everywhere he goes. So this is what I was getting at when asking for specific cards/experience etc.

[Cephius]

To clarify: I want this game to run at 1024x1024, with shadows off, weather off, and run most things at normal speed 25-29fps. Normal means, running to and from events, around town (not AH), doing an assualt etc. Thats what I meant by "runs well". Dynamis? Sure lag on me, thats cool but should I be expecting a constant 10-15 frames or can I expect more?
What about just normal events? going to Ultima etc? Am I just hoping for too much here?

Fair enough. It sounded like you wanted to run everything at max with a high fps and that just isn't feasible, but what you want now seems better. You should be able to get what you're looking for with any modern laptop. Just stay away from 8-series Nvidia cards, it's hit or miss wether they work with FFXI even with the updated drivers. Go with an ATI card if you can, they seem much more reliable as far as running FF goes. Depending on how many people you do dynamis with, 15ish FPS is dynamis is normal. Of course less people = higher fps.

I am not talking about maxed registry tweaked settings with purely solid 29 fps in everything including dynamis. That I know is unreasonable.

So are you telling me with todays laptop hardware, that is impossible? Are you saying laptop processors are so far behind desktops that they can't even manage that on a 5 year old game? Why is it that I read posts and talk to friends on game that are running nearly 29fps every where they go, with purely maxed settings yet I bog down to 6fps tanking in sea with lowered background res?

It's not that laptop processors are behind or anything, its just how outdated FFXI is. When FFXI was developed there was no such thing as dual core processors so obviously the program won't take advantage of the newer technology. Still though, outside of the problems with nvidia cards and ffxi, most laptops should run at what you're expecting. My advice is to go for a mid-range Dell or HP with XP, 1-2GB of RAM, and a 256MB ATI video card.

[Avanarius]

Your cpu might actually be underclocking itself to save power....check power options

other then that, I wouldn't blame the laptop, it sounds decent.

[Elipse]

Still though, outside of the problems with nvidia cards and ffxi, most laptops should run at what you're expecting. My advice is to go for a mid-range Dell or HP with XP, 1-2GB of RAM, and a 256MB ATI video card.

I tried looking through the Dell site and they only sell Nvidia cards in their laptops:
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT
And
128MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GS

I couldn't find any ATI cards. I'll keep looking through some HP stuff. HP website is for lack of a better term "crap". Inconsistant at best =p

Any other brand suggestions?

[Cephius]

Still though, outside of the problems with nvidia cards and ffxi, most laptops should run at what you're expecting. My advice is to go for a mid-range Dell or HP with XP, 1-2GB of RAM, and a 256MB ATI video card.

I tried looking through the Dell site and they only sell Nvidia cards in their laptops:
256MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT
And
128MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400M GS

I couldn't find any ATI cards. I'll keep looking through some HP stuff. HP website is for lack of a better term "crap". Inconsistant at best =p

Any other brand suggestions?

Bah, I guess Dell stopped packaging their laptops with ATI cards. I bought my Insprion a year ago, guess it's only Nvidia now. I've never been a fan of HP laptops, but some people swear by them, so I thought I'd throw it in there. I don't have much experience with Toshiba or Sony, so I'm not sure how good/bad those laptops would be. You could always just risk going with a Dell laptop with the Nvidia card.. but like I said it seems to be hit or miss if it works with FFXI or not.

[Elipse]

I posted asking in that Nvidia thread for Laptop users to post their system and what kind of FPS they're seeing in game. Hopefully get some responses on it.

Thank you very much for your help.

[Osede]

are you multitasking while play FF? Like browsing website, turning on mp3 player and etc. Some website with heavy flash application will also drop your fps by extremely too. or just add more ram on it >.>

[Elipse]

are you multitasking while play FF? Like browsing website, turning on mp3 player and etc. Some website with heavy flash application will also drop your fps by extremely too. or just add more ram on it >.>

Oh I've tried loading directly into FFXI with nothing running, as well as windower with nothing running and no noticable difference. When I get a chance I'll check to see the power settings as someone suggested if its underclocking itself, and see if that makes a difference.

I went searching for a laptop with an ATI card and best I can find right now:

LG E500 with Intel C2D
Graphics
Discrete Video Memory Yes
Expandable Video Memory No
Graphics Chipset ATI Radeon HD 2400
Integrated Video Memory No
Native Screen Resolution 1280 x 800
Upgradable Video System No
Video Memory 128MB

Any thoughts on that one? How well do you think it will do?

[Avanarius]

The thing is, buying a new better processor isn't going to help you much because FFXI uses only a single core.

I now logically this should be the case, and I'm not disagreeing with you but ffxi still seems to rape both my cores equally as much, unlike a game such as Portal which focuses % of processes entirely on 1 core. Sucks that theres no real performance gain by turning both cores on, it just uses needless computer resources lol....

