The Final End of Optimism . . .

[MikeC]

I'm sorry dude but the company posts min specs for a reason. And most of the time those min specs are just enough to run the game with every graphic option turned off.

[Degtyarev14.5]

Ahh wellll... You live and you learn.

First, you learn that any cheap PC is a piece of crap. (Not that an expensive one necessarily isn't.)

Then, ironically, you learn how to build quite a quite decent rig for the same price (or perhaps just a little more).

Heh, you've just reminded me of my first PC. It wasn't a pre-packaged PoS Dell, Compaq or anything quite that bad, but it was pretty bad!

And yes, it had integrated graphics. Because integrated graphics is a wonderful thing.

Read through some threads in the Apothecary, and you'll learn a lot about building a half-decent machine on a modest budget. It won't be state-of-the-art, but really, who needs state-of-the-art? My dream machine currently runs at 2.1GHz (CPU: Athlon 2800) with an ATI Radeon 9600XT video card. It is decidedly mid-range... But it does the job perfectly, and at an affordable price.

Ultimately, it all comes down to research and knowing the right people.

A.

[KukriKhan]

Well-written tear-jerker, The Shadow One...I for one, can empathize. Trying to sqeeze out 1 more productive year from my 2001 laptop (1G Athlon, 256 SDRAM, 8MB VidRAM, WinME) had me fiddling with all and any available settings, drivers, etc to get ready for R:TW.

I got the demo to 'work' (i.e. it does display, with every in-game setting turned off/down), but not well, so I don't hold much hope for the full game's functionality on this machine. But I know I'm going to upgrade as soon as it's financially practicable, so I'll get the game in anticipation of that future happy day.

Meanwhile, as a shot-in-the-dark, try some of these Microsoft suggestions for improved gameplay:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=263039
as you say: "Hope springs eternal". Good luck m8. And if you have success, please report back what worked.

[The Shadow One]

To all:

Thanks.

I'll take a look at the suggestions for improved gameplay, but I don't hold out much hope.

As far as the laptop goes, I didn't actually buy it. My employer bought it for me and then gifted it to me when they upgraded my work computer. At the time (3 years ago) it wasn't exactly cheap. It was about $1,500 new from Dell.

Granted, it was a different era. Full color flat screens and CD writers were all the rage. 256 RAM was recommended (I upgraded myself by adding the 512 strip). A 16 mg graphics card seemed more than enough to run my work applications AND my games. And, to be honest, it has worked for every game I've ever bought (understanding that it was NOT purchased to be game computer -- my employer likes me but not that much). This includes a variety of 3D games (e.g. Morrowind, etc.).

I probably will buy a desk-top machine sometime within the next 6 months. Something with a Pentium 4 3.0, 1 gig of RAM and 128 gig graphics card. But that's about $1,500 that I just don't have today (remember: my entire value was only about $125.00).

It's still a good computer. This is the first program that I've had any difficulty running.

BTW, while I probably do need to have my head examined (for a lot of reasons I won't go into), try finding a laptop without integrated parts. And my work requires a laptop.

But thanks for the comments and, if all else fails, there's still that 7-Eleven on the corner . . .

The Shadow One

[JR-]

lol, i have just recieved a work laptop which i am unsure as to whether it will run RTW.

it is an Acer Aspire 1360 series, powerful except for the onboard Via/S3 unichrome Pro graphics.

however i do have a custom PC which while a little long in the tooth is still a flyer.

but for those who want a modern day equivalent of the XP1700+/nForce2/Ti4200 i suggest you buy this in a month or so:

s939 A64 3200+ @ 2000/200MHz
nForce4
2x512MB PC3200
GeForce 6600GT PCI-e

for those willing, get PC4000 memory and overclock the CPU to 2500/250MHz, lets face it an XP4000+ equivalent is always nice.

[ah_dut]

Sorry dudes, i give that S3 a very low chance of running RTW at all if not, it'll have a crappy frame rate, anyways, a geforrce 4 ti4200 is still good enough to play a lot of modern games, including i'm told doom 3. So anyways, i think laptops in general aren't too suited to playing games but some do pack radeon 9600 mobile thingy, so they're okay or any other higher spec radeom cards, but otherwise, with an s3 or intel extreme the graphics will suck

[Plaxx]

From a custom pc shop like alvio.com you can order a custom desktop pc for less than 500 bucks that will run RTW easy...just make sure you get a good graphics card (at least Radeon 9600 or Nvdia 5700)