Is this Nvidia newsletter a 'scam'?

[NikaDreamscape 0]

A family member sent me this link from an Nvidia newsletter today, with a system check to see if your computer will run the new Sim City. When I ran the test it failed and recommended several GE Graphics cards to me. At first I thought the newsletter link was from the actual game developer, but when I realized it was Nvidia I got suspicious. I'm wondering if they are simply checking to see if you HAVE one of their video cards and if not, implying that the GE cards are required to play the game. 

 

I have integrated graphics, but I just got this computer in December and it runs everything perfectly. I find it hard to believe Sim City will ONLY run with dedicated graphics. Anyone know if this is true? Here is the link that was sent to me: 

 

http://www.geforce.com/games-applications/pc-games/simcity/gpu-analyzer

[Cyclone Boom 17,033]

Welcome to Simtropolis!
 
First of all, a very wise move to ask. Phishing scams can sometimes be carried out by impersonating a website. But in this case, it's quite a legitimate test on the official Nvidia GeForce site. There are also some similar tests for other games.

 

Although it's preferable to have a dedicated card, it is not a necessarily a requirement. In the game's system requirements, it does state:
 

Players will need at least a 512 MB video card featuring either an nVidia 7800 or better, an AMD chipset of at least an ATI Radeon HD 2x00 or better, or an Intel Series 4 integrated graphics or better.

 

Compared to some games, SimCity's minimum hardware requirements are not overly demanding. Since your PC is quite new, there's a good chance your integrated card is adequate.

If so, you should be able to run the game on low-mid range settings quite easily. That test is setting a benchmark for the 'recommended settings' on dedicated cards. As you don't have one, it's not really valid.

[jdenm8 362]

It's a real thing done by the real nVidia whose cards most EA games are optimised for and it doesn't seem incredibly biased, my Radeon HD 6870 was stated to pass, but it may be biased against integrated chips. I can't tell since I've disabled the one in my desktop PC in my UEFI so it isn't started at all.

 

Intel Integrated chips are annoying since Intel changes the names of their card to frequently and they're never, ever referred to correctly in specification lists.

 

What I think they mean is the Intel HD Graphics 4000 chip, found on all Ivy Bridge desktop i7 processors and the top end Ivy Bridge desktop i5 processors. I'm not sure which Laptop chips have it, but any Ivy Bridge i7 should still have it.

 

(By the way, Ivy Bridge CPUs can be distinguished in that their model numbers are generally of the format 3xx0)

 

If your laptop has an i5 processor, chances are you've got a HD 3000 chip which doesn't meet the requirements and I don't think any Sandy Bridge CPUs (model numbers 2xx0) shipped with a HD Graphics 4000.

[NikaDreamscape 0]

Thanks for the replies. It wasn't so much that I thought the site was a scam, it's that I was suspecting that Nvidia was using the new release of Sim City to mislead consumers into believing they had to have their graphics card in order to run the game. 

 

I'm not entirely sure which version of the Intel graphics I have- it doesn't specify anywhere in my system information. But this is the system I have: 

 

 

HP Pavilion p7-1420t Desktop PC

 

• Operating system - Windows 8 64
• Processor - 3rd Generation Intel® Core i5-3330 quad-core processor [3.0GHz, 6MB Shared Cache]
• Memory - 6GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [2 DIMMs]
• Hard drive - 1TB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive
• Graphics card - Integrated Intel® HD Graphics [DVI-I & DVI-D, DX 10.1]
• Optical drive - SuperMulti DVD Burner

[Cyclone Boom 17,033]

OK, the version of your Integrated Graphics can usually be found in the Intel Control Center (which should be installed by default).

 

To do this:

 

1. Go to your "C:\Program Files (x86)" directory and open the 'Intel' folder.
2. Find and run IntelControlCenter.exe
3. Once the application is open, select Intel HD® Graphics and then Basic Mode.
4. The full Control Panel options will be displayed. Then select Options and Support > Information Center.
5. This will reveal your system's specifications, including the model of integrated graphics.

 

For example, here's the specifications from my Control Center [image].

 

Hope this is helpful.

 

 

[NikaDreamscape 0]

Ok, I found the setting... and mine is Intel graphics 2500. This is bad news, isn't it? :/