*edit* I stand corrected, if I turn off the second core, the first one shoots up to 100%:0% while both on it's 50%:50% so does the operating system do this? I also seem to gain an average of 3fps with both cores on....lol

[Elipse]

The thing is, buying a new better processor isn't going to help you much because FFXI uses only a single core.

I now logically this should be the case, and I'm not disagreeing with you but ffxi still seems to rape both my cores equally as much, unlike a game such as Portal which focuses % of processes entirely on 1 core. Sucks that theres no real performance gain by turning both cores on, it just uses needless computer resources lol....

*edit* I stand corrected, if I turn off the second core, the first one shoots up to 100%:0% while both on it's 50%:50% so does the operating system do this? I also seem to gain an average of 3fps with both cores on....lol

I was just coming on here to post the exact opposite of what you just said. For some reason I got the idea to turn one of the cores off. Every time I'm running single core my FPS stays at a rock solid higher number (err rock solid meaning changes by a couple 26-28), but soon as I set it to dual core my FPS go all over the map and will at times dip below 20 even in Jeuno.

So that seems weird, my laptop sees an FPS performance boost in FFXI when setting to single core >_>

(Just to clarify if anyone has a question. I would sit in one position not move and see the FPS sit at 28 fps in windower. While no models moved or loaded in the exact same spot, I switch the affinty back to dual core and the FPS starts dropping, I see 24, 22, 25, 17, 20, erratic FPS, where the single core is higher and stable)

The only problem is the core temperatures. They rise from 48 to 55 when I make it single core. Is 55 degrees celcius still a stable/good temperature?

Anyone else notice anything like this?

[Cephius]

The thing is, buying a new better processor isn't going to help you much because FFXI uses only a single core.

I now logically this should be the case, and I'm not disagreeing with you but ffxi still seems to rape both my cores equally as much, unlike a game such as Portal which focuses % of processes entirely on 1 core. Sucks that theres no real performance gain by turning both cores on, it just uses needless computer resources lol....

*edit* I stand corrected, if I turn off the second core, the first one shoots up to 100%:0% while both on it's 50%:50% so does the operating system do this? I also seem to gain an average of 3fps with both cores on....lol

I was just coming on here to post the exact opposite of what you just said. For some reason I got the idea to turn one of the cores off. Every time I'm running single core my FPS stays at a rock solid higher number (err rock solid meaning changes by a couple 26-28), but soon as I set it to dual core my FPS go all over the map and will at times dip below 20 even in Jeuno.

So that seems weird, my laptop sees an FPS performance boost in FFXI when setting to single core >_>

(Just to clarify if anyone has a question. I would sit in one position not move and see the FPS sit at 28 fps in windower. While no models moved or loaded in the exact same spot, I switch the affinty back to dual core and the FPS starts dropping, I see 24, 22, 25, 17, 20, erratic FPS, where the single core is higher and stable)

The only problem is the core temperatures. They rise from 48 to 55 when I make it single core. Is 55 degrees celcius still a stable/good temperature?

Anyone else notice anything like this?

It only uses a single core. If it splits it between two cores, that's your OS attempting to load balance. FFXI isn't made to make use of 2 cores.

55C is perfectly stable. Anything lower than the high 60s is fine.

[Avanarius]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v5...s/ffxiload.jpg

it's wierd that I do actually gain about 3fps from 2 cores in whitegate

meh, new computers and this game do not mix

[Raikuken]

I posted an answer to this about getting rid of the stutter issue in the laptop section, if you run modified nvidia drivers you shouldnt be experiencing a drop in frame rate. I own a laptop that runs a single 8800m GTX card i play ffxi with the built in windows option and it runs just fine i havent seen my frame rate but when i campaign in Jugner forest even with mass people around i dont even lag out. No stutter at all. I play it all on high resolution 1680x1050 windowed. It really has to do with the 8x00 series cards having graphical issues. for your budget i would suggest a dell vostro or m1530 or Asus M50V or G1 or sager N2092 all around your current price budget or lil more. The dell vostro, dell m1530, and Sager N2092 run 8600m GT cards best bang for the buck would be the m1530 utilizing GDDR3. the Asus M50SV and Asus G1SN run the 9600m GS mobile cards.



here are my laptop specs
cpu x9000 2.8 stock 3.2 OC
gpu 8800m GTX Driver 174.74 from wwww.laptopvideo2go.com FFXI benchmark 9k ish
ram 4GB
OS vista HP x64

[sekaran]

http://gizmodo.com/378504/lenovos-entir ... s-siblings

Some of the Lenovo's coming out later in the year will be sporting ATI 3650s if you're looking for a non-Nvidia option. I myself just purchased a Dell M1330, but not for playing FFXI.