help. Graphics trouble

[Selino631]

So i've been putting up with this ever since i got this new laptop (Dell XPS 15z) laptop back in May. But its too annoying now to play with so i'd like some help. (Huge pain when in furballs)

I have the Hires pack installed and everything seems to run fine, EXCEPT for players Icon. Icons continuously flicker between that bluish-grey and there default color. (including enemys, which is a big problem). Also, most of the time there is a big black square overtop of everyones plane. It was nice at first cause i could see missions and cons a sector out. but its just annoying now.

[Bizman]

The main culprit is written on the first line of your post in parentheses. I tried to find exact specs for the phrase I found from the XPS 15z site:

Uncompromising power
Experience pure performance with faster 2nd generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium and NVIDIA® GeForce® graphics.

All I could find on Dell was the "NVIDIA® GeForce® graphics" phrase which could mean anything starting from the GeForce2 of yore. A couple of reviews had more specific information: The graphics card is a GeForce GT525M 2GB (or weaker, depending on the model you have). The reviews say it clearly:

Nvidia Geforce GT 525M provides "light entertainment". It is a midrange graphics card

and

the gaming performance of the GT 525M is sufficient for medium detail settings in modern games like Battlefield Bad Company 2. Less demanding games should run in high detail settings. The best resolution to choose is 720p or lower due to the limited performance

So, my first advice is to disable HiRes textures and reduce some eye candy. Look at Waffle's Video settings tips, the bottom section has step by step instructions to get the most out of your card. Sometimes less is more, in your case less eye candy is more playability. In a tight furball you won't notice whether a gauge reflects light or not.

[blazer65]

Read thru the threads in this forum.  Or do a search for "grey icons" or something along those lines, because this problem has been discussed a few times.
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,343553.0.html
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,333595.0.html
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,339183.0.html

I personally had this problem too, as I also play off a laptop.  All I can tell you is that its definitely the graphics card not having enough power.  I was fortunate in that my laptop came with two graphics cards, a low powered one (Intel HD Graphics family) for non video/gaming applications, and a higher powered (AMD Radeon) card (which still isn't great, but gets the job done).  My problem was that my computer defaults all programs to run off the more efficient lower powered graphics card.   Once I figured out this was the case, I was able switch Aces High to run off the higher powered card and the problem was solved. 

[Ray77]

I'm having the same issue.   I'm a little lazy....if someone can recommend an uber video card that I can buy to fix this issue if that will get me fixed? 

System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 1/22/2013, 20:31:42
       Machine name: REACHER
   Operating System: Windows 8 Pro with Media Center 64-bit (6.2, Build 9200) (9200.win8_gdr.121119-1606)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
       System Model: Inspiron 660
               BIOS: A05
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2130 CPU @ 3.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.4GHz
             Memory: 6144MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 6014MB RAM
          Page File: 2249MB used, 6323MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
   User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
 System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
    DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
     DxDiag Version: 6.02.9200.16384 64bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
      Display Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 2: No problems found.
        Sound Tab 3: No problems found.
          Input Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D:    0/4 (retail)
DirectDraw:  0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (retail)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (retail)
DirectPlay:  0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow:  0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
          Card name: Intel(R) HD Graphics
       Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
          Chip type: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
           DAC type: Internal
        Device Type: Full Device
         Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_0102&SUBSYS_05811028&REV_09
     Display Memory: 1664 MB
   Dedicated Memory: 32 MB
      Shared Memory: 1632 MB
       Current Mode: 1920 x 1080 (32 bit) (59Hz)
       Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
      Monitor Model: S23B550
         Monitor Id: SAM0919
        Native Mode: 1920 x 1080(p) (60.000Hz)
        Output Type: HDMI
        Driver Name: igdumd64.dll,igd10umd64.dll,igd10umd64.dll,igdumd32,igd10umd32,igd10umd32
Driver File Version: 9.17.0010.2849 (English)
     Driver Version: 9.17.10.2849
        DDI Version: 10.1
     Feature Levels: 10.1,10.0,9.3,9.2,9.1
       Driver Model: WDDM 1.2
Graphics Preemption: DMA
 Compute Preemption: DMA
  Driver Attributes: Final Retail
   Driver Date/Size: 10/6/2012 01:12:22, 12602368 bytes
        WHQL Logo'd: Yes
    WHQL Date Stamp:
  Device Identifier: {D7B78E66-4242-11CF-B978-8B25B7C2C435}
          Vendor ID: 0x8086
          Device ID: 0x0102
          SubSys ID: 0x05811028
        Revision ID: 0x0009
 Driver Strong Name: oem64.inf:5f63e534c036a854:iSNBD0:9.17.10.2849:pci\ven_8086&dev_0102&subsys_05811028
     Rank Of Driver: 00E00001
        Video Accel: ModeMPEG2_A ModeMPEG2_C ModeWMV9_C ModeVC1_C

[Bizman]

I'm having the same issue.   I'm a little lazy....if someone can recommend an uber video card that I can buy to fix this issue if that will get me fixed? 


System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Inspiron 660
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2130 CPU @ 3.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.4GHz
Memory: 6144MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 6014MB RAM
Card name: Intel(R) HD Graphics 

Cure your laziness! 

Took me one minute to find the dell site with your computer specifications. It appears that they have an optional model with a Nvidia GeForce GT 620, 1 Gt, DDR3 which isn't much better than the Intel chip. It also has only a 300 W PSU, which means you can't put an "über" video card in. Not to mention that the CPU couldn't feed such a card.

The best choice would be to get a real gaming computer and use the dell for surfing and data storage.

[Skuzzy]

The CPU would be okay, but the onboard video chip is the problem.  If you crank down all the graphic options in the game it will help reduce the anomalies, but the game will look rather poor.

Like Bizman said, that computer would also need a power supply upgrade in order to upgrade the video card to something even in the middle of the road.

Basically, that computer was meant to run Windows and regular 2D Windows applications (Word, Excel,....).

[Ray77]

Thanks problem solved then.   Back to Best Buy it goes.   I didn't give it a second thought when I bought it since this computer is so much faster than the old P4 computer I use to play with 5 years ago. 

[Ray77]

So I'm looking at  this guy:
http://www.amazon.com/CyberpowerPC-Gamer-Xtreme-GXi990-Desktop/dp/B009LFV95U/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1358950770&sr=8-15&keywords=gaming+computer

Anybody got any better suggestions?

Thank you

[Ray77]

I'm leaning toward this one now:

http://www.amazon.com/CybertronPC-GM2242D-Assassin-Gaming-Desktop/dp/B0080NQDLO/ref=sr_1_185?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1358953846&sr=1-185&keywords=gaming+desktop

Bigger power supply.

[titanic3]

I'm leaning toward this one now:

http://www.amazon.com/CybertronPC-GM2242D-Assassin-Gaming-Desktop/dp/B0080NQDLO/ref=sr_1_185?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1358953846&sr=1-185&keywords=gaming+desktop

Bigger power supply.

2x 6570? For $900? You're being ripped off. Can you build a PC by yourself? Or get some one to do it for you? For &900, you can have a kicking gaming PC.

[Bizman]

Well... neither of those is a real gaming rig.

The first one you suggested is otherwise quite good, but the GeForce GT620 is in the lowest end of the 600 series. Look at the wikipedia table for GeForce 600. There's also been debate about windows 8 but there are people who use without complaints.

The latter suffers basically from the same symptoms. A basically good rig with an underpowered GPU. Wikipedia has a table of Radeon HD 6000 series, too. Besides, Radeon HD 7000 series has been on the market for quite a while...

[Ray77]

2x 6570? For $900? You're being ripped off. Can you build a PC by yourself? Or get some one to do it for you? For &900, you can have a kicking gaming PC.

I've built them in the past.   I just was hoping I didn't need to put the time in on that project now.   

[titanic3]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147053  Rosewill THOR V2 Gaming ATX Full Tower Computer Case $130.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293 ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $134
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504 Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor $230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231485 G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9S-8GBXL $41
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148912 Seagate SV35 Series ST1000VX000 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106276 LITE-ON Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model iHDS118-04 - OEM $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021 CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V $110
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125418 GIGABYTE GV-R787OC-2GD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit $250

Total: $1,130

This is my saved wish list on Newegg that I update every once in a while. You could drop it down to $900 if you want a cheaper GPU, Motherboard, Case, and possibly go for a cheaper HDD.

[Skuzzy]

You could shave $40.00, or so, off by going with an Antec P280 case.

[Bizman]

You could shave $40.00, or so, off by going with an Antec P280 case.

And another $40, or so, off by going with an Antec Three Hundred case. For what I've seen, doors in computer cases tend to rip off by accident sooner or later. They also hinder airflow.