Lowest spec machine you've seen Left4Dead running on?

FrenchTart · 29 Nov 2008 at 17:14

A friend of mine didn't have much luck with running the L4D demo on his old laptop (PentiumM2.0ghz, ATI X700graphics, 1gig ram, WindowsXP) but I'm kind of hopeful that there's some kind of tweaks he can do to get it playable (albeit in *low* settings).

Anyone got any tips/tweaks to try and an example of a very low spec PC you've seen L4D run acceptably on?

Thanks

FrenchTart · 29 Nov 2008 at 21:42

Devil_Spawn said:
i really dont see you getting it running on a cpu that slow - not without overclocking.

Keep in mind that a pentium M is clock-for-clock far better than a P4 so it's similar to having a (single core admittedly) c2d of similar clock.

Thanks for the info so far people - I've also had other source engine games playing on a ti4200 but L4d seems a little more intensive

/re multiplayer vs singleplayer cup use, I agree - I've got a dedicated server that the person can use whenever they like however so that's not an issue.

FrenchTart · 29 Nov 2008 at 23:55

sr4470 said:
I am aware of that, I'm just wondering if the processor type is causing the problem because the graphics card and RAM meet the minimum spec.

It sounds possible. Unfortunately, the said laptop is in Slovakia, where my friend is working at the moment. I won't get a chance to mess around with it myself until near xmas when he comes back over to visit family/friends etc.

I've got a feeling that the laptop might just need a fresh install of windows and the cooling given the once-over - another friend with a 2.2 ghz C2D and 8400M GS found L4D unplayable until he cleaned the dust out of the vents. The joys of laptop cooling

FrenchTart · 30 Nov 2008 at 00:29

Devil_Spawn said:
yeah but you can hardly compare a 2ghz p4 to a c2d 2.2....

It's not a P4. That's the entire point of what a few of us have said. It's a PentiumM, which is very similar to a core2duo (but single-core).

FrenchTart · 30 Nov 2008 at 00:32

leon4112 said:
here you go tests various gpu's and cpu's

http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,667611/Reviews/Left_4_Dead_GPU_and_CPU_benchmark_review/

Thanks for the link. Sadly, all those GPUs are far newer/more powerful than an X700.

I know the game runs fine on my system but that doesn't say much for his old old laptop

FrenchTart · 30 Nov 2008 at 15:18

Devil_Spawn said:
???????

That's about right - why the ?????????? marks?

edit: Ah, I see from the earlier posts that you don't understand the difference between a Pentium M and a Pentium 4.

As a few of us have now said, they aren't the same processor.

FrenchTart · 30 Nov 2008 at 22:58

Good news - after cleaning all the vents/etc, the game runs okay. Not sure of exact settings yet, but more than playable

FrenchTart · 1 Dec 2008 at 00:13

HangTime said:
According to those benches, an A64 4000+ with GTX280 has min fps under 20 in 1280x1024 0xAA 0xAF. The 5000+ X2 (which has the same clockspeed and cache) meanwhile has a minfps over 30. So it's pretty obvious that you really need a multicore processor to play this game at an acceptable framerate.

...at high settings and a reasonable resolution. Playing the game on lower detail settings at a lower resolution and on an external server (so a lot of the AI calculations are done by the server and not your own PC) lowers the strain the game puts on your PC quite a lot.

FrenchTart · 1 Dec 2008 at 14:20

Mattf121 said:
Any P4 I have (including under spec 2.8Ghz, 1.5GB, nvidia 6600) have had hyperthreading and have run the game quite well so I wonder if the game uses the virtual dual core the HT gives, anybody know?

Though probably academic now, lowest clock speed cpu I've played L4D on is 1.73Ghz Intel Core Duo (double Core Pentium isn't it?) with 2GB RAM and ATI X1400.
The lowest spec pc is mentioned above as a Pentium 4 2.8Ghz HT, 1.5GB RAM, Nvidia 6600 AGP video card. Hopefully this'll help someone even if not OP...

Cheers for the input. I'd imagine that it does make use of HT, but I'm sure someone else can confirm either way.

I'll get more details about how well it runs and at what settings and post back with my friend's laptop specs again - as they are possibly lower than the above P4 system.

FrenchTart · 3 Dec 2008 at 21:54

PhillyDee said:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/left-4-dead-pc--23-vga-card-graphics-performance/1

Some GFX comparisons in there!

Thanks, that covers some slightly more low-end graphics (though still better than his X700)

I've found out that he's able to run @ 1024x768, mostly medium settings (some low) and it's perfectly playable. Not bad for such an old system.