Increasing FPS

[Teneksi]

My current laptop has a tendency to overheat and shut itself down when left on high performance for more than 45 minutes or so, and gets only 7 FPS while looking directly at ~20,000-30,000 bricks (and only 3 or 4 on power saver). How could I go about improving its performance, or what kind of computers should I look at to smoothly (20 to 40 or more FPS) run up to about 30,000 or 40,000 bricks?

Gateway E-475M
Windows Vista Business 32-bit
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU   T7500 @ 2.2GHz
2038 MB RAM
65GB hard drive dunno speed.

...

In hopes of getting better FPS, I recently and regrettably tried buying a new laptop (I'm really smart) which actually runs a bit WORSE than this one, and significantly worse while trying to record with Fraps.

Toshiba Satellite A505-S6004
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
2.13GHz Intel Core i3-330M Processor (I believe this is where the problem is)
4GB 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM Memory
500GB Serial ATA Hard Disk Drive (5400RPM)

I also noticed that on this one, the.. adapty.. thingamajig...   square bit on the power cord.. Gets very hot. Painful to touch. I'm thinking that is not supposed to happen.

...

I suppose I'm not as smart about computers as I thought I was. What specs or whatnot should I look for in a computer to run large projects in Blockland, and possibly some higher-end games like L4D2, etc.?  (I got about 2 FPS when I tried running the L4D2 demo at lowest possible settings)... Also, being able to get this result on a laptop would be nice, but I could deal with a desktop if it could handle these better without getting burnt out.

I don't have too much of a budget, so I'm looking for a kind of balance, not for the best possible computer if it's going to cost a lot, and I don't yet know how we're going to define "a lot".

[Ad Bot]

[Devvy]

i'd say to keep it from overheating, keep the side with the vent outlet propped up on books.

[Teneksi]

i'd say to keep it from overheating, keep the side with the vent outlet propped up on books.

I usually have it out on my foot or right knee, leaving the vents exposed. If I put it down on a soft surface it overheats in about three minutes :P

[mctwist]

Do you know what graphic-card it has?

[Teneksi]

Do you know what graphic-card it has?

I do not. Where would I find this?

[mctwist]

Usually, you press Win+R to get up the Run window. Then you type in dxdiag and press enter. Click No if a dialog box comes up. Then click on the tab Display. There is your information.

[Kn276]

Usually, you press Win+R to get up the Run window. Then you type in dxdiag and press enter. Click No if a dialog box comes up. Then click on the tab Display. There is your information.

inb4kayen
It should look something like this.

[Cyanian]

You have new updates available.

Click there to install them.

[Teneksi]

I re-read the reviews on the Toshiba and found out I could have avoided this stupidity. My friend recommended his laptop which runs it well, and all the reviews relate to his explanation. So, I'll probably be getting that one and this shouldn't be a problem. Unless something freaky happens, the laptop will work for me.

But, to continue this, on the Gateway:


Mobile Intel 965 Express Chipset Family
...
Approx. Total Memory: 358 MB


This does not sound good.

[General Nick]

Both graphics are crap.

A Core i3 is something for netbooks. It's a CPU/GPU integrated into one chip, which is to maximize portability/size while sacrificing power if you need it.

[Destiny/Zack0Wack0]

I have that card. I can run blockland on high for 6 hours or more and it only overheats at night. When I put shadows off, textures low, and draw distance low (this is the most important.

I caan play modern-graphical games on high for 2 hours before it overheats, 4 on med and 6 on high with low draw distance.

This is usual with business laptops, and I don't think its your graphics catd. Turn down your draw distance and graphic qualities.

Xp and vista have big cpu usage. Close any internet-based programs (IM, downloading) and pause virus scans.

[Teneksi]

This is the laptop I am now considering. My friend has the same model and it works very well for Blockland. He looked at this page, said "that's my computer" and that it should work, and the reviews seem to agree with everything he said about it before even seeing that page. It all looks good, but there's one thing that I am concerned about with this:

Graphics                 ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200
Video Memory          128MB display cache; up to 1918MB total

Is that going to be a problem? 128MB doesn't sound very good. He gets 40 FPS where I get 6 FPS and mine has 328MB video memory, I think. Am I getting something wrong here? Is it difficult to upgrade that, and will I need to do so to get the same performance? Or should this one work about as well as his as it is?

[Kn276]

That just may be a laptop thing. Because note that the laptop's graphics are better than mine, but I have more video memory, and this is a desktop computer.
This desktop is cheaper than the laptop trollface.jpg
I'll ask one of my geeky friends for help, just to make sure.

[Doomonkey]

I have that card. I can run blockland on high for 6 hours or more and it only overheats at night. When I put shadows off, textures low, and draw distance low (this is the most important.

This is what most people say, but my computer runs just as lame with everything maxed out on performance as it does maxed out on quality.

Also, none of my computer parts have ever overheated, my computer is from 2003, and I've turned it off a total of around 10 times.

[Devvy]

How much space do you have left on your Hard disk? Also, i have a toshiba :D