What games can I run in my non-gaming laptop

Hello,

I have an economic entry level non-gaming laptop. Here are the specs:

CPU - Intel Core i7-7500U
RAM - 16 GBytes (Two 8 GBytes DDR4 SDRAM 1200.5 Mhz Samsung M471A1K43BB1-CRC modules)
DISKS - One SSD 256 Gbytes SAMSUNG MZNTD256HAGL-000L1

One HDD 500 Gbytes WDC WD5000LPLX-08ZNTT0​

Video Adapters - Intel HD Graphics 620

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M​

I know that I don't have enough power to run modern games but I was wondering if it was capable to run some old games that I have. I made sure to be using the discrete Nvidia graphic card to run the games. For some reason even the old games were way too much too handle. First I tried Rome Total War (first version). If the sum of the armies goes beyond 3,000 men the game starts to lag. Then I tried FarCry (first version) and even when it loaded and seems to run smoothly the water is just a solid light blue color. Everything else looks right with the game but with the water looking like a solid color it wasn't fun. I also have the Orage Box that includes the complete Half Life series but after failing miserably with the first two games I decided not to test it. What do you recommend me to do? What other games do you think I can run with those hardware specs?

 

low power dual core CPU + 950M isn't a great combo, but I would imagine Orange Box and Far Cry are old enough to run well. Make sure to update your nVidia drivers to the latest compatible version. Use GeForce Experience to make it easy to update your drivers so you don't have to go mucking with driver uninstallers and unofficial packages. It can get complicated if you're not knowledgeable.

Rome Total War is probably CPU bound on your laptop.
EDIT: I was looking at Total War system requirements, even your low power CPU should be plenty. Not sure what your issue is.

Also, make sure the game is using your 950M by going into the control panel 3D settings and bind the .exe for the game to the 950M. But just simply try updating your drivers before you try that.

What's the resolution of your panel?

 

Hey hfm thanks for your comments and suggestions,

I have the latest drivers installed and yes I made sure that the Nvidia is in use with the game. Monitor is 1920x1200 16:10 (a real aspect ratio for computer monitor hehehe).

Any ideas why the water in FarCry look like a solid color?

 

Have you checked your graphic card settings in the nvidia control panel?

 

Maybe ThrottleStop would help CPU work better but it takes some knowledge to use it.

 

Check in MSI Afterburner and in GPU-Z to see if Far Cry is actually using the Nvidia GPU to render. You can easily tell by looking at the temps and load level (you have to enable that in "RTSS" in MSI Afterburner (Rivatuner statistics server) in MSI options (it's very easy to do).

Solid blue water sounds almost like it's using the iGPU.
I've seen some very awful Nvidia drivers do this in the past though.

 

Hey guys thanks again.


This time I tried 0 A.D. an open source strategy game and on maps with three or more factions, when there are too many elements it starts to lag, but not as bad as in Rome Total War. The FarFry "defect" can be seen in this video:

.

I will try the fix suggested in the video. Goin back to Rome Total War and 0 A.D. I think that it could be the CPU. James D proposal sounds interesting but it scares me. At the end this is more a working laptop. The gaming will be something casual.

Here are screenshots of my graphics settings for 0 A.D.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=11VANHFj3z1y2zFb5raeMCagLQouIYqre
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DNYXf16fXV78z7EiFykpRFa5Gl9fOfS7
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_s001TC5zzFB4t2mCiWb35Ggd3UP3ih4
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ADmBljsIn6IAV3TWizxFxuEMD5NSDgy3

 

You must be running on Windows 10 right?

Your specs is not the problem its just that older games like Far Cry 1 will normally have issues running on modern OSes like Windows 10. Also sometimes newer Nvidia drivers will end up causing some issues with older games. You try changing the compatibility mode to a older OS by right clicking Far Cry 1 and/or other older games and see what happens

 

Your laptop is more capable than you think. The Mass Effect series (1 through 3) will be more than playable, and all work fine under Windows 10.
For older games, go on https://www.gog.com/, they make old games work with new OSes.

But I'd say most games produced through ~2015 should be playable on the GTX 950. The CPU shouldn't hold you back.

Charles

 

Hey!

FarCry 1 is working!

But even better ThrottleStop is working and I was able to do the undervolting with stable results down to -60.5. I was able to play 0 A.D. with up to 630 units. Before that the game got sluggish with 375 Units.
Jedi Knigth: Jedi Academy and Orage Box will be next.

Charles thanks for you suggestion about GoG.com it looks interesting